European authorities cannot tackle disruption caused by air traffic control strikes by taking responsibility for guiding overflights through member states’ skies, says the European Union’s top transport official, Henrik Hololei.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has led calls on the EU to give air navigation body Eurocontrol responsibility for overflights to avoid widespread disruption caused by air traffic control strikes and staff shortages, particularly in France and Germany.
However, Mr Hololei, head of EU transport directorate DG Move, said on Wednesday that the EU “does not have the power” to pass laws enabling it to do this.
“If that had been feasible from a legal point of view, we would definitely have already made such a proposal,” he explained.
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Mr Hololei added that the problem was more complex legally that Mr O’Leary contended and would need the agreement of all member states.
He was speaking after addressing the Airspace World Conference, organised by global air traffic management body Canso in Geneva, Switzerland.
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Air traffic control strikes and staff shortages are a sore point with Irish airlines as they disrupt or delay flights to and from this country that travel through skies controlled by states where these problems occur regularly.
Industrial disputes regularly disrupt French air traffic control, while staff shortages have hit this service in Germany, where bottlenecks emerged last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mr O’Leary and Kenny Jacobs, chief executive of State airports company DAA, have both warned that these issues could hit Irish holidaymakers this summer.
Mr Hololei pointed out that the EU’s Single European Sky 2-plus initiative would give more power to overall network manager Eurocontrol.
However, airlines generally are sceptical about this as they argue that the EU made no progress with its original Single European Sky proposal over 20 years.
Mr O’Leary’s call for Eurocontrol to be given responsibility for overflights came after he voiced frustration with what he said was the EU’s failure to make any progress at all with the initiative.
DG Move’s director said he shared airlines’ frustration at the lack of progress with the Single European Sky, despite the EU’s best efforts. “We need to keep pushing,” he acknowledged.
European air traffic controllers face big challenges this year as war in Ukraine has curtailed airspace while prompting a trebling in military flights.
At the same time, demand for flights is likely to grow 15 per cent on last summer, when lack of preparedness led to chaos at many European hubs.
Mr Hololei acknowledged that the increased number of flights, combined with limited airspace, added to the risk of disrupted flights this summer. “Even small challenges can have a big knock-on impact,” he said.
However, he added that he did not expect a repeat of the severe problems that marred travel for many last summer.
Eurocontrol director Raúl Medina said that about one in four European flights was delayed last month.
“You might not think that is a very big figure, but we are still only in February,” he cautioned.
Eurocontrol’s figures also showed Irish air travel is closing in on pre-pandemic totals. Daily flights in and out of the Republic averaged 672 in February, just 3 per cent below 2019, the year before Covid struck.
