EU targets for Single European Sky performance scheme "unrealistic" say CANSO European CEOs

At a meeting on 6 October in Brussels, the European CANSO CEO Committee (EC3) discussed the Commissions proposal for EU-wide targets across four Key Performance Areas of safety, environment, cost efficiency and capacity. The EC3 confirmed that although CANSO members support the Commissions objective to drive the improvement of the European ATM performance, the suggested targets are unrealistic and do not take into account the interaction between the four Key Performance Areas. CANSO European Members believe the methodology and tools used to draw conclusions and to set concrete and binding targets are not sufficiently mature. For example:

The period used for the benchmarking analysis - 2003-2008 - only includes growth years for the air transport industry without considering the impact of particular events, such the economic downturn, or volcanic ash crisis

The target for the EU average unit rate should not only be set on an analysis of the 2009 figures, but should also include 2010 and 2011

The economic modeling is too inaccurate to support target setting.

CANSO Director General Graham Lake said;

CANSO has made continual representations to the Commission on our concerns over the Performance Scheme, but these have not been addressed. The adoption of unrealistic targets risks damaging the credibility of the performance scheme, and we therefore request the European Commission reconsider the Performance Targets. In the meantime, CANSOs European Members will be available to assist the Commission in every way possible, and will continue to work on realistic and workable proposals for this vital element of the Single European Sky.