For those of us booked on upcoming flights, news coverage of severe storms or industrial action is enough to make us break into a cold sweat. But away from the headlines there is another problem that is threatening to bring permanent delays – not to mention increased costs and pollution – to the EU’s increasingly congested airspace: Europe’s complicated air traffic control system.
A joint European undertaking called SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) involving airport operators, technology companies and national authorities has been set up to help develop a new air traffic control system that is fit for the 21st century. Some of the main issues being addressed include:
A single European sky
With 28,000 flights a day (or a staggering 10 million a year), the EU’s skies are close to reaching the maximum capacity that can be safely controlled under Europe’s current air traffic control system. But with the number of flights expected to grow steadily over the next ten years, delays, increased emissions, greater costs and greater safety risks are almost inevitable unless something is changed.
With SESAR and the Single European Sky project, work is underway to modernise and defragment Europe’s air traffic control system. As a result:
- Safety will be improved by a factor of 10
- Air traffic control costs will decrease by 50%
- The environmental impact will fall by 10% (routes will be more direct, less taxiing,
etc.) per flight
- There will be a three-fold increase in capacity by 2020
- There will be better punctuality, more routes and greater competition
- Investment in European technology will secure European jobs
The Single European Sky will make flying more environmentally-friendly, yet it will also allow more flights through our airspace. Is this a contradiction? What implications will it have on your personal choices?
Due to airspace fragmentation, planes don’t actually fly in a straight line between airports. In fact, the average flight flies 42km longer than strictly necessary, adding time to journeys and pumping out an additional 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
To find out more:
Air > Single European Sky
(UK National Air Traffic Services)
(Civil Aviation Authority)