CELEX: 51988PC0577(03)
Language: en
Date: 1989-01-16
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION ON A FLEXIBLE AND EFFICIENT USE OF AIRSPACE

No C 34/10                             Official Journal of the European Communities                               10. 2. 89
                   Proposal for a Council Recommendation on a flexible and efficient use of airspace
                                                     COM(88) 577 final
                                    (Submitted by the Commission on 11 December 1988)
                                                        (89/C 34/15)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         therefore an urgent need for re-examination of the
                                                                 considerations to be taken into account for a more
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            flexible and efficient use of that airspace;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 84 (2)
thereof,                                                         Whereas for safety reasons Member States' defence
                                                                 policies may still require the exclusive use by military
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,               aircraft of certain parts of airspace for certain time
                                                                 periods; whereas a more rational distribution of the
Having regard      to   the   opinion   of   the   European      available airspace is therefore needed so that the real
Parliament,                                                      needs of all users are satisfied;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                 Whereas modern aircraft are capable of flying with high
Social Committee,                                                precision on any route independently of the physical
                                                                 location of navigational aids; whereas Member States
Whereas the completion of the internal market by the             should consider the use of airspace outside the fixed air
end of 1992 requires the existence of an efficient air           corridors,
transport system to ensure the unhindered movement of
people and goods within the Community;
                                                                 HEREBY RECOMMENDS:
Whereas the smooth running of the air traffic system will
improve the implementation of the common transport                                         Article 1
policy in the field of civil aviation;                            Member States should re-examine the institutional,
                                                                 technical, geographical and economic considerations to
Whereas air transport in Europe is presently under               be taken into account with a view to achieving a more
considerable strain due to air traffic congestion;               flexible and efficient use of airspace and should
                                                                 cooperate to this end.
Whereas the saturation of the airspace available to civil
aviation in Europe is one of the primary causes of this
                                                                                           Article 2
air traffic congestion;
                                                                  Member States should reconsider the use of airspace by
Whereas the organization of European airspace is still           civil and military aviation and take appropriate measures
based on considerations that prevailed in the late 1940s,        to redistribute rationally on a temporary or long-term
which are largely redundant in the political climate of          basis the available airspace according to users' needs.
today and in particular in the Community of Twelve;
                                                                                           Article 3
Whereas, for historical rather than operational reasons,
the organization of the airspace reserved for civil               Member States should reconsider the use of fixed air
aviation follows national boundaries within which                corridors/airways and encourage the use of area navi-
specific air corridors have been fixed; whereas there is         gation whenever possible.