Simon Hocquard, CANSO Director General, shares some concerns for ANSPs in the years ahead.
As European air traffic continues to grow and our airspace becomes more complex, I would like to bring to your attention the significant challenges facing Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs).
ANSPs around the world are responsible for ensuring that millions of flights navigate our increasingly crowded airspace safely and efficiently. The importance of this role cannot be overstated.
This summer, we witnessed a resurgence of air travel across Europe. Despite the challenges posed by this growth in levels of traffic and its unprecedented volatility, ANSPs have maintained their commitment to safety and efficiency. However, the increased demand has also highlighted certain barriers to optimal performance.
Addressing these challenges will require both substantial investment in infrastructure, staffing, and technology and coordinated efforts by all the stakeholders of the European aviation network – ANSPs and airspace users. Currently, the EU regulatory framework requires ANSPs to contain costs, increase capacity and optimise flight trajectories, regardless of what the demand is. ANSP performance targets set under the Single European Sky Performance and Charging Scheme impose significant restrictions on their investments. ANSPs are struggling to keep pace with growing air traffic demands due to financial constraints that limit their ability to upgrade systems and recruit the necessary staff. This situation has resulted in air traffic flow management delays, especially during peak travel seasons, and underscores the urgent need for a revised regulatory approach.
This letter aims to explain these challenges and the necessary steps to address them effectively.
Operational Challenges
Traffic growth
Last year, European ANSPs successfully guided 10.2 million flights through the skies, with very high levels of safety. According to a forecast by EUROCONTROL[1], the number of flights in Europe[2] this year is likely to reach 10.6 million, an increase of 4.9 per cent compared to 2023. This trend is expected to continue, with an increase to 10.9 million flights in 2025, 11.2 million in 2026 and 12.1 million in 2030.
Declining ATCO numbers
Many ANSPs are confronted with declining numbers of air traffic control officers (ATCOs) and other operational staff, and they face a wave of retirements over the next decade. That challenge is exacerbated by a competitive market for talent coupled with the fact that it takes on average two to three years to train an ATCO.
Impact of the Ukraine Conflict
Traffic in 2024 has continued to be impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with up to 20 per cent of European airspace unavailable as a result of the conflict[3]. Several states in the region – particularly states bordering Ukraine – have had to close part of their airspace, leading to notable variations across Europe due to shifts in traffic flows. Additionally, more airspace has been reserved for military use, resulting in even less available airspace capacity for civilian use and reducing the possibilities to react to adverse weather or any other external factors. At the same time, the affected ANSPs have to maintain operational readiness for when the conflict comes to an end, which will call for rapid and significant efforts to restore the traffic in this region.
Adverse Weather
Last year, weather was attributed for the first time as the main reason for en-route Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) delay, which is the delay time between the take-off as requested by the aircraft operator and the slot granted by the Network Manager due to lack of airspace capacity[4]. Adverse weather has continued to play a significant role this summer: in July, weather-related ATFM delay per flight was 2.4 minutes per flight, over 40 per cent more than in July 2023[5]. This impacts the efficiency of air traffic services due to the required rerouting of aircraft for safety reasons.
Financial Constraints
RP4 targets and Restricted Resources
The Cost Efficiency targets recently set by the European Commission for the Fourth Reference Period (RP4) of the EU Performance and Charging Scheme (2025-2029) impose limits on what ANSPs can charge their customers, the airspace users, and therefore what they will earn. While the intent is understandable, these will exacerbate this already difficult situation. They have failed to strike the right balance with targets in other areas under the Scheme to enable successful outcomes for ANSPs and the airlines. Rather, they continue the pattern established since 2020 whereby the main focus is on Cost Efficiency rather than delivering the needed capacity that would reduce or eradicate air traffic flow management delays.
Cost Efficiency targets are therefore a false economy as they have compelled ANSPs to underinvest in their infrastructure for many years, holding back the necessary transition to virtualisation and digitalisation of their services. Furthermore, they have hampered recruitment and training of much needed new ATCOs: this negatively impacts an ANSP's ability to accommodate the unpredictable traffic growth of the airlines, resulting in delays to flights and disruption for passengers. In a time of increasing demand, this resolute focus on cost reduction is counter-productive, as it restricts airspace capacity today and in the future.
Costs per Service Unit
The financial figures tell an important story. Over the last twenty years, total en-route air navigation services (ANS) costs charged by ANSPs have remained broadly stable in real terms, whereas the total number of services provided by ANSPs to airspace users have grown. In other words, the en-route real unit costs per flight hour in 2023 were nearly 22 per cent cheaper than in 2003 levels in real terms.[6]
Call to Action and Conclusion
CANSO emphasises that continuous cost containment will hinder the development of the European aviation network in the long term. Investing in the future to meet ATM capacity demands is crucial. Collaboration and shared ambitions for a safe, stable, and efficient ATC system are essential for achieving expected growth and reducing aviation’s CO2 impact.
If ANSPs do not have sufficient financial means to provide the expected resources during RP4, Europe’s aviation industry will find itself in an even more significant airspace capacity crunch before the end of the decade, with increasing delays to passengers across Europe.
In order to provide what the airlines want and their passengers deserve, the priority for the regulatory framework should be targets that enable traffic growth and facilitate technological transformation. Performance targets should be set so that the ANSPs can plan extensive investments in new technologies, new procedures and new air traffic controllers.
We recognise that the European Commission is in a difficult position in finding a commonly acceptable long-term solution to the issue of airspace capacity. Therefore, we call on the airline industry and the Commission to work with CANSO to ensure the efficient growth of the aviation sector in Europe.
CANSO reaffirms its total commitment to the people involved in the safe, stable, and efficient operations of the European Network. Despite the challenging conditions and well-documented staff shortages in many areas, ANSP employees tirelessly go the extra mile every day to deliver the best services possible. Safety and security shall remain the absolute priorities under all circumstances.
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[1] EUROCONTROL Seven-Year Forecast, Spring 2024
[2] EUROCONTROL’s forecast covers the 44 countries of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC)
[3] EUROCONTROL Press Release: July 2024 – Overview of Network Performance
[4] EUROCONTROL Performance Review Report 2023
[5] EUROCONTROL Press Release: July 2024 – Overview of Network Performance
[6] EUROCONTROL Data Snapshot #45: Long term perspective on ANS performance – in 2023, total flight hours controlled were 45.4 per cent greater than in 2003, whereas total en-route ANS costs had increased only 13.9 per cent. This means that in 2023 en-route real unit cost per flight hour were at 78.2 per cent of 2003 levels.
