Herman de Wulf/BRUSSELS
KARL-HEINZ Neumeister, secretary-general of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) has led an attack on Europe's "increasing" flight delays, "lousy" air-traffic control (ATC) and "scandalous" route charges.
He complains that European airlines are being saddled with unnecessary costs, putting them at a disadvantage against global competition. Charter-airlines group the International Air Carriers Association (IACA) has added its voice to the complaint, paving the way for a concerted assault on the European Commission (EC) by the region's airlines.
The AEA reveals that delays greater than 15min affected 18.4% of intra-European departures in 1995, up from 13.3% in 1994. Neumeister blames airport and ATC delays, adding that the trend has continued into the first quarter of 1996.
ATC route charges, which now stand at 7.2% of airline costs, also come in for severe attack. "This is a scandal. They have doubled the bill for the same bad performance," says Neumeister. The AEA complains that the recent EC study paper on air-traffic management correctly identifies the problems, but then "waters down" its proposals, in anticipation of political resistance.
The AEA warns that airport congestion is the greatest single threat to continued expansion in the region. It claims that, of Europe's 29 major airports, 25 will have a serious runway-capacity shortage by 2005.
Neumeister also accuses pilots' unions of "hijacking" flightcrew-duty rules, now being standardised into European Joint Aviation Regulations, and of turning the issue into a working-conditions argument (Flight International, 29 May-4 June, P12). Peter Legro, head of IACA and president of Dutch carrier Transavia, adds the support of IACA members to the AEA's complaints.
He claims that 19% of flights were delayed by lack of slot capacity in 1995 and that, in the first three months of this year, 18% have already been delayed. Legro says that such hold-ups cost European carriers around $3 billion annually.
Legro calls on the Dutch Government to use its presidency of the European Union to begin streamlining "the wholly inadequate" ATC system.
Source: Flight International
