Airspace user demand continues to ebb significantly

The first quarter of 2013 saw a further decline in traffic volume in the airspace of the FABEC partners ANA (Luxembourg), Belgocontrol (Belgium), DFS (Germany), DSNA (France), LVNL (Netherlands), MUAC (EUROCONTROL) und skyguide (Switzerland). In the busiest airspace of Europe, a total of 1.149 million civil and military flights were conducted - a decline of approximately 63,000 flights over the same period of the previous year (2012: 1.212 million flights), a decline
-5.2 percent compared to the real traffic and a decline of 15.1 percent compared to the traffic forecast laid down in the FABEC performance plan. This significant decline in demand is a continuation of the overall trend of the previous years. Compared to the first quarter 2008 the air traffic volume showed a decline of 165,000 flights (-12.6 percent).

In the first quarter 2013, the service quality provided by the seven FABEC air navigation service providers has further improved. In this period, the average en-route air traffic flow management delay per controlled flight decreased from 0.28 minutes in the first quarter of 2012 to 0.21 minutes in the first quarter of 2013. The total amount of delay decreased from 338.000 minutes in 2012 to 242.000 minutes in 2013. In the first quarter 2013, only 1.21 percent (2012: 1.59 percent) of all 1.149 million controlled flights experienced delays.

"We are concerned about the negative trend of the traffic volume as it shows that the air transport industry is far from having weathered the crisis," said Maurice Georges, Chairman of the FABEC CEO Board. "The FABEC ANSPs expect revenue losses of more than EUR 210 million for the first reference period 2012-2014 alone. This fact cannot be ignored, in particular now that the negotiations about the targets of the second reference period are about to commence.”