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Eurocontrol warns ‘lack of air traffic control capacity is expected to cause high delays in nine areas [across Europe]’


Data backs predicted rise in summer flight delays


Eurocontrol warns of ‘challenges’ across Europe this summer. Ian Taylor reports


European air navigation body Eurocontrol has confirmed this summer will be “complex and challenging” for air traffic control, with worse delays than last year and any severe weather “likely to push delay figures even higher”. Eurocontrol noted last week that


air traffic across Europe is up by 5% this year compared to 2024, with “air traffic flow management delays also up 5% [and] these trends are expected to continue into the summer”. It reported: “While some air


navigation service providers (ANSPs) 48 15 MAY 2025


are expected to improve their performance compared to 2024, lack of air traffic control capacity is expected to cause high delays in nine area control centres (ACCs). “These bottlenecks will cause


a daily average delay well above the target established by the EU Performance Plan. Additional disruptions such as weather or strikes could push delays higher.” Eurocontol warned in March


that air traffic control delays and disruption across Europe could be worse this summer than last, with


head of air traffic management operations Steven Moore blaming “a highly saturated network where any issue becomes a network problem” (Travel Weekly, April 3). It noted last summer was “extremely


difficult at times” – despite air traffic in Europe remaining at 96% of 2019’s level – because traffic was not shared evenly, with “many states well above 2019 levels particularly during the summer”. That led to “extremely poor


Continued on page 46 travelweekly.co.uk


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