EUROCONTROL and its partners have finalised a strategy to manage the anticipated surge in European air traffic during Summer 2025, with traffic already up 5% over 2024. The plan addresses capacity shortfalls and uneven growth across regions, especially in key air traffic control centres such as Marseille, Munich, Barcelona, and Athens.
The five-part plan focuses on delivering promised capacity, mitigating weather impacts, using realistic and consistent flight plans, prioritising first departures, and ensuring feasible schedules. If implemented effectively, average flight delays could be reduced from 2.44 to 2.02 minutes — still more than double the EU’s target of 0.9 minutes per flight.
Despite mitigation efforts, delays are expected to rise significantly during extreme weather, potentially costing airspace users up to €20 million in a single day. EUROCONTROL emphasises the need for collective responsibility and strict adherence to the plan to minimise disruption for travellers.