A new network threshold was achieved: over 2 million minutes of en-route air traffic flow management (ATFM) delays have now been saved by the continued application of the new capacity and weather-based operations procedures (CWBO) and related scenarios. In Week 31 CWBO avoided 170,000+ minutes of delay, bringing the total delay minutes saved to 2.02 million, with these procedures applied to over 7,350 flights.
Traffic records continue to be repeatedly broken, with Week 31 seeing nine States, six area control centres (ACCs) and five airlines/airline groups exceed their previous daily records of flights managed/operated.
Other highlights from Week 31 include:
- 73% arrival punctuality, 0.6 percentage points (pp) higher than Week 30, and 4.5pp above the same period in 2025
- 3.31 minutes per flight of ATFM delay, up 7% vs Week 30 owing to adverse weather, but down 28% vs 2025
- 56,118 flights delayed by ATFM restrictions (8,017 flights a day and 22% of all flights)
Network Operations Plan delivery remains critical for all air navigation service providers for the remainder of August, with continued busy daily traffic, and traffic peaks of around 37,500 flights expected on Fridays. To date, 59 of the network’s 68 ACCs are delivering in accordance with their commitments; 7 are delivering but are being impacted by bad weather/the Middle East situation; and just 2 are falling short. For the three network hot spots, in the year to date France has generated 32% of en-route delays, Spain 17% and Greece 12%.
In comparison to the same period in Summer 2025, the first nine weeks of Summer 2026 show that even with 2.2% more air traffic, arrival punctuality has improved by 2.5pp, while ATFM delays are down by 25%.