5 March 2024: ERA hosted a webinar last week with EUROCONTROL on the upcoming summer season from an air traffic management perspective, providing members with an overview of the planning process, the main delay hotspots, mitigation measures, and Network Manager operational priorities.

ERA was delighted to welcome Stephanie Vincent, Head of the Operational Planning Unit at EUROCONTROL who joined a cross section of members to deliver a detailed presentation on the upcoming summer season from the viewpoint of the Network Manager.

With traffic returning to near pre-pandemic levels, continued airspace availability in Eastern Europe due to the Ukraine war, as well as increased weather disruption, ATM strikes and staffing problems, created significant disruption to ERA members in 2023. Member airlines increased their traffic by 4.2 per cent compared to 2022 but saw their ATM delay jump by 43 per cent. With many of the issues from last year expected to remain for the coming summer, it was a good opportunity to understand what levels of delay members can expect and where the main capacity constrained areas are likely to sit.

As in previous years, Network measures are once again required to offload the most delay affected airspaces but provide a level of predictability that would otherwise create additional complexity, delay and emissions were the situation left unchecked.

With an increased focus on cross-border weather management, prioritising the first rotation and delivery of declared capacities, ERA is hopeful that the increase in delay that our members suffered last year will not be repeated this summer and look forward to working with EUROCONTROL and the air navigation service providers to keep delays to a minimum.

To access the presentation from the webinar (locked for members only) please click here [1].

To receive a recording of the meeting, please contact nick.rhodes@eraa.org [2]