A EU funded research seeks restructuring air traffic across the region to meet the challenges head on. Current systems oblige pilots and air traffic controllers to communicate verbally. With this new technology would generate digitalised information, giving multiple user groups like ground crews access to information. The upshot is that shorter flight times, fewer delays and a better flow of information between airline and airport personnel will result.

Current communication systems have been in use since the 1960s and 1970s, for that reason they will not be able to deal with the pressing need for greater capacity, says the European team. The information which nowadays traffic controllers and pilots exchange, mainly verbally, will be upgraded with automated data available for more people in a new air traffic security internet. A set of digital services for pilots has already been developed with this aim. Among the data provided, there are the status of their aircraft, the location of other aircraft, what kind of weather to expect, and where they can fly to increase air traffic efficiency.

The team of SECOMAS ('Spectrum efficient communication for future aeronautical services'), part of the European initiative's technological and operational dimension called SESAR ('Single European sky ATM research'). Industry and Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation made up of 39 member states and the European Community, support SESAR with €1.4 billion.

Travellers will probably not notice the changes, because passengers may even see prices drop a bit, and find that their journeys take less time overall, but by and large these factors won't have a major impact on their experience. By contrast, without this system, the increased flight activity would mean sky-high prices and a large number of delays.

Making the necessary changes to the structure would enable aviation experts to deal with future air traffic, safety and environmental issues. In line with the same objectives there is the "FAB CE project", which improves air traffic over Central Europe. This sophisticated technology will be mass produced and gradually installed in two years' time.