The head of aviation representative and lobby group the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has deemed a new EU deal – aimed at modernising European air traffic management – a “failure”, warning that all it will actually achieve will be more flight delays, higher costs and unnecessary emissions.
Willie Walsh said the EU’s Single European Sky (SES) deal was meant to triple Europe’s airspace capacity, cut costs in half, improve safety by a factor of 10, and improve environmental performance by 10%.
However, he said the “compromise” deal “will prevent the SES from delivering on its promise, dent European competitiveness, and leave much-needed emissions savings unrealised”.
Mr Walsh said: “Failure. All we have to show for the years of SES2+ discussions to unite Europe’s skies is a grubby deal that sells out to narrow national interests and creates a few useless jobs for bureaucrats supported by the European political elite. Oblivious to the consequences, those involved will no doubt soon be patting themselves on the back. Meanwhile travelers, the environment and airlines must prepare to pay with delays, higher costs and unnecessary emissions. It’s a deal that should not be done.”
