Tackling air traffic control bottle necks will cut flight delays and European air travel greenhouse gas emissions, airline chiefs argued on Wednesday after revealing that summer 2024 was the worst for hold ups in recent years.
Kenton Jarvis, incoming chief executive of British carrier, EasyJet, pointed out that while the number of flights grew 6 per cent this summer, air traffic control hold ups grew 80 per cent.
Delays amounted to 6,300 hours on the worst day, Mr Jarvis pointed out. “We simply cannot repeat that next year,” he declared, blaming the problem on a lack of air space and staff problems at national air navigation authorities.
He told a press conference that an EasyJet-backed study found that air traffic control reform in Europe could cut emissions by 10 per cent.
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Mr Jarvis said industry group, Airlines For Europe, wanted the new European Commission not to introduce measures to cut carbon emissions that add to costs “without tackling this low-hanging fruit first”.
Airlines for Europe, chaired by Michael O’Leary, Ryanair chief executive, wants the incoming commission, set to take office until 2029, to reform air traffic control in the bloc, reform passenger rights, boost air travel competitiveness and complete the single market.
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Mr O’Leary argued that deregulation of air travel had benefited the European Union (EU). “But over the last five years that momentum has been lost,” he warned.
The Irish airline chief blamed “penal green taxes, over regulation like EU 261 and the abject failure to reform air traffic control”.
He pointed out that airlines had to foot passenger compensation bills for delays created by air traffic control difficulties including strikes and staff shortages.
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Mr O’Leary said he had given up on the Single European Sky, a decades old initiative to unify air traffic control across the EU.
However, he said had the EU ensured that national air traffic control authorities were fully staffed first thing in the morning and that over flights were protected during national strikes, it would have eliminated 90 per cent of delays this summer.
“If 90 per cent of our delays are due to air traffic control, give us the right to pass those costs back,” he argued, adding that would ensure that national air navigation bodies dealt with the problems.
Luis Gallego, chief executive of International Airlines Group, owner of Aer Lingus and British Airways, said that the commission needed to increase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) allowances and work to boost its production.
He explained that SAF costs two to three times more than conventional fuel, a cost that airlines will struggle to bare.
Meanwhile, Mr O’Leary indicated that Ryanair could rein in summer 2025 growth plans to deal with delays in the delivery of new Boeing aircraft.
The Irish group was due to received 20 new jets from the US manufacturer this autumn, but only four have so far arrived, as Boeing workers are striking.
Mr O’Leary predicted that Ryanair would receive the remaining 16 next year. He added that the “real challenge” was that the carrier was meant to take delivery of 30 new aircraft from Boeing between March and June 2025.
“If we get 10 or 15 or 20 we’ll be doing well,” he predicted. Mr O’Leary said that Ryanair would consider slowing growth in summer 2025 and added that it would give more details on this when it publishes half-year results early next month.
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