Travel chaos was more or less the norm in the summer of 2022. As the aviation sector seemed to recover after being unprepared for the spike in travel once Covid-19 restrictions were lifted around the world, this year has not been much more promising so far.
According to data from Eurocontrol, there were 34 days of Air Traffic Control (ATC) industrial action impacting air transport in Europe between 1 March and 9 April 2023. Strikes have mainly occurred in France, but there were also several in Germany and the UK. In comparison, for the whole of 2022, there were only 5 days of industrial action in France. In the first few months of 2023, 237,000 flights were impacted by ATC strikes.
Last month I expressed concern about Air Traffic Control (ATC) performance in Europe and the US. Both are disappointing.
Willie Walsh, IATA Director General
Commenting on the impact of the ATC actions, International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General, Willie Walsh, called ATC performance disappointing. He pointed out that while airlines and airports have increased the number of personnel especially to avoid further disruptions this summer, a “lack of ATC resources nationally, particularly in Germany and France, is preventing that”.
Although there has been some improvement in ATC performance in 2023 compared to 2022, it is still “unacceptably behind” 2019 levels, Walsh criticised, which has severely impacted some of Europe’s most congested airports. London Gatwick, he exemplified, is now the worst performing airport among the 31 major airports reported by Eurocontrol and sits at number 106 out of the 110 airports covered by the entire data set.
It is disheartening that the politicians who were quick to criticize airlines last year, have remained silent about the disruption caused by government controlled or regulated ATC providers.
Willie Walsh, IATA Director General
“What can these politicians do so we don’t have another year of European ATC performance below pre-Covid levels? To start, they need to be held accountable for the economic and environmental costs of poor ATC performance, so they have an incentive to make better decisions. This summer has shown us that the ‘to do’ list is already well-known – proper staffing, modernization with the Single European Sky and finding ways to maintain essential ATC services during periods of industrial action, while respecting workers’ rights”, Walsh concluded.
