Average flight delays in France increased by a minute, to 16.1min, last year, as the country experienced the biggest jump in air traffic for 10 years, according to its civil aviation authority, the DGAC. Compared with 9.4% a year earlier, 10.1% of flights were delayed during the year by more than 15min.
France suffered a small increase in delays because of air traffic control during the year, which saw the introduction of several measures designed to cope with the "exceptional" growth in movements.
Total traffic climbed by 7.3%, with overflights rising by 9% and internal flights by 5.5%. Measures aimed at coping with the growth included a major re-organisation of air traffic sectors, with the creation of several new sectors and improved harmonisation with European airspace.
A deal was also signed with the military authorities in June 1998 on the shared use of military training airspace in the north east of the country, aimed at improving traffic feed to Paris Charles de Gaulle's three runways and to increase flexibility throughout the country. This year's capacity increase is being threatened by the military ignoring the deal, however, says the French air traffic controllers' union. Up to 30% of local airspace can be lost during military exercises, with the Paris-Marseille Air France shuttle recently experiencing a 1.5h delay because of an exercise, it says.
The new air traffic services route network (ARN) involving a major re-organisation of French airspace, which was introduced in late February, has already raised capacity by "up to 5%", says the DGAC. The air traffic controllers' union complains, however, that the military re-entered airspace that had been dedicated for flexible usage immediately following implementation of the ARN.
Source: Flight International
