John Spellar

Transport minister John Spellar has welcomed a new deal creating a "single sky" for European air passengers.

The agreement, struck at a meeting of the EU Transport Council meeting in Brussels on Friday, is expected to lead to fewer delays for passengers heading across Europe's national boundaries.

New regulations to be implemented by the end of 2004 will mean Europe's 16 different air traffic control systems will operate under one regulatory framework.

But the deal has been a long time coming.

The idea of closer cooperation on air traffic control was first suggested in 1999, with more detailed commission proposals put forward in October 2001.

The government said negotiations had taken time to complete because of the complexity of the issues involved.

There was also a need to ensure closer civil/military co-operation without having military authorities regulated by European authorities, said ministers.

The new regulations focus initially on the upper airspace where they will create a single European flight information region above 28,500 feet.

Europe's airspace will be redesigned on a more functional basis, not necessarily along the lines of national borders, to optimise airspace capacity and improve air traffic controller productivity.

It has been estimated that the breakthrough could reduce the cost of delays due to air traffic control across Europe by at least 25 per cent while cutting aircraft emissions by five to 10 per cent.

Spellar said the deal would "provide real benefits to the travelling public, aviation industry, and the European air traffic management system".

"The UK has been campaigning for this for some time and we have consistently supported the single sky project.

"We believe that Europe's air traffic system needs overhauling and that unless action is taken delays will continue to rise.

"I am confident we have put together a package of measures that can secure genuine benefits to air travellers."