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Nearly one year after the creation of the Road Show Working Group, the first visit took place in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 12-13 June. With an ambitious agenda, the meeting attracted a large audience - including from Latvia - and both the attendees and the ECA team were very satisfied with the results.

The 12th of June was the core day of the event. It included several presentations on topics previously agreed upon with the Lithuanian ALPA. At the beginning of the meeting, there were some 40 participants (including the ECA/IFALPA team), coming from different Member Associations. The 'fostering MAs', Icelandic ALPA and Finnish ALPA, were present, as well as their Baltic neighbour, Latvian ALPA.

The meeting started with brief presentations on ECA and IFALPA and on how ECA interacts with the EU Institutions on the many European policy issues that affect every professional pilot. Then, the Lithuanian ALPA had requested that the following issues should be dealt with: Collective Labour Agreements, New EU OPS Regulation for Flight Time Limitations, the Dos and Don'ts of Negotiations, etc. Interaction between the participants and the ECA/IFALPA team was very good and the attendees showed great interest in the presentations.

At the end of the day, the Lithuanian ALPA invited the team for dinner in Trakai, a small picturesque village not far from Vilnius, where the castle of the King of Lithuania is situated. At the dinner, the ECA/IFALPA team reiterated their commitment to the MAs, and to the broad recognition of their role at national level.

On 13 June, a smaller ECA/IFALPA team joined some members of the Lithuanian ALPA for a meeting with the local CAA and Ministry of Transport, to talk about the new EU OPS Flight Time Limitations, which are to be implemented in all EU Member States by 16 July. The need for Lithuania to keep their current higher safety standards was underlined in order to avoid reducing safety levels in Lithuania.

No further Road Show is currently planned. However, in view of the positive outcomes of the event, several Member Associations expressed their interest in a Road Show in their countries.