Delays, flight cancellations, and the lame security check – the do not want to accept the German Minister of transport. On Friday they talk about during the flight of the summit in Hamburg with representatives of the aviation industry.
The growth in European air traffic is so strong that the industry can always afford more often to the limit of the device. On “all fronts”: The handling of baggage and passport falters act, there are times One comes to the often unreasonable wait for entry or exit and, above all, in the safety control. The air navigation is overwhelmed by the volume of traffic that airlines are able to satisfy the steadily rising demand of the clientele.
Most likely flight cancellations or delays make the headlines when it comes to strikes as in the case of Ryanair, or if airlines like Air Berlin to go bankrupt. However, the following Figures do not reflect the States of emergency, but the everyday life in the overstretched air traffic in Germany and Europe.
The Numbers of terror
The International air transport Association IATA has calculated that in the first half of this year, a day of 47,000 minutes of delay in the European air traffic – which is more than twice as much as in the prior-year period.
The Internet portal EUClaim, the fight for passenger rights has found that in the same period, more than 15,500 flights from and to Germany, as well as within the country canceled. In the year before there were only a little more than half, of 8,800.
According to the same source, there were 3778 flights, which were more than three hours late, according to 2268 in the first half of 2017. The impression of some traveler, that in the flight traffic over Europe and Germany in particular, Chaos rule, is evidenced also by Numbers.
Fly could be so beautiful! There were not too many passengers and too little aircraft and air traffic controllers
Sparsely-equipped Airlines
Responsible for the condition of all the parties Involved are almost. The airlines, for example, the result of the fierce price war under enormous cost pressure, through the use of more and more staff and machines to the limits of their capacity. The result: The flight schedules are dense, the reserves are thin.
In addition, the airlines often are not enough machines are available. The “Handelsblatt” quoted by Oliver Wagner, a member of the Executive Board of Eurowings, the “laments share a lack of Jets, used aircraft and to spare”.
Quite a bleak Outlook
Also with air traffic control, there are problems: Personnel shortages in the air traffic controllers are increasingly leading to delays. If an aircraft missed a Slot (which is the scheduled departure time), which leads to ever-increasing delays in subsequent operations of this machine. The European air navigation Eurocontrol warns that it will come in the future to even more delays. By 2040, they are expected, under current conditions, an increase in delays by a factor of Seven.
In the air traffic control ruled, and personnel bottlenecks as well as restrictions by a lack of European cooperation and, in consequence, there is pilot to flight, explains Matthias von Randow, Director of the Federal Association of the German air traffic economy (BDL).
There is a lot of sky in Europe
“Our industry had to realize that even the sky has limits.” What is depending on your point of view, either a Paradox or a truism, sounds from the mouth of the air travel decision-makers, such as Klaus-Dieter Scheurle, almost like a cry for help. Scheurle, head of the Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), and President of the BDL.
Above the clouds a limitless freedom? Puff cake! Alone in the airspace above Europe, there are 27 limitations
The limits of the sky over Europe, one can even count: It is the national state borders of the member States of the EU. Since the nineties there have been efforts to heaven, and to implement a Single European Sky (SES). Have been unsuccessful so far: There are still 27 different air traffic control systems in Europe.
A lot of very thick boards
Too little staff on the ground and in the air, too little on-the-fly Material, a highly fragmented sky, a lack of European cooperation in flight safety on the one hand, and a constant growing demand for – if possible, flights cheap – on the other side: The already existing problems in the European air traffic will be significantly worse.
The Minister of transport of the Federation and the länder and the German industry, representatives of airlines, airports and air navigation will have to drill a lot of thick boards, when they meet on Friday for the Hamburger “aviation summit”. A lack of conversation topics, you will not suffer in any case.