The year 2020 was unlike any we have experienced before in aviation. The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has affected the entire aviation industry from airlines and airports to air navigation service providers (ANSPs) and the entire supply chain. The COVID-19 pandemic had certainly tested one of the principal strands of the EUROCONTROL Network Manager (NM) DNA - to coordinate the network response in a crisis. NM, in partnership with all stakeholders, and with the support of the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell (EACCC), has coordinated the network response to the COVID-19 crisis and has developed crisis response measures.
The NM responded to the COVID-19 crisis with cost-saving measures. Long-term investments have to be safeguarded, as this is the only way to ensure that the NM systems will meet the post-crisis requirements. The NM and the governing bodies agreed to retain those business initiatives which provide a long-term improvement in the delivery of operations and services in order to meet future performance targets in a cost-efficient manner, including among other business initiatives:
- The airspace re-structuring programme;
- Operational excellence programme;
- integrated Network Manager (iNM) programme.