Europaenization of Air Traffic Control since 1950s

Anyone who travels more frequently on a plane knows it. One boards, fasten seat belt and waits. Five, ten minutes, half an hour More often than not, the reason for this is a congested airspace: too many aircraft desiring to fly on the same route. It is already sixty years now that the European states created Eurocontrol to eliminate the congestions in the air. Despite such long time passing, Eurocontrol still does not take full responsibility over air traffic in Europe and the travellers continue to encounter the delayed departures and arrivals of their flights. This project looks at who is responsible for this and what can be done to improve the situation. This is important because long waiting times are not only bad for us, travellers, but for our environment, too.

This project focused on the integration of air traffic management in Europe. The creation of the Single European Sky has been one of the priorities of the European Union's transport policy ever since 1979 when the European Parliament and the Commission of the European Communities began to take a close interest in aviation matters. However, the project's findings challenge this standard view and place the more recent efforts of the European Union and its predecessors in a wider historical context. In fact, the first attempts to integrate civil aviation in Europe date back to the 1920s, while all subsequent developments up to the present day have been marked by the reciprocal dynamics of forces seeking further integration and forces opposing it. This project approaches its major topic from different angles in two conference chapters and two academic articles presenting its main outcomes, in addition to several conference papers and book reviews.