EUROCONTROL studies the impact of ATC strikes in Europe in a new report
EUROCONTROL has published a study analysing the impact of air traffic management (ATM) related strikes in Europe in terms of flight cancellations, delays and emissions and testing various mitigating measures.
The study was carried out by the EUROCONTROL Network Manager (NM) on the request of the European Commission and it closely examines air traffic control (ATC) industrial action in France, Italy and Greece between 2018 and 2022. It highlights considerable variations between the impacts of strikes in these countries. In total, the strikes generated costs of around €800 million for airspace users, caused around 3.7 million minutes of ATFM delay and resulted in some 67 tons of extra CO2 emissions.
The right to strike is enshrined in the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights and primarily governed by national laws. As safety is a priority, ATM strikes inevitably reduce capacity in the airspace of the State concerned and may contribute to congestion in the airspace of neighbouring States or area control centres. Strikes appear to be more detrimental to the Network and to other States if they occur in the core of the Network.
