The Wall Street Journal-20080205-European Airlines Push Overhaul of Traffic System- Pressure to Cut Emissions Spurs Calls for Updated- Unified System in the EU

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European Airlines Push Overhaul of Traffic System; Pressure to Cut Emissions Spurs Calls for Updated, Unified System in the EU

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AMSTERDAM -- Under increasing pressure to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, European airlines are pushing for what they say is a win- win solution: overhaul the Continent's outdated air-traffic-control system.

Carriers world-wide face increasing demands to cut emissions, but in Europe the pressure is particularly intense. Some countries, such as Britain and the Netherlands, are imposing or proposing taxes on air travel that they say will support environmental efforts. The European Union plans in 2012 to add airlines to the list of industries included in its system of controlling greenhouse emissions, which uses pollution credits that companies can trade.

European carriers say that if governments want to cut aircraft pollution, they first need to bring some order to Europe's fragmented and inefficient air-traffic-control system. Air-traffic congestion is a problem in the U.S. and parts of Asia, but it is especially bad in Europe, where each country controls its own air space -- even tiny Estonia and Slovenia. Most countries are subdivided into a patchwork of smaller regions managed by civilian or military controllers. The EU estimates that hopscotching among these cells makes Europe's cross- border routes 15% longer than comparable domestic flight paths.

Aviation specialists estimate fuel consumption and emissions would fall by as much as 10% if European air routes were straightened and authority over the skies harmonized. The Association of European Airlines, a trade group based in Brussels, estimates that its 33 members could save more than 3 billion euros ($4.4 billion) annually on fuel, fees and other costs if air traffic were harmonized, based on a study from Eurocontrol, a European aerospace coordinating agency.

But some politicians oppose the loss of control, while labor unions representing controllers have protested at the prospect of job losses. Meanwhile, some environmental groups say the effort is more about helping airlines cut costs than reducing emissions.

Airlines say everyone would win because integration also promises to cut flight delays. "It's a real waste," says Peter Hartman, chief executive of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, part of Air France-KLM SA, and president of the AEA. "On the ground, Europe operates without borders and our objective should be to have the same thing one meter above the ground."

As the debate over emission reduction intensifies, the AEA and its members are trying to push an overhaul of the air-traffic system to the top of the agenda through public-relations efforts, lobbying and technical briefings. Airlines are raising the pressure on civilian and military officials to cooperate better, and last year presented the EU with a proposed action plan for legal and technical changes. The AEA and its members are also offering extensive technical data to aviation planners. EU officials promise to present legislation that will start establishing what they call the Single European Sky in June.

European environmental activists say airlines are overplaying air- traffic problems to distract from a more basic issue: Traffic is increasing faster than new technologies reduce emissions. Aviation officials argue that air travel accounts for at most 4% of all greenhouse emissions and that technological advances will further improve performance. But critics say improvements will take years because jetliner fleets change gradually.

Some environmentalists question the ecological benefits of more efficient air-traffic control, arguing airlines will simply add flights until skies clog up again. "Air-traffic management savings are illusory. Airlines will eat them up," says Jeff Gazzard, coordinator of the Greenskies Alliance, a British environmental organization that favors efforts to slow demand growth.

EU officials in Brussels have been working on the Single Sky framework since 1999 but have made little progress. Among the 38 European countries that link their skies through Eurocontrol, there are 70 civilian and military control agencies operating 67 control centers. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration alone handles the entire airspace with only 21 centers.

Environmental concerns have given new urgency to the plan, however. "We will do our utmost to complete the Single European Sky as quickly as possible," said Michele Cercone, a spokesman for the EU's transportation directorate.

Integrating skies is tough on many levels. Controllers and pilots will need to adapt routine flight procedures as hundreds of air routes are redrawn. National air-traffic agencies will need to cooperate or merge across borders. Bureaucrats and military officers will need to cede some sovereignty over their airspace. France and Italy have even seen strikes over potential job losses.

Aviation officials play down the threat to jobs, saying demand for controllers is so great that Europe faces a shortage, though some jobs may get relocated. And the AEA says governments stand to benefit tremendously by cutting waste.