{"id":17668,"date":"2022-03-30T09:19:36","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T13:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=17668"},"modified":"2022-03-30T10:47:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T14:47:50","slug":"traffic-jam-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/traffic-jam-in-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Traffic Jam in Europe: Airspace Bottlenecks & ATC Disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the Ukraine conflict began at the end of Feb, options to overfly Europe have become increasingly complicated<\/strong> \u2013 especially for aircraft transiting between Western Europe and the Middle East and Asia.<\/p>\n

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Image: Eurocontrol.<\/p><\/div>\n

We\u2019ve talked about this a couple of times already. Here\u2019s our article<\/a> with considerations for operators now looking to route around closed airspace<\/strong>. And here\u2019s a follow-up report<\/a> on the spillover risks near the conflict zone in Ukraine<\/strong>, including undetected military drone incursions and GPS interference.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another aspect we haven\u2019t discussed yet – the impact of increased congestion in Europe<\/strong> and the potential for\u00a0ATC disruption.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the winter weather fading, and Covid restrictions easing up, we\u2019re seeing a major upturn in traffic throughout Europe. But the ongoing closure of Ukrainian airspace is shifting traffic flows across the region – especially in those FIRs to the southeast of Ukraine where traffic levels have significantly increased:<\/p>\n

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Image: Eurocontrol.<\/p><\/div>\n

On March 25, Eurocontrol hosted a webinar looking at the impact to European aviation following the airspace closures in Ukraine and surrounding regions. This webinar covered a bunch of topics – the spiralling cost of jet fuel, the increase in flight times between Europe and Asia, and the traffic forecast for the upcoming summer season:<\/p>\n