Galery

2

1

Flying from Athens to London, Paris, Madrid and the Scandinavian countries will be shorter with at least one hour. It is important to note that not only time but also ticket prices will change. Tickets will be cheaper for flights around Europe because airplanes will consume less fuel.

According to a new air traffic management program by the EC, which is called “United European Sky,” the air space above Europe will unite at height of over 9 000 meters to 14 000 meters. Basically this means that airlines will be able to choose new and shorter routes, in order to reach their destinations. This will directly affect that duration of the flights and the ticket prices.

Upcoming steps to be done were discussed on the three day annual congress of flight dispatchers. The congress took place in Koss island and 280 people from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, participated.

 “The goal of the EC is to introduce common security rules and standards in those countries, in relation to management and control of air traffic,” stressed Patrick Peters, chairman of the European organization for air dispatchers.

More precisely it was noted that right now most air corridors make many zigzag movements and as a result an airplane flying from Athens to London passes over countries, which are not part of the visual straight line from Greece to England. This not only slows the airplane down until it reaches its destination but it also consumes more fuel.

“The new corridors will basically be straight lines without making zigzags,” explained Angelos Sotiropoulos, chairman of Greek air dispatchers. He also noted that this will save at least an hour for flights from Athens to Paris, Madrid and London.

The management of “United European Sky” will not depend on each country separately but on groups of countries, which will unite their air control systems. A Blue Mediterranean Sky program is planned for the region of the Eastern Mediterranean, which will include the following countries: Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta with observers from Albania, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan.

As it was noted during the congress, all European countries will have to start conforming with the new common requirements for offering air traffic services, in order for “united European Sky” to reach its goal. Even though Greece has a key geographical role and services many flights daily, the government is taking a long time to conform with the requirements and this endangers it of losing “stocks” in the air traffic management, which would bring significant income.