NEWS FLASH
European carrier are warning of flight delays due to the state of Europe’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, severe weather and infrastructure work at airports as the industry heads for the peak summer travel period.
Ryanair, the largest carrier in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, said, “ATC services in Europe this summer are at their worst levels ever. Ryanair and many other European airlines are having our schedules repeatedly delayed, flights cancelled, and passengers disrupted due to the mismanagement of European ATC. We call on Raul Medina, Director General of Eurocontrol, to explain why Europe’s ATC centres are repeatedly short staffed and now claiming “equipment failures” at the Maastricht centre, which is affecting all European airlines. Over the last three years, Europe’s ATC fees have risen by record levels, but staffing and service levels have continued to decline. We call on EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to take action to urgently reform Europe’s shambolic ATC services”.
Air Serbia, the second largest carrier in the former Yugoslavia, has been heavily impacted over the past few days due to frequent severe storm activity, resulting in refuelling bans at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. Last week, a refuelling ban was in place for several hours. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, the airline is in discussions with authorities for a change is tankering procedures, which would enable for some refuelling to take place in a safe manner during storm activity. Furthermore, Air Serbia has warned of delays on its charter services to Antalya, to which it maintains up to eight daily rotations to the peak summer period. “Due to extensive infrastructure work being carried out at the airport in Antalya, landing capacity is limited and at the same time ground handling is extremely reduced. Therefore, in the coming period, there will be certain deviations from the planned flight schedule for all airlines that fly to Antalya, including Air Serbia, which during the summer months has a significant number of charters to this popular Turkish destination”, the carrier said. Last Sunday, many airlines saw delays of between two and four hours at Antalya Airport.
Wizz Air, the third largest carrier in the former Yugoslavia, said, “In the past few days, the European airspace has been severely impacted due to airport slot management issues, caused by simultaneous weather events throughout Europe. These events have impacted the capabilities of air traffic control authorities and Eurocontrol to manage industry-wide traffic volumes, leading to major delays and cancellations across the European airline industry. Wizz Air was prepared to ensure smooth summer operations for its passengers, however, the air traffic control system seems to be experiencing significant issues this summer”.
Due to an ongoing taxiway upgrade project, a number flights departing Zagreb Airport have seen persistent delays over the past few weeks. This has been caused, in part, due to the necessity for aircraft to backtrack on the runway upon departure or arrival. The project is expected to be completed at the end of next month.
Ursula could not care less
ReplyDeleteI'm sure she can control the weather.
DeleteAnd the ATC capacity of each country in the continent!
SMFH...
Ryanair and Wizzair are aviation cancer.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
DeleteSvo zlo moderne avijacije dolazi od Rajana i Viza. Robovlasnički odns prema posadama, aerodromima. Također odnos prema putnicima kao prema stoci. Turnaround od 25 minuta sa 150 putnika po letu, pa se ne stižu slotivi..
DeleteIf they cant make it up on time for the slot then they wouldn't keep the turnaround time at 25 minutes. There is a block time for every flight, for example SKP-VCE is 01:45h while the flight it self is 01:20-01:30h depends from the winds. Those 15 minutes are additional which helps the flight to be on time. Wizz Air and Ryanair among others are the leading airlines in Europe and they make us fly more and cheaper. It is not true that Wizz Air is treating its employees like you say, however i cant say the same for Ryanair.
DeleteRyanair treats its staff better then Wizz
DeleteNobody is forcing you to fly with the cancers of aviation
DeleteBoth are constantly complaing abot ATC, but at the same time they file, let’s say - stupid routes costing them time (as main decision factor in flight planning has become the cost), they try to avoid restrictions by filling low levels and then request to climb higher and so on and so forth. Check Eurocontrol initiative “All together now” and it will become clear.
DeleteSo all of the expect ATC to have complete control over all flights avoiding thunderstorms and to do that with same volume of traffic? If RYR and WZZ can find a way how to pack 340 pax into A320, I’m all ears
ReplyDeleteAir Serbia can easily divert its Antalya flights to Gazipasa airport.
ReplyDeleteIts just east of Antalya at Alanya.
As far as i know JU already used that option the last summers many times.
Easier said than done, these are charter flights with buses organized by tourist agencies to take travellers to their hotels. I'd imagine they'd rather have a delay of a few hours rather than have to deal with rearranging the busses and guides to pick and distribute people to their final destinations. Neither the extra time, energy, nor money this consumes are really worth it just to cut a few hours delay of inconvenience for the passengers
DeleteAh, thats right i didnt consider that.
DeleteMaybe it would just be better to announce fix charters bound specifically for Gazipasa.
AYT is a major disaster this year.
DeleteWe all want super cheap flights with full services which are always on time. Maybe disruptions are the best way to prevent people who cannot afford to fly from flying and ease congestion. That way, those of us who are willing to pay a fair price will have smoother flying.
ReplyDelete