David Learmount/LONDON
European air traffic management (ATM) capacity shortage problems can only be resolved in the long term by applying "lessons from the deregulation of other industries such as telecommunications and airlines", according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO).
Meanwhile, traffic and delay figures for August released by Eurocontrol show ATM-related delays dipping below the 1997 level for the first time.
CANSO and IATA have sent a "joint vision statement" on the future of European ATM to the vice president of the European Commission, the president of the Council of Transport Ministers and the members of Europe's High Level Group, which is working to resolve Europe's air traffic control problems. The recommendations include:
establishing the necessary "pre-conditions" for deregulation from a political perspective; restructuring monopolies; setting up a central European regulator; opening the market for ATM; regulating competition.Eurocontrol's August ATM-related delay statistics show that, despite an increase in traffic rates for the month from 21,000 flights per day in 1997 to 24,500 flights per day this year, the average delay is below the recorded levels of the past three years.
Despite a 4% traffic increase from August 1999, to 766,299 flights for the month, the average delay per flight was 3.5min this year, down from 5min for August 1999. The percentage of flights delayed fell from 21.6% in August 1999 to 18.2% last month.
Eurocontrol predicts that delays for September and October will also show reductions, following improved co-ordination between air traffic control centres and airspace restructuring which was conducted earlier this year.
Source: Flight International
