The European Commission warned that it will launch infringement procedures against member states for all the Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs) which are not yet fully compliant with all legal requirements. It will also present a new package of legislative measures in Spring 2013 to accelerate reforms and ensure the full delivery of a Single European Sky.

According to the European Commission, many member states are seriously lagging behind and not yet fully compliant with requirements to make nine Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs) fully operational, for the deadline of 4 December 2012. The Commission therefore warned it will launch infringement procedures against member states for all the Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs) which are not yet fully compliant with all legal requirements. In October 2012, the European Parliament called on member states to urgently merge national air traffic control spaces in Europe.

The Commission stressed that a critical deadline has been missed for FABs, the regional airspace blocks which are a key element for the ambitious plans to create a single European airspace – tripling European airspace capacity and halving air traffic control costs. It will also present a new package of legislative measures in Spring 2013 to accelerate reforms and ensure the full delivery of a Single European Sky.

A FAB is a part of the sky where national borders have been removed. It can be thought of as a single airspace, just as the single market in the EU allows EU citizens to travel, live and work freely anywhere in the EU. Inefficiencies caused by Europe's fragmented airspace bring extra costs of close to €5 billion each year. It adds 42 kilometres to the distance of an average flight, forcing aircraft to burn more fuel, generate more emissions, pay more in costly user-charges and suffer greater delays. The United States controls the same amount of airspace, with more traffic, at almost half the cost.