The information on this site is subject to a disclaimer and a copyright notice . One in three European flights are not on time and delays average 20 minutes, lasting up to several hours at busy intervals. This costs over 5 billion euro per year. Whilst airlines and airports are responsible for a quarter of the delays, the rest are the result of congestion. Europe s skies are divided into 15 different zones, one for each Member State, and it is difficult to optimise the space.
Concessions are especially difficult to secure due to military sensitivities.
Part of Europe s airspace is reserved for military flight corridors, which the Commission argues are no longer as important now that the Cold War is over. The EU must establish a collective management of Europe s airspace, taking new geopolitical realities into account. The Commission analyses the way forward for policy action, particularly with regard to the introduction of economic and regulatory incentives. Improvements must be made to other transport structures so that shorter flights can be replaced by rail transport. The Commission proposes to sign the Montreal Convention calling for a new, world-wide body of rules to govern the liability of air carriers for death and injury to passengers.