Is air travel in Europe at risk from future capacity constraints?
Hendriks: En-route capacity is probably adequate now for the next few years. Constraints will first be felt around airports. And while we can support states and airport authorities in increasing airspace and runway capacity, there are many factors outside Eurocontrol’s influence. It’s hard to predict what may happen, as much will depend on community and environmental pressures. However, something that affects us all is the tendency we see for aircraft numbers to grow faster than passenger numbers. This is due to growth of the low cost operators and a trend away from hubs towards more direct routes between regional airports, flown by smaller aircraft. These pressures may be exacerbated by the appearance of very light jets [VLJs], especially if these wish to make use of major airports, as well as smaller regional ones. We’re OK with these developments–we’re keen to give the traveling public what it wants–but there will be repercussions for ATM. Avionics: Are there alternatives? Hendrik
