European Air Traffic Control Strike Canceled

Good news for Europe-bound travelers: The pan-European air traffic control strike scheduled for October 10 has been called off, and flights throughout the continent seem poised to continue as scheduled.

According to AirTrafficManagament.net, air traffic controllers from 26 countries were set to go on strike on October 10 to draw the public opinion’s attention to the impact of the European Commission’s (EC) Single European Sky legislation.

After meeting with Commission representatives in Malta over the weekend, umbrella controller union body ATCEUC said Brussels had pledged that the controversial SES2+ policy proposals which so angered the unions will be ‘seriously amended.’

“It seems that now the EC is finally ready to listen,” Volker Dick, president of ATCEUC, said following the unanimous agreement to postpone all industrial action. “During the ATCEUC committee meeting we were given assurances by the European Commission that together with the Performance Review Board (PRB) they are willing to really discuss the safety issues and our views on their unrealistic cost efficiency targets.”