European aviation organisations have reacted with scepticism to the recent agreement reached by European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) transport ministers to revise the Eurocontrol convention, and International Air Transport Association (IATA) general director Pierre Jeanniot describes the reforms as being a "raw deal" for airlines and passengers.
In a joint statement, anticipating the decision to reform the air-traffic-control body, seven organisations, including IATA and the Association of European Airlines, complain that, far from achieving the unified airspace for which they have been calling, the reforms are only the "first tentative steps" towards such a goal.
ECAC chairman and Danish transport minister Bjorn Westh rejects these criticisms, claiming that the recent agreement is a "landmark decision", which provides for a "clear separation of regulatory and operational functions" along with "-streamlined mechanisms to cover airspace design and route structure".
To save time, however, ministers agree that some measures could take effect immediately, including an extension of Eurocontrol's authority to cover terminal as well as en route airspace.
Changes in the way in which European airspace is divided into sectors are also provided for, and a new independent performance-review system will be established. A "total aviation system" of air-traffic-management safety regulation, independent of service provision, will also be adopted.
The seven organisations say that the only way to remove bottlenecks is through a rational redesign of upper airspace, which ignores national boundaries, treating them as a collective resource.
"The fact remains that the states failed to agree to pool their sovereignty, or allow it to be exercised collectively on their behalf by Eurocontrol," they say.
The organisations want a new air-traffic-management agency to be formed "-similar to the one envisaged in the first Eurocontrol convention of 1960".
Source: Flight International
