1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,800 25,000 aircraft fly through European airspace every day. 2 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:13,040 One flight in five is delayed by an average of 22 minutes, and most of these delays are 3 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:15,480 due to airspace congestion. 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:21,120 However, air traffic will double in the next 10 years, and so the problems of delay will 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:23,040 only get worse. 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:27,600 So what can be done to improve the situation? 7 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:32,760 The problem is fragmentation of European airspace, a veritable patchwork of different systems. 8 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,320 The sky is not one vast infinite space. 9 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,120 Currently, each country is responsible for the sky above it. 10 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:44,280 Europe today has nearly 70 national and local control centres, which work according to 31 11 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:45,280 different systems. 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:51,440 Everyone thinks that we fly like birds, from one point to another, in a straight line. 13 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:52,440 Well, no luck. 14 00:00:52,440 --> 00:01:00,160 For the pilot, you have to be able to juggle, adapt, sneak, sometimes waste time, and have 15 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:05,880 a workload on vocal communication. 16 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:10,480 For example, on a flight between Rome and Amsterdam, an aircraft can change course, 17 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:17,120 fly around military zones, and contact control centres a dozen times. 18 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:21,600 For each flight, an aircraft needs the green light from all the authorities concerned. 19 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:24,960 Each authorization gives it a route to follow and an altitude. 20 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:29,080 Depending on the procedures, the zones to be crossed, and the weather, changes in heading, 21 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,120 speed, and altitude are frequent. 22 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:36,480 This has a snowball effect, and causes delays to take-offs throughout the day. 23 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:41,720 The problem with the congestion in the airspace over Europe at the moment is, as a major hub 24 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:47,840 carrier, KLM, and the other major hub carriers as well, have problems with that the majority 25 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:50,280 of their passengers are connecting passengers. 26 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,680 So arrival punctuality is most important for us. 27 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:58,680 And if we lose our arrival punctuality, as was the case in Europe, and is still the case, 28 00:01:58,680 --> 00:01:59,680 we lose our passengers. 29 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,560 So we lose really a lot of money. 30 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,520 The European Commission wants to improve the situation. 31 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,720 It's proposing to harmonize air traffic management to make it more efficient, whilst guaranteeing 32 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,280 the same level of safety as today. 33 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:16,920 The deadline for establishing new regulations for the European single sky has been set at 34 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:19,680 the 31st of December 2004. 35 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,880 The task will be to restructure airspace according to traffic demands, and not according 36 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:25,280 to national borders. 37 00:02:49,680 --> 00:03:02,400 For the Commission, one of the priorities for the European single sky is safety. 38 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,080 Air travel is one of the safest means of transport. 39 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:10,600 But to guarantee safety, harmonization of systems and stricter regulations are necessary. 40 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,720 Eurocontrol will have an important role to play in this area. 41 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:19,640 For 40 years, this organization has been coordinating air traffic control with national authorities. 42 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:24,400 It brings together European specialists in the technical domain, whose expertise will 43 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:26,640 be used to establish new regulations. 44 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:57,840 Restructuring and rationalizing European airspace implies cooperation with the other institutions 45 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,640 concerned, particularly the military. 46 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,640 Civil and military authorities already work together in air traffic management. 47 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:27,640 In future, even closer collaboration will be key. 48 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:53,640 But faced with the European single sky project, some air traffic controllers are concerned 49 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:58,640 about the future, and are afraid that liberalization of the skies will put their jobs at risk. 50 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:49,640 As for fears of job losses at the European level, they're unjustified. 51 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:54,640 At the European scale, nothing is easy in this domain where technological change will be necessary. 52 00:05:54,640 --> 00:06:00,640 A single sky for Europe is an ambitious project, but it's indispensable as traffic continues to increase. 53 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:04,640 To achieve it, all key players will have to work closely together. 54 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:09,640 If they do, they'll be able to build a safe European single sky, whilst reducing flight times 55 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,640 and consequently the delays we experience all too often.