EBAA secretary-general Athar Husain Khan has emphasized the need to include business aviation in a European aviation framework to enable “improved connectivity, efficiency, competitiveness, and regional cohesion across the continent.” Speaking at an aviation conference last week in Bucharest, Romania, Khan said that due to an expected doubling of global air passenger traffic by 2037, “new standards, technologies, harmonized regulations, and adequate infrastructure” will be required to accommodate this growth.

“Business aviation can make an even more significant contribution to local communities and economies because we fly where others don’t," he said. "As such, we need to ensure that a European aviation framework is inclusive, taking into account the specific needs and challenges of our sector.”

These much-needed improvements and technological advances “will only be made possible if the EU is able to provide adequate infrastructure for business aviation operators in Europe," said Kahn. “In particular, access to airports and airspace which remain major hurdles for our sector.”

“Just last week, despite record delays as well as industry calls for urgent EU airspace reform, EU member states approved the weakest performance targets ever for Europe’s ATC providers by agreeing to extend the threshold for delays," he added. "These new targets will not incentivize the performance improvements the European airspace network desperately needs, nor will they support the delivery of the Single European Sky benefits.”