FABEC Performance of the first half year of 2015

The first half year of the second reference period showed a continuation of the trend of the previous months. The number of flights in FABEC airspace increased moderately, on average by 1.6 percent. However, there continued to be significant variation in these numbers at the various control centres. Looking at regions, traffic grew the most in the northwest of FABEC airspace (Brussels and Amsterdam).

From January until June 2015, the average ATFM delay per en-route flight was 0.58 minutes and thus close to the target for the whole of 2015 (0.48 minutes per flight). It was a slight improvement compared with the previous year's value of 0.64 minutes. The increase in capacity-related delay that was observed in 2014 continued in 2015. It was the major cause of the diminished operational service quality, well ahead of industrial action or poor weather conditions. This meant that the ATFM delay caused by air navigation services – without weather and industrial action – increased from 0.29 to 0.36 minutes per flight.

In the first two quarters of 2015, the number of take-offs and landings in FABEC increased slightly by 0.8 per cent. In total, FABEC tower controllers handled 1,236,186 flights (previous year 1,226,640). The average ATFM delay per arrival got worse, from 0.56 to 0.80 minutes per flight. In particular, this was observed at the airports in Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich and Frankfurt. Bad weather caused 57% of this negative development. Only 0.14 minutes per flight can be attributed to air navigation services.

You can find detailed information on in the FABEC Capacity Report on FABEC.eu