URGENT NEED FOR EUROPE TO ACCELERATE SINGLE EUROPEAN SKY, SAYS IATA

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah
SINGAPOR (Bernama) - Europe must urgently follow-up on its promise
from last year to accelerate the Single European Sky and ensure that safe
airspace remains open for business.

In making the call, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the
International Air Transport Association (IATA) Giovanni Bisignani said European
Transport Ministers should agree to avoid a repeat of the 2010 chaos by
embracing a common process to determine whether and when it is safe to fly.

In a statement from Geneva, IATA said it was encouraged by the improved
coordination of European authorities, thus far, in managing its airspace in
light of the Grimsvotn volcanic eruption.

However, the association cautioned that the absence of a formal agreement at
the political level to respond in a coordinated and harmonised manner left
passengers and shippers vulnerable to fragmented decision-making.

"Safety is always our top priority and without any compromise. Work over the
last year has put in place a European crisis coordination structure that is
facilitating a much more effective management of this ash crisis at a working
level," he said.

Bisignani also said Grimsvotn was a dramatic reminder of the disappointing
lack of progress at the political level on the Single European Sky.

"The potential for a patchwork of inconsistent state decisions on airspace
management still exists because there is a major disconnect between the improved
process and state decisions on airspace availability," said Bisignani.

The 2010 volcanic ash crisis resulted in unnecessary blanket airspace
closures because European states took uncoordinated decisions based on a
theoretical ash dispersion model with no empirical testing.

Over the last year the European Commission, working with European agencies,
including Eurocontrol and airlines, developed a new approach which recommended
that States should not implement blanket closures of airspace.

It also said regulators should accept the capability of airlines to conduct
their own safety risk assessments prior to flight in any ash affected area.

"Airlines and their customers need certainty. The process is working much
more effectively and we have avoided the blanket airspace closures that brought
much of the world to a standstill last year.

"But there is still no formal obligation for a unified and coordinated
response," he said.

It is estimated that the mismanagement of 2010 volcanic ash crisis cost
airlines US$1.8 billion in lost revenue.