Commission unveils plans to tidy up EU airspace

The European commission has launched legislative proposals to reorganise EU airspace into “blocks” to improve efficiency and lower costs.

New transport chief Antonio Tajani revealed the plan, the second instalment in the Single European Sky package, on Wednesday.

“In Europe, despite the adoption of the first package in 2004, the sky is still broken up into 27 national airspaces,” he said.

The commission intends to reduce the 27 airspaces to eight new “functional airspace blocks”, which will be in place by 2012, as long as member states and the European parliament approve the plans.

It would include, for instance, Ireland and the UK grouped together in one block, Spain and Portugal in another, a Mediterranean block comprising Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta – and including Tunisia and Egypt as special members – and two central European blocks, one further west of the continent and one east.

There will also be Danube and Baltic blocks, as well as one grouping Sweden and Denmark together.

According to the Italian commissioner, European flights are on average 49km longer than necessary and passengers are spending an extra 10 to 15 minutes inside planes.

He also said that the excess CO2 produced by planes flying inefficient routes could be reduced by 16m tonnes a year, and that the EU could save up to €4bn a year on costs.

“This package is a win-win for passengers, for Europe’s economy and for the environment,” he said.

“Our proposal aims at helping to reduce queues to take off and land, passengers will have more chance of arriving on time. At the same time the package will help us deliver safer and greener flying, while creating more capacity,” he added.

Commenting on the announcement, the International Air Carrier Association's  director general, Sylviane Lust said, “There should be no excuses from EU member states now for not implementing this package quickly as the benefits are clear to see, especially as it will deliver significant reductions in CO2 emissions from aviation.”

The package also contains amendments to the 2004 single sky rules, measures to aid the introduction of better technology, uniform and binding rules on airport safety and air traffic management and proposals for an airport capacity research centre to look into shortages of runways and overcrowded airports.

Tajani added that the measures were key to manage the expected doubling of air traffic by 2020.

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