Greater powers to be brought in over Single European Sky

Date: 12/10/2012

Brussels has announced that more needs to be done to ensure that Single European Sky legislation meets its aims.

The matter was being discussed at the Single European Sky summit in Cyprus hosted by the European Commission and the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Siim Kallas, European Transport Commissioner, said: "I have always said that the Single European Sky is my top aviation priority. It is too important to be allowed to fail.

"We have fallen seriously behind in our original ambitions."

The idea behind Single European Sky is that it deals with the increased air traffic experienced in the continent over the last 20 years.

Since it has been predicted that air traffic levels may as much as double between now and 2020, then the need to ensure that legislation is effective is even more pressing.

Mr Kallas said: "After more than ten years, the core problems remain the same: too little capacity generating the potential for a negative impact on safety at too high a price.

"There are some signs of change, but overall progress is too slow and too limited. We need to think of other solutions and apply them quickly.

"There is too much national fragmentation. Promised improvements have not materialised."

The network that oversees air traffic control in Europe, Eurocontrol will be given more powers by the Commission under new plans.

These will include allowing the organisation to set stricter targets and take infringement action on any member state which does not co-operate fully.

Mr Kallas went on to say that should the situation continue as it is at the moment then congestion costs could be 50 per cent higher by the year 2050.

"It looks like infringement actions may well be necessary," he said as "time is running out."

Some 60 air traffic control towers managed by 27 different states direct planes in Europe, making co-operation necessary.

Posted by Mary Treen

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