The Irish Aviation Authority has consistently and significantly outperformed the European average for air traffic management-attributable delays over the last four years, contributing just 0.001% of total European delays.

From January to April 2013, all Irish air traffic control-attributable delays were due to weather conditions. This is significant against a background of increasing air traffic at Ireland’s busiest airport, Dublin.

Key factors in the IAA’s ability to practically eliminate air traffic management-attributable delays are its commitment to employing the most up-to-date technologies and the innovative streamlining of Irish airspace. The IAA’s COOPANS air traffic management system is one of the most advanced in Europe. The system equips air traffic controllers with leading edge functionalities, while maintaining maximum levels of safety and increasing capacity to meet the demands of airlines customers.

Eurocontrol is set to launch an expanded programme to help Greek air traffic controllers streamline summer flights to Greece. A joint procedure between Eurocontrol, Hellenic Slot Coordination and Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) is being introduced to augment a programme that is already credited with cutting delays by 75%. The initiative follows huge delays on summer flights in 2010 and 2011 caused by airlines either flying without slots or not filing according to their scheduled slot, said Anthony Leggat, senior expert airport operations at Eurocontrol.

"We came up with a procedure last summer, where we worked we got the majority of the European carriers who fly to the Greek Islands," he said. "We got them to come onboard, mainly based on trust, because there was a lot of cheating going on on the system."

A senior Emirates Group executive has lashed out at governments worldwide over what he says are “archaic” air traffic rules that cause up to 10 percent of fuel to be wasted.
Gary Chapman, Emirates Group president of group services and dnata, said governments were wrong to “demonise” the air travel industry over environmental concerns while they contributed to higher CO2 emissions through inefficient air traffic control systems.
“The politics of demonising the aviation industry about fuel burn, I think is way over the top,” Chapman, who is responsible for setting the Dubai-based airline’s jet fuel surcharge, said during a panel discussion at the Arabian Hotels Investment Conference (AHIC).

The International Air Transport Association (IATA)'s operations committee has identified air traffic management capacity and efficiency improvements, along with harmonising safety regulations, as its priority areas.
These priorities were reiterated by Tony Tyler, IATA's director-general and chief executive officer. "We simply cannot afford to accept inefficiency and waste in any aspect of our business, not if it is to be made sustainable. And everyone involved in the airline industry—and the value chain for that matter—must keep that in mind," said Tyler in a keynote address at the recent Ops Conference, which took place alongside the group's operations committee (OPC) meeting.

Two RAF fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a passenger plane over fears it had been hijacked.
People on board the Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen to Birmingham watched Typhoons close in on their aircraft after air traffic controllers failed to make contact with the plane’s captain.
At a time of heightened anxiety following the Boston Bombings on April 15, fears were raised that the plane could be used in a terrorist attack as it entered British airspace over the North Sea.

A ground-breaking trial to fly unmanned aircaft in civilian airspace at the San Javier Air Base in Murcia in Spain has been hailed a success.
A key element of the DeSIRE project which is funded by the European Space Agency and the European Defence Agency, the trial was conducted by an Indra-led international consortium.
The remotely piloted aircraft system – or RPAS – capability to share the sky with a conventional aircraft thanks to the transmission of its command and control communications and communications between air traffic controller and pilot on the ground via satellite was proven.
The benefits of satellite communications for enabling (in beyond line of sight conditions) the RPAS to send in real-time high quality data to the ground control station to aid maritime surveillance services was also demonstrated.

After a week of air-traffic slowdowns, the Federal Aviation Administration said on Saturday that it had suspended its employee furloughs and was returning to normal staffing levels, while President Obama sparred with Congressional Republicans over who was to blame for the delays.

The back and forth followed the approval of legislation in Congress on Friday to relieve the nation’s air traffic control system from the effects of across-the-board spending cuts. The furloughs for air traffic controllers were among the most visible consequences of the cuts, leading to widespread flight delays.

The F.A.A. said it expected the nation’s air traffic control system to be back to normal by Sunday evening. But in a reflection of the lingering partisan divide over the cuts known as sequestration, neither Mr. Obama nor Congressional Republicans moved closer to a consensus on how to minimize the broader impact.

The Senate moved quickly late on Thursday to end air traffic controller furloughs that were causing widespread airline flight delays related to last month's automatic federal spending cuts.

Without any debate, the Senate unanimously passed legislation giving the Department of Transportation flexibility to use unspent funds to cover the costs of air traffic controllers and other essential employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.

The House of Representatives, which is expected to approve the measure, could take it up on Friday, capping a feverish effort by Congress to end the flight delays that were snarling traffic at major U.S. airports and angering travelers.

Some Senate aides said the measure would also give the FAA flexibility to keep open nearly 150 "contract towers" at smaller airports that are staffed by non-FAA employees who help control takeoffs and landings.

The newly established state-owned Indonesian Flight Navigation Service (PPNPI), also known as AirNav Indonesia, is aiming to develop the performance of air traffic controllers at Bali’s international airport, Ngurah Rai, and other major airports nationwide to ensure better safety for Indonesia’s skies.

“We [AirNav Indonesia] are expected to be fully operating by 2014. By then, we hope that we will already have a PPNPI salary standard. Thus, there will be some increases, especially for those who are currently on the lowest salaries,” president director of PPNPI, Ichwanul Idrus, said on the sidelines of the 52nd annual conference of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Associations (IFATCA) in Sanu.
Indonesia has a total of 2,358 personnel employed by AP 1 and AP 2, and around 1,600 more officials under the directorate general of civil aviation. Of these, only around 1,200 are air traffic controllers.

The sequester-related budget cuts that led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to furlough air-traffic controllers, resulting in flight delays at virtually all major U.S. airports, has Congress and the administration pointing fingers at each other. But perhaps a more useful issue to address is why air-traffic controllers are FAA employees. There is no good reason for air traffic control and safety regulation to be under the same FAA umbrella, a setup that creates more problems than it solves.