2018 ‘one of worst years for flight delays in a decade’
This is likely to be one of the worst years for flight delays and cancellations in almost a decade, according to Airlines for Europe (A4E).
It said Eurocontrol has revealed air traffic control capacity and staff shortages led to a 50% increase in delayed flights in October compared to the same month last year.
And Eurocontrol estimates that total delay minutes will be up by 53% in 2018 due to strikes and capacity shortages.
It claims that flights have been delayed by a total of 14.3 million minutes this year compared with 9.3 million in 2017.
As a result, A4E is increasing pressure on the EU and national governments to take ‘swift and decisive action’ to reform Europe’s air traffic management system.
So far in 2018, A4E members have been forced to cancel more than 5,000 flights due to ATC strikes, affecting around 800,000 passengers.
"Millions more travellers have suffered flight delays caused by other ATC issues such as staff shortages, airspace diversions and residual backups," it said.
A PriceWaterhouseCoopers study put the economic cost of ATC strikes in the EU betweem 2010-2017 at €13.4 billion.
Since 2005, the EU has enured 357 air traffic control strikes, 254 of which have occurred in France – which saw three times more strikes this year than last.
A4E is putting pressure on Europe’s transport ministers, who are due to meet on December 3, to move towards a ‘seamless European sky’, integrating national airspaces into a single continuum across the continent.
"EU member states would maintain sovereignty of their airspace while cooperating across borders in order to facilitate seamless and more efficient flight operations on behalf of passengers," it said.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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