Aviation industry seeks EU intervention in Britain-Spain row over Gibraltar airport

Aviation industry leaders want European Union transport ministers to intervene to help settle a dispute between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar's airport which threatens proposals to smooth travel across the bloc. The dispute over whether the territory's airport should be included in EU legislation on aviation could paralyse a shake-up of European airspace and has blocked progress on matters from passenger rights to ground-handling liberalisation. The airport's runway crosses the only road connecting Spain to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory. Spain claims the whole of Gibraltar but views the isthmus containing its airport as a distinct issue. Madrid argues that it was not included in the treaty ceding Gibraltar to Britain three centuries ago, and so has always been Spanish territory. Representatives of airlines, airports, traffic controllers and plane manufacturers have written to ministers of both countries and the Netherlands, which chairs EU meetings, protesting at the damage to a sector caused by the dispute. They want EU transport ministers to discuss the four-year-old impasse at a meeting on June 7. "Unfortunately, and unacceptably, this deadlock has led to major delays in advancing some of the most important European air transport files to the detriment of consumers," the heads of 10 industry groups said in the letter, seen by Reuters. "The industry believes that this situation has now become unsustainable."<br/>