Summer air travel misery for passengers as flight delays more than double across Europe

Visitors to Europe and hoildaying residents of the continent face a summer of air travel misery, according to the International Air Transport Association, as new data revealed that delays so far this year have more than doubled compared to 2017.

"We are in the summer season in Europe. Travellers want to get to their holidays on time. And too many will be disappointed because of air traffic delays," Alexandre de Juniac, Iata’s director general and CEO, said on Wednesday. "We should be making progress, but delays are double those of last year."

As airlines add flights to new destinations and expand their offer to meet the expectations of travellers, air traffic in Europe is on the rise, creating greater demands on the continent’s airspace. European carriers’ May demand climbed 6.2 per cent over May 2017, well above the 3.4 per cent year-over-year growth recorded in April, while North American airlines’ traffic rose 4.9 per cent, a strong rebound from 0.9 per cent annual growth in April, which was a 36-month low, Iata said this month.

Data from the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, known as Eurocontrol, shows that in the first half of 2018, Air Traffic Management (ATM) delays more than doubled to 47,000 minutes per day, 133 per cent more than in the same period last year. Most of these delays are caused by staffing and capacity shortages as well as other causes such as weather delays and disruptive events such as strikes, it said. The average delay for flights held up by air traffic control limitations reached 20 minutes in July, with the longest delay reaching 337 minutes, the data show.

Iata called on the governments and air navigation service providers of Europe to address the region’s airspace bottlenecks that have exacerbated the problem, although Mr de Junaic acknowledged improvement was unlikely near term.

"There is no quick fix for this year. But the needed solutions are well-known. With the correct investment and planning by governments and ANSPs we can, and must, make next year better," he said.

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Middle East air passenger demand growth slows in May

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ANSPs manage each state’s airspace and charge overflight fees for the services they provide. As flight numbers have increased, so has their revenue. Eurocontrol calculates that European ANSPs have made an average 9.6 per cent in earnings before interest and tax in recent years.

Unfortunately, key ANSPs in Europe have not made needed investments in their businesses, preferring instead to make super-normal profits, Iata said. The largest service providers have either under-invested in staff or used outdated employment practices which don’t deploy staff when and where they’re most needed, resulting in unnecessary delays for passengers.

Many European ANSPs have also failed to make planned technology investments intended to increase capacity, the agency added.

Iata is calling on the European Commission, member states and ANSPs to take urgent action with the following four-point plan:

Modernise the infrastructure and implement the Single European Sky ATM Research, something airlines are already paying for;

Reform outdated work practices so that staff are deployed when they’re required; and, where justified, recruit additional staff;

Empower the European Network Manager to plan and configure the network to meet the demands of air travellers;

Strengthen the Performance and Charging Scheme so that ANSPs not delivering agreed capacity are subject to meaningful penalties.

"The impact of ATC delays ripple throughout the economy. At a time when Europe’s competitiveness urgently needs to be improved, increasing ATM delays is totally unacceptable.

"Travellers are fed-up. Change must start now," said Mr de Juniac.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013

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