EU accelerates plans for ‘single sky’ system

European Union officials, burned by Europe's chaotic response to the ash clouds caused by a volcanic eruption in April, are fast-tracking plans to unify their patchwork air-traffic system, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Unifying the 27-country bloc's national air-management systems under a project dubbed the Single European Sky is expected to cut flight times, reduce delays and trim both fuel consumption and carbon emissions more than 10 percent.

EU transport ministers are set to endorse a push to accelerate that effort. A key element of the program will be Eurocontrol, the umbrella organization for air-traffic control, which isn't part of the EU and has operated in obscurity for 50 years.

The transport ministers also are expected to back plans to designate Eurocontrol as the Continent's new performance-review body overseeing air-traffic controllers, with authority for the first time to judge their efficiency under one standard. Later this year, the EU is set to appoint Eurocontrol to manage Europe's first unified network of international air lanes.

Plans for the Single Sky took on new urgency when Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in April, prompting the closure of almost 80 percent of European airspace. The EU's disorganised reaction convinced officials that greater coordination is vital. The Single Sky "would not have solved the problem, but would have enabled a more nimble response," EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said in April.

Eurocontrol, which is funded by member nations and airline fees, leveraged its Continent-wide view to play a big role in getting airspace reopened. The EU has since established a crisis center at Eurocontrol's headquarters.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)