Inefficiency in the European air traffic management network resulting in an average additional fuel burn of 8.6%-11.2%

The report was produced to clarify potential environmental benefits the Single European Sky (SES) 2+ legislation could deliver on and contribute to the discussions in the European Council and Parliament. It uses a new approach directly based on fuel burn from take-off to landing, in order to better assess the potential benefit pool of fuel/CO₂ that can be addressed by ATM. Previous work has mainly focused on time or distance-based indicators to measure the inefficiency of individual flight phases. The new operational excess fuel burn indicator allows a more holistic assessment and takes into account a range of factors such as wind when calculating the best route for different aircraft types.

The report highlights multiple factors and drivers that influence fuel inefficiency in the European ATM system. These include route network constraints, availability of airspace, and airspace users’ choices, for example due to significantly different unit rates between states. Achieving a substantial improvement in fuel efficiency requires different tools, policy measures such as SES2+ and the full collaboration of all the various aviation stakeholders involved.

The study also emphasises the importance of accelerating the re-organisation of the European airspace and the deployment of new technologies, including SESAR solutions, to provide a more resilient and scalable network.