Willie WalshDirector General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), criticized the performance of the air traffic control in Europeheld responsible for traffic still below 2019 levels.
According to the IATA statement, Willie Walsh last month ” expressed my concern about the performance of air traffic control (ATC) in Europe and the United States. Both are disappointing “. The ATC environment experienced by all carriers in Europe is difficulthe added : ” airlines and airports worked hard to ensure sufficient resources would be provided to minimize disruption and get travelers where they needed to be on time. The lack of nationwide ATC resources, in particular in Germany and France, prevents this. Although some areas of ATC performance have improved over 2022, we remain unacceptably below 2019 levels.
The most serious impacts are observed in the most congested airports in Europe, in particular at London-Gatwick, where performance is also affected by local ATC resource issues. Gatwick is now the worst performing airport among the top 31 airports reported by Eurocontrol and ranks 106th out of 110 airports covered by the dataset “.
According to the CEO of IATA, “ it is disheartening that the politicians who were quick to criticize airlines last year remained silent about the disruption caused by government-controlled or regulated ATC providers. What can these politicians do so that we don’t have another year of European ATC performance below pre-COVID levels? For starters, they need to be held accountable for the economic and environmental costs of poor ATC performance, so they have an incentive to make better decisions. “.
This summer ” showed us that the to-do list is already well known: adequate staffing, modernization with the single European sky and finding ways to maintain essential ATC services during periods of industrial action, while respecting workers’ rights concludes Willie Walsh.
