Headquartered in Brussels, Airlines for Europe (A4E) represents Europe’s leading airlines and accounts for 80% of European air traffic. Our editor, Marita Lintener, sat down with Achim Baumann, A4E’s Policy Director dealing with Air Traffic Management (ATM), to discuss the organisation’s priorities and the challenges facing summer 2026 air traffic.
The SES2+ era
The long-debated Single European Sky 2+ (SES2+) was finally adopted in 2024. Baumann has mixed feelings about the regulation. “SES2+ has not achieved what it could have achieved. It has largely confirmed the status quo – in some cases made it worse, in others a little better.” He sees a more encouraging sign in the shift in how stakeholders are engaging with the framework, using it constructively to facilitate joint action rather than prevent it.
For SES2+ implementation, an immediate priority for A4E is the Network Functions Implementing Rule (NF IR) update. SES2+ introduced nine network functions with revised and new stakeholder responsibilities. The timeline is pressing, Baumann explains, the NF IR proposal needs to be finalised this year.
Paradigm shifts required
Baumann outlines two paradigm shifts that A4E wants embedded across all network functions. The first is a clear definition of roles and responsibilities. “Without knowing who does what, when, and why, effective cooperation is simply impossible,” he says. Indeed, without this foundation, well-intentioned collaborative decision-making will lead nowhere.
The second is a fundamental reorientation, moving from ‘demand follows capacity’ to ‘capacity follows demand’. Currently, airlines adapt their routes to fly where capacity is provided rather than optimal trajectories without such constraints. “Airlines need to be able to plan and fly, as stated in SES2+ article 37 (1), the most environmentally friendly and CO2-optimum trajectories, as SES was originally intended to enable,” Baumann argues.
Modulation of charges: Targeting the wrong actor
One SES2+-mandated study concerns modulation of ATM charges to incentivise environmentally efficient airline behaviour, but A4E is sceptical. “Modulation of charges is inefficient and ineffective. It is not useful simply because it is technically possible,” Baumann says, noting that emissions and fuel burn are already addressed through the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and ReFuelEU regulation. Another regulation would create redundant reporting, double payments and potentially conflicting objectives. If the root cause is insufficient capacity or military-restricted zones, Baumann points out that charging airlines more resolves nothing. Furthermore, with revenue neutrality requirements, air navigation service providers (ANSPs) have no additional incentive to change behaviour. A4E is nonetheless engaged constructively with the study. As Baumann puts it: “Just because you can do it, does not necessarily mean you should.”
Defining the next decade
Common Project 2 (CP2) will define the ATM functionalities and technical standards governing European modernisation until 2035, covering the new service delivery model, future air-ground connectivity and Trajectory-Based Operations. For A4E, the stakes are clear: CP2 must reflect the operational priorities of airspace users. Baumann notes a positive spirit for defining the technologies, processes and operational concepts. However, he refers again to the two critical paradigm shifts, which he says are equally applicable for the definition and implementation of CP2, based on the agreed technologies.
The SESAR Joint Undertaking is leading the drafting, with submission to the European Commission planned before summer 2026 and entry into force in 2027. The uncertainty over MFF 2028–2034 funding adds pressure with stakeholders having to commit to a decade of investment without yet knowing what public co-funding will be available.
Cause for optimism?
Turning to summer air traffic 2026, Baumann is cautiously optimistic. EUROCONTROL began analysing 2025 data significantly earlier than in prior years. Besides pushing for this, A4E supports early coordination between airlines and ANSPs. Baumann confirms that all stakeholders in Brussels together with the Network Manager are constructively working together: “the use of existing tools has improved, not only the tools and processes themselves”.
Yet structural deficits remain with technology deployment challenges and staffing shortages unresolved. However, Baumann notes a shift in the sector’s self-awareness and sees clearer recognition that the industry now leans to fixing problems than only patching them.
Imagine your flight arriving on time – then queuing for hours at the border
Asked about A4E’s most pressing concern beyond ATM, Baumann points to Europe’s Schengen Entry/Exit System (EES). Despite years of lead time, Member States are widely unprepared for its rollout. A4E, airlines association IATA and Airports Council International (ACI) have raised the alarm over the risk of extensive airport queuing during the summer peak.
Mixed results for passengers
Concluding our discussion, stakeholder relations have changed for the better, and the constructive spirit now driving these exchanges is producing tangible results. In a sector long characterised by competing interests and institutional inertia, that is no small achievement.
The EES difficulties are frankly frustrating. Whatever efficiencies are wrung from European airspace this summer, passengers risk experiencing the journey through the lens of hours-long immigration queues and missed connecting flights. No amount of ATM optimisation will matter for the passengers if they are stuck because of missing software and state staffing shortages.
