ATC
Eurocontrol reports on air traffic management
“Aviation is emerging from the most difficult period in its history to date.

“Aviation is emerging from the most difficult period in its history to date. This recovery is still fragile. It is under pressure from fuel costs, uncertain stability in regions, military conflicts, international terrorism and changes in the business model by low-cost carriers.

“On the other hand, traffic is growing. In Europe, we broke 29,000 flights per day on June 18. The highest traffic ever recorded was on September 10, with 29,490 flights. Delays are being contained. In fact, delays attributable to the en route segment are falling. Unit costs have fallen, too. From where we stand today, air traffic management (ATM) in Europe is looking good. We are not seeing the horror stories of 1999-2000,” stated Victor Aguado, general director of Eurocontrol, in a bad-news, good-news assessment during a recent open day session at the agency headquarters in Brussels.