Urgent steps are needed to avoid a repeat of last summer’s flight delays across Europe.
The demand came from aviation trade body Airlines for Europe (A4E).
It warned that understaffed air traffic control and the insufficient capacity of the system was contributing to a 300% increase in flight delays at some airports.
This was leading to up to five per cent of passengers a day missing connecting flights.
En-route daily delays related to air traffic control capacity issues or staffing problems have increased by 14.6% and 20.6%, respectively.
Without measures to mitigate these shortfalls, airline bosses warned that aircraft will again have to fly longer routes, specific routes will have to be restricted or flights delayed on the ground.
This then causes knock-on effects throughout the network, including airline crews exceeding their working hours, leading to frustrating delays for passengers.
Airline chief executives met with European policymakers and industry stakeholders in Brussels to discuss ways in which European air traffic can be made more reliable for passengers.
A4E managing director Thomas Reynaert said: “With the busy summer travel season ahead of us, we need to learn from last year’s unacceptable experience – specifically at EU borders, where insufficient infrastructure and understaffing led to an increase of up to 300% in flight delays at some airports, causing up to five per cent of passengers per day to miss their connecting flights.
“While recognising that some member states have taken measures to alleviate the situation, we remain cautious as still more needs to be done in terms of staffing and investments in automation.”
He added: “While air traffic in 2017 increased 4.4% compared with 2016, the amount of air traffic flow management average daily delay minutes increased by 6.9%.
“This represents the equivalent of more than an entire day of additional delay.
“Turning to 2018, traffic is expected to continue to grow significantly.
“Therefore, there is an urgent need to pursue network-wide improvements in 2018 and beyond – which we are actively addressing with all air navigation service providers.”
International Airlines Group chief executive Willie Walsh is to head the A4E steering board.