Europe seeks unified air traffic system
Source: Agencies |
April 24, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE European Union speeded up action on a sweeping reform of its air control management system yesterday after a volcanic ash crisis turned much of the continent into a no-fly zone for days.
"The worst is now over, but there is a huge amount of work to be done to deal with crisis management," EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told reporters in Brussels.
Germany invited aviation experts, EU officials and industry representatives to Berlin on Tuesday to discuss setting standards for air travel, and Spain -- which holds the EU's rotating presidency -- said EU transport ministers would meet on May 4 in Brussels for talks on a unified European airspace.
European airspace yesterday was almost completely free of volcanic ash from Iceland, according to Eurocontrol, the air traffic agency. All of British airspace was available after four small airports in Scotland reopened.
But for the first time since the April 14 eruption, Iceland's major international airport was closed after shifting winds blew the ash cloud toward the capital of Reykjavik, west of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Trans-Atlantic flights on Icelandair that usually stop in Iceland were being rerouted through Glasgow in Scotland.
Flights across the rest of Europe were proceeding normally, said Eurocontrol spokeswoman Kyla Evans. About 29,000 flights were scheduled.
A week of airspace closures caused by the ash threat to planes created the worst breakdown in civil aviation in Europe since World War II. More than 100,000 flights were canceled and airlines are on track to lose over US$2 billion.
The "Single European Sky" project was supposed to have begun in 2012, but Kallas said the latest crisis showed that "we cannot afford to wait that long."
"The absence of a single European regulator for air traffic control made it very difficult to respond to this crisis. We needed a fast, coordinated European response .... instead we had a fragmented patchwork of 27 national airspaces," Kallas said.
The EU has 27 national air traffic control networks, 60 air traffic centers and hundreds of approach centers and towers. In contrast, the United States manages twice the number of flights for a similar cost using only about 20 control centers.
"The worst is now over, but there is a huge amount of work to be done to deal with crisis management," EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told reporters in Brussels.
Germany invited aviation experts, EU officials and industry representatives to Berlin on Tuesday to discuss setting standards for air travel, and Spain -- which holds the EU's rotating presidency -- said EU transport ministers would meet on May 4 in Brussels for talks on a unified European airspace.
European airspace yesterday was almost completely free of volcanic ash from Iceland, according to Eurocontrol, the air traffic agency. All of British airspace was available after four small airports in Scotland reopened.
But for the first time since the April 14 eruption, Iceland's major international airport was closed after shifting winds blew the ash cloud toward the capital of Reykjavik, west of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Trans-Atlantic flights on Icelandair that usually stop in Iceland were being rerouted through Glasgow in Scotland.
Flights across the rest of Europe were proceeding normally, said Eurocontrol spokeswoman Kyla Evans. About 29,000 flights were scheduled.
A week of airspace closures caused by the ash threat to planes created the worst breakdown in civil aviation in Europe since World War II. More than 100,000 flights were canceled and airlines are on track to lose over US$2 billion.
The "Single European Sky" project was supposed to have begun in 2012, but Kallas said the latest crisis showed that "we cannot afford to wait that long."
"The absence of a single European regulator for air traffic control made it very difficult to respond to this crisis. We needed a fast, coordinated European response .... instead we had a fragmented patchwork of 27 national airspaces," Kallas said.
The EU has 27 national air traffic control networks, 60 air traffic centers and hundreds of approach centers and towers. In contrast, the United States manages twice the number of flights for a similar cost using only about 20 control centers.
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