Articles related to "Single European Sky: Towards greener air travel?"

Anger over the failure of many EU countries to cooperate on air traffic control erupted yesterday (9 October) in the European Parliament’s transport committee, with the panel's chairman accusing national leaders of “deceit” and reneging on commitments to improve aviation performance.

SPECIAL REPORT / Europe’s plan to consolidate a patchwork of national air traffic control systems to reduce flight delays and boost environmental performance appears grounded for now, hampered by national governments’ inaction and fear of losing sovereignty. EurActiv reports from the Farnborough Airshow.

Regional airlines are challenging the European Commission’s proposals to revamp the way flight landing and takeoff timeslots are allocated, alleging that measures now under consideration by the European Parliament would cost jobs and harm smaller carriers.

To maintain world leadership, the EU aeronautics industry must not rest on its laurels, but rather seek to increase funding in research and development and team up with universities to produce the high-skilled workers needed to face up to global competition.

The €1.6 billion European programme to drive the aviation sector towards more environmentally-friendly development is now on track, according to Allan Cook, president of the Aerospace and Defense industries association of Europe (ASD).

Partners involved in the development of the EU's future air traffic management (ATM) system have signed contracts worth some €2 billion to kick off work on the scheme, which is supposed to help the sector prepare for a projected doubling or even tripling of air traffic by 2020.

The aeronautics industry called on the Brussels executive and EU governments to provide support to airlines hit by the credit crunch. It also urged public authorities to increase support for R&D to help the sector deliver the next generation of environmentally-friendly aircraft. 

It is not possible to modernise European air traffic management infrastructure unless competing companies work together and airlines are involved in the development of new technologies to ensure that they satisfy operational needs, the executive director of an EU programme aimed at overhauling Europe's airspace told EurActiv in an interview.

In a bid to cut costs and reduce the environmental impact of aviation, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland, which together cover more than half of all flights in Europe, have agreed to merge their airspace and manage traffic irrespective of national borders.

Transport ministers yesterday (9 October) gave the go-ahead to the launch of the development phase of the EU's next-generation air traffic management system. But airlines slammed the EU for giving higher priority to a "burdensome" emissions trading scheme than to realising the 'Single European Sky', which they say could significantly reduce aviation emissions.