Air traffic in the European network in summer 2025

 

With close to 37,000 flights expected on peak days, traffic in Europe is back to pre-pandemic levels. Yet this volume of traffic is being handled through only 80% of the airspace that was available before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Traffic remains very unevenly distributed, with air navigation service providers (ANSPs) in the South-West, South-East and Central Europe facing 30-40% more flights than in 2019. 

While some air navigation service providers (ANSPs) are expected to improve their performance compared to 2024, lack of air traffic control capacity to cope with demand is expected to cause high delays in many parts of the network this summer, generating significant bottlenecks.

To minimise Summer 2025 delays, the EUROCONTROL Network Manager (NM) has put in place a daily coordination mechanism with all partners in the European air traffic network, with the aim of reconciling demand from airlines for flights with available capacity in area control centres (ACCs) and on the ground. Part of this planning process includes jointly establishing the Network Operations Plan (NOP), a new edition of which is published each Friday as the Rolling Seasonal Plan. Each ‘Rolling NOP’ looks eight weeks ahead, and provides an overview on planning to minimise disruptions and maximise performance, based on the resources available.

Tags: Air traffic Europe, EUROCONTROL