High cost-efficient

FABEC ANSPs have consistently reduced unit costs while delivering increased capacity for airspace users under the Single European Sky performance scheme. Additionally, members have overcome national differences in governance, ownership, national legal obligations and accounting systems to develop a common FABEC performance plan to align with Single European Sky objectives. The joint plan ensures FABEC delivers high cost-efficiency for airspace users. Based on study provided by the European Commission, Europe’s total costs are 17 percent below those in the US.

The pandemic revealed the vulnerability of the system to unexpected traffic decline and revenue loss, making the case for improved resilience as passengers return to the skies. Handling 55% of European traffic, FABEC suffered more than half of the total loss, creating financial as well as operational challenges.

Resilience is the key

Traffic volatility is also driven by other factors: Climate change causes unpredictable and prolonged weather patterns, geopolitical upheaval disrupts route structure at short notice, and passenger preferences are hard to predict. Investing in a more resilient system is key to maintaining critical airspace infrastructure and meeting capacity and environmental targets going forward.