The flight route reform plan put in black and white by the European Union is stalled. It's an initiative that aims to simplify the control of airspace with the aim of decarbonising the air transport sector, in particular by making fuel consumption more efficient. This is one of the biggest challenges for airlines, which are pushing for this reform to be adopted.

"We need to look at how we can improve the way we fly", Adina Vălean, president of the European Transport Commission, has said several times. To this end, continental countries and institutions, as well as the aviation industry itself, believe that the use of cleaner propellant (Saf, biofuel, synthetic fuel) could reduce net CO2 emissions by 70% and therefore focus in particular on about this solution. 

However, airline executives are stepping up pressure to have an emissions-reduction plan within their reach: this involves reforming the flight paths that planes follow in the skies. "There is overwhelming consensus that reform of Europe's fragmented airspace and change-resistant traffic management system will have an immediate impact on fuel consumption and emissions", says Andrew Charlton, Chief Executive of the consultancy firm Aviation Advocacy.

The Single European Sky (SES), first proposed by the European Commission in 2004 and amended in 2020, is an answer in this sense. This is a program to reform the organization of airspace, currently fragmented, which could lead to significant savings on harmful gas emissions. Yet it was never fully implemented. For this reason the pressure on Brussels is becoming increasingly stronger.