AIRE supports the European Commission and Parliament call for urgent action to eliminate ATC delays
AIRE members welcome the confirmation by Commissioner Bulc and EP Committee on Transport and Tourism Chair Karima Delli that growing air traffic should be celebrated as the sign of a healthy European economy and that infrastructure must adapt accordingly instead of hampering this positive trend.
Some Air Navigation Service Providers are doing a great job while others are choosing to increase their profit instead of realising the required investments, despite those being pre-financed by airlines.
Delays due to lack of capacity or strikes generated by some Area Control Centers (ACCs) are ruining the good performance of others and of the European network as a whole.
Passengers are unfortunately the first victims of delays and cancellations. It is also extremely costly for the economy as a whole, for tourism, for the environment and for the airlines.
Sylviane Lust, DG of AIRE stated: “So far, we have been missing the sense of urgency in addressing the Air Traffic Control lack of capacity and performance. EU member States should wake up and cooperate with the Commission, the Network Manager and the airlines to implement right away remedial actions. Best practices in rostering of Air traffic Controllers and ACCs throughput should be looked at with utmost priority “