CANSO and EUROCONTROL agree joint action to tackle airspace capacity in Europe

At a high-level CEO meeting yesterday, senior representatives of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) in Europe and the Director General of EUROCONTROL discussed how the two organisations can work more closely to address the pressing issues of airspace capacity across Europe.

The meeting focused on defining how CANSO and EUROCONTROL can jointly address the challenges posed by the growth in European air traffic in the context of the Single European Sky. With a broad and high-level focus, it agreed common lines of action and priority issues to be addressed at working level over the coming months.

Eamonn Brennan, Director General, EUROCONTROL said: “EUROCONTROL is focused on supporting European aviation. With traffic estimated to grow by 1.9% a year over the coming 20 years, and delays in 2018 hitting record highs, we need to address the capacity gap and ensure that passengers can rely on the aviation network to get them to their destinations on time. Both EUROCONTROL and CANSO need to work even more closely together right now and into the future so that our sector is able to provide an efficient ATM system that can deliver the capacity the airlines need.”

Europe CANSO CEO Committee Chair, Jan Klas said: “While right now the focus is rightly on capacity building, we mustn’t lose focus of other equally important factors in the context of the lifecycle of air traffic management (ATM) planning. EUROCONTROL, including through its role as the designated Network Manager, has an important role to play in working with air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to plan for the future. The rich sources of data that it consolidates can help increase understanding of the interplay between cost efficiency, capacity, safety and environmental performance and ensure we find sustainable solutions to the challenges of strong traffic growth. We look forward to working with EUROCONTROL in ensuring a high-performing ATM network across Europe.”

The attendees of the high-level CEO meeting at EUROCONTROL's headquarters in Brussels.