Europe’s airline chiefs have lashed out at national governments over the failure to institute a single European sky for air traffic, accusing them of hypocrisy in demanding carriers cut emissions.
Airline bosses have been calling for years for integrated air traffic management across Europe to replace the patchwork system of national Air Navigation Service Providers.
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren told the Airlines for Europe (A4E) summit in Brussels: “A ‘single European sky’ was first brought up in 1999 yet we’re told this industry is not moving fast enough on decarbonisation. A single European sky could reduce easyJet’s emissions by 15%.”
Lufthansa Group chief executive Carsten Spohr said: “It’s crazy what pilots do to optimise a flight, which has an impact of perhaps 1% a year [on reducing emissions].
“We have a responsibility to cut that 1%, but a single European sky could mean 15% less CO2.”
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary agreed: “Europe’s fractured airspace has a huge impact – 90% of Ryanair delays in the last 12 months were caused by air traffic delays. We can’t continue to waste fuel. We need European governments to deliver a single European sky.”
O’Leary insisted: “We have support for this in Brussels. The hold-up is caused by national governments [and] a very small group of air traffic control unions. The blockage is not the Commission. The blockages are national governments – the French, the German, the Irish.”
Spohr said: “The unions don’t want to agree one IT system because it would make them replaceable. [A single European sky] is resisted by governments backed by unions.”
He asked: “How can politicians put pressure on us to be more sustainable and they won’t cut emissions?” Yet he warned: “I’m afraid with the Ukraine war, protecting your own airspace will make this harder.”
European transport commissioner Adina-Ioana Valean told the summit: “A single European sky makes such sense, I don’t understand why transport ministers have not put it in place.”
But she added: “Air traffic management people are reluctant to change. Maybe they don’t understand it. Maybe the authorities are not courageous enough.”
A4E called on the next EU presidency to make a single European sky “a priority”.
It’s estimated a single European sky could treble airspace capacity and reduce aviation’s overall environmental impact by 10%.