IATA is the main Association representing Airlines at the global level, what are the challenges that the Air Transport sector is facing?

There are many common challenges facing the Global Aviation sector today, but each region has its own specific issues. In Europe, we have a looming infrastructure capacity crisis – both in terms of airports and airspace. We need to find room for an additional 500 million passengers by 2036. Not only do we need to create more capacity, but we need to manage the capacity we have in a smarter way.

Europe is also not an easy place for airlines; the high cost of doing business – infrastructure charges, taxes, and a high burden of regulation mean that on average, European airlines make half the profit margin of their US counterparts.

There are a host of other issues IATA is helping the industry to tackle – almost too many to list here. But obviously, safety and security will always be our top priorities.

The Airlines and the Air Navigation Service Providers are working closer and closer at national and European level, especially in the framework of the Single European Sky. Which areas in your opinion represent a priority to further support the improvement in the performance of the aviation system?

Like the road & rail networks, airspace is an essential infrastructure to support Europe’s economy and society. The Single European Sky project was developed to enable these goals, unfortunately, it has not made enough progress.

We urgently need to move faster. Data from Eurocontrol shows that in the first half of 2018, Air Traffic Management (ATM) delays more than doubled to 47,000 minutes per day, 133% more than in the same period last year. In 2016 we registered 15.5 million minutes of delay, most of this huge figure is due to network inefficiencies. To put this in context, it amounts to nearly 11,000 days lost a year. Similarly, if the average trip from earth to the moon takes 3 days, we would travel to the moon and back 1,800 times with these delays! 

The cost of these delays amounts to €1.71 billion (15.5m x €110.5 (cost of minute of delay) (ECTL Recommended Values) to the industry and travelling public.

Passengers are rightly fed up with delays and should not bear the cost of inefficiencies.  There is an urgent need to work with the management and the controllers of our airspace to agree a way forward which delivers the efficiency and capacity Europe desperately requires.

The Performance and Charging Scheme needs to be strengthened for RP3 – there must be penalties where service provided is paid but do not deliver the agreed capacity. 

We seek that ANSPs modernize their infrastructure and deploy the SESAR program, targeting those technologies that will deliver capacity.  We see across Europe that some ANSPs have charged us for planned investments that they have not made.

We see several situations in Europe where staff levels are below the operational requirement. ANSPs should ensure they recruit the staff that we fund in their unit rates.

The role of the Network Manager must be strengthened – just monitoring the individual situation of states ANSP and recommending performance improvements is no longer enough.  The NM must be empowered to plan and configure the network for the benefit of European air transport.

Airspace modernization must be delivered.  Here we support the European Commission in its intent to reform the Europe airspace architecture. In parallel and supporting this, IATA is working with several key states, including Italy, to develop a “bottom-up” National Airspace Strategy.

Finally, a decision must be taken with SES2+ - it’s been stuck for too long and events have moved on.  We call on the Commission to ensure that the airline voice is included in the strategy for unblocking SES.

IATA and ENAV are jointly working in the development of the Italian National Airspace Strategy, initiative aimed at pooling and facilitating the cooperation of the key aviation actors. What are in your views the key benefits that we could expect for the future?

The benefits could be immense – In order to demonstrate the importance of this issue, IATA commissioned SEO Amsterdam, an independent economic consultancy, to model the benefits if European airspace was modernized in-line with SES.

Their estimation is that a modernized and optimized European airspace will generate an additional €245 billion in GDP annually from 2035, including 1 million extra jobs. The value can be unlocked by 2035 through shorter flight times, more frequencies, and lower costs.

National Airspace Strategies are all about collaboration and partnering for mutual gain. They will ensure airlines are at the heart of the strategic decision-making process on investment, modernization and reform of air navigation services.

We are working with all the Italian Stakeholders, including ENAV, ENAC and local Carriers, to develop a comprehensive National Airspace Strategy that includes:

• Full involvement of the aviation community

• Investment decisions strategically planned and agreed collaboratively

• Planning for better business continuity, in the event of Industrial action and System failures

• Achieving airspace change for more capacity and more efficient routes, to reduce fuel burn and emissions

• Delivering better connectivity

Airspace reform and modernization isn’t a quick fix. The industry needs to be united and working together to make the case for change. The initial steps to defining the Italian National Airspace Strategy is well underway and we hope to launch it later this year.

It is still early, but I truly hope that we are setting down the foundations that will improve the air travel experience for millions of Italian and European passengers, while creating massive benefits for the European economy.