The SME Chamber organises an informative webinar on the new Skills Pass system
11 April 2024
This morning the Malta Chamber of SMEs organised a webinar for its members in collaboration...
Single European Sky 2+
05 October 2013
GRTU Deputy President
Philip Fenech has this week participated in a consultation meeting organized by
MEUSAC on the Single European Sky 2+. This second regulatory package is
performance-oriented. Its ultimate objective is to increase the economic,
financial and environmental performance of the provisions of the Air Navigation
Services in Europe.
Key facts and
figures:
European
skies and airports risk saturation
800 million
passengers pass through Europe's more than 440 airports every year
Each day
there are around 27,000 controlled flights – that means 9 million cross
Europe's skies each year
80% of these
flights are operated within the EU
The number
of flights is expected to increase by 50% over the next 10-20 years
If nothing
is done there will be chaos. Europe would not only have to reject a large
portion of potential demand, it would also be vulnerable to delays and flight
cancellations on an unprecedented scale
Business as
usual- congestion costs will increase around 50% by 2050
The central
problem is that Europe's air traffic management systems are fragmented and
inefficient
GRTU is strongly in
favour of increased efficiencies in air transport and this proposal is exactly
targeted to introduce centralized systems amongst others that would increase
efficiency. Although there might be many arguments against the proposal it is
the way forward and the only logical way in which things can progress. It will
save the cost and time of commuting which we believe will help boost the EU's
economy and increase mobility of tourists. We feel some issues and concerns
might have to be addressed to take into consideration the particular situation
in the Member States but otherwise we feel the aim of the proposal are in
everyone's best interest.
