The International Air Transport Association (IATA) issued the following comment as the Council prepares to vote on amendments to the Single European Sky (SES) 2+ package that will gut its vision to modernize European air traffic management.
SES was meant to triple Europe’s airspace capacity, cut costs in half, improve safety by a factor of 10, and improve environmental performance by 10%. The compromise that the Member States are expected to approve on Friday will prevent the SES from delivering on its promise, dent European competitiveness, and leave much-needed emissions savings unrealized.
“Failure. All we have to show for the years of SES2+ discussions to unite Europe’s skies is a grubby deal that sells out to narrow national interests and creates a few useless jobs for bureaucrats supported by the European political elite. Oblivious to the consequences, those involved will no doubt soon be patting themselves on the back. Meanwhile travelers, the environment and airlines must prepare to pay with delays, higher costs and unnecessary emissions. It’s a deal that should not be done,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
