New report comparing air traffic management performance in Europe and the United States published

In the ongoing series of comparative reports between Europe and the US, the most recent update looks at operational as well as economic air traffic management (ATM) performance. It reviews both ATM systems since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and continues to track longer term trends and disparities identified in earlier reports.

Although both regions are similar in terms of airspace size, variations exist in their regulatory framework, funding, operational structure, and the measures they employ for air traffic flow management (ATFM), which all have the potential to impact ATM performance.

The new comparative report shows that there is still room to improve ATM performance in Europe. The setting of adequate targets for the upcoming fourth reference period of the Single European Sky is an opportunity to this end.

In addition to providing insights into a vast range of operational and economic areas, the updated report also highlights potential areas for future research.

Background

The report was prepared under the Memorandum of Cooperation between the United States and the European Union by the Air Traffic Organization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA-ATO) and EUROCONTROL on behalf of the European Commission. The objective of the work is to compare, understand, and further improve air traffic management (ATM) performance in both systems.