Air safety warnings dismissed

Controllers are said to be under intense pressure

A new warning of imminent disaster in Europe's overcrowded skies is untrue and politically-motived, says a European air safety director.

The warning, in a leaked report published by a UK newspaper, said new safety measures were urgently needed to help air traffic controllers struggling with increased traffic, gridlocked skies and outdated technology.

The report says the European Commission should make improvements a matter of immediate priority.

But the warnings have been dismissed by a body with responsibility for Europe-wide air traffic safety, Euro Control.

This picture of congested skies is inaccurate as far as we are concerned

UK National Air Traffic Services

Euro Control says some national air traffic controllers' groups are overplaying safety risks because they are unhappy about an impending shift of responsibility towards international agencies.

"With these changes controllers would lose their influence," Dr Gerhard Stadler, director of Euro Control's secretariat-general told BBC News Online.

"The weak point, where they know there is public interest, is safety - so their trade unions are focusing attention on it."

Air space could be shared with military planes to reduce congestion

The warnings of impending disaster have also been rejected by the UK's National Air Traffic Services.

"This picture of congested skies is inaccurate as far as we are concerned," said a spokesman.

"The build-up of traffic takes place on the ground because we can only ever allow how much we can handle in the air."

Dr Stadler also insists that the skies of Europe - though operating in parts at 100% capacity - are not growing more dangerous.

"Europe's safety record is quite high," he said.

"We must increase capacity, but it must still be safe," he added.

Vertical distance between planes could be cut to 1,000 feet

A vast swathe of European airspace - from south-east London to Italy, taking in Germany, France and the Benelux countries - is so congested that no more capacity can be squeezed out. Elsewhere in Europe capacity is around 50%.

One scheme being investigated to open up the skies in the congested central area is a time-share system, where military air space would be opened up to civilian aircraft during certain hours.

Another plan - being tested now - would reduce the vertical space between aircraft from 2,000ft to 1,000ft.

Controllers 'lost it'

Dr Stadler acknowledges that the rapid development of new technology is posing problems. Not all European countries can afford to replace their entire systems every five or six years - the current average lifespan of the rapidly-changing technology.

But even this is not posing undue risks, he insists.

The Observer newspaper, in its report on Sunday, quoted staff at West Drayton air traffic control centre, near Heathrow Airport, as admitting they had "lost it" at times while on duty.

More than 100 incidents a month were being reported to the UK's Civil Aviation Authority confidentially, the paper said.

One senior European controller spoke of an increase in serious incidents and said: "Sooner or later we are not going to be talking about an incident but about an accident - a big bang."

The report at the centre of the row, Single European Sky, is expected to be formally presented to the European Council of Ministers later in January.