But without the EUROCONTROL NM’s actions, delays in 2018 could have been much worse. NM saved over 12% of potential delays, more than meeting its 10% target. Without these actions, 2018 would have seen 1.98 minutes/flight of delay. As it happened, the final figure was 1.73 minutes/flight.
Commenting on this, Simon Hocquard said: “The level of cooperation and degree of problem-solving by all network stakeholders were truly inspiring. NM’s proposing and implementing of network solutions could only have been successful with the strong cooperation with operational stakeholders and was critically important in the safe handling of summer traffic.”
A positive feature of 2018 was that, with the widespread adoption of cross-border free route airspace in Europe, there was a notable reduction in fuel consumption and emissions – in spite of particularly adverse weather, geopolitical disruptions and a spike in industrial action.
Other achievements in the year include:
- a new architecture for rebuilding NM’s technical systems to keep them fit for purpose and in line with the European digital strategy;
- the completion of the joint SJU/NM Airspace Architecture study containing short to medium and longer-term proposals. NM was mostly involved in the airspace design aspects, operational practices and performance evaluations;
- the selection of the new Director Network Management, Iacopo Prissinotti, who will be taking on the challenge of building on past results to take the EUROCONTROL NM forward and help deliver the Single European Sky.
