After 3 years of negotiations, Members of the European Parliament have finally voted on the regulation according to which airplanes will be able to fly on the shortest route, saving time and money.

Romania has already implemented aircraft routing according to this system since 2019, but the measure is difficult to implement due to the war in Ukraine, which has led to congestion in our airspace.

As passengers, we always have the impression that we fly from point A to point B without detours, but Members of the European Parliament say that things are not quite like that.

"A direct route means the bird's flight path. That's what they say. Yes, the bird flies between two points, let the plane fly too. We don't fly between two points for various reasons. Airlines try to reduce their costs by choosing the route that incurs the lowest overflight fees. Air traffic control companies try to keep the plane in the country's airspace as long as possible to receive as much money as possible for the overflight fee".

The solution would come, however, with the introduction of a system called the "Single European Sky", on which Members of the European Parliament have agreed.

The regulation, which has been negotiated for over three years between Members of the European Parliament and the member states, has finally been approved by the Transport Committee of the European Parliament. The Single European Sky must provide direct routes, which would mean reducing carbon emissions, and for passengers, it translates into fewer delays and shorter flights. Let's take, for example, a plane departing from Brussels to Romania.

Every minute of fuel burned in the air means more pollutants in the atmosphere, say pilots.

"On a finite route, the 10-5-minute delay or gain represents a lot in the overall economy, for example, in a year, if every route gains 10 minutes, think that an average airline, a national company, has an average of 60 flights per day, 10 minutes means 600 minutes".

The flight plan on the shortest route can encounter other obstacles, such as in Hungary's case, traffic congestion.

"It cannot cope with the traffic level with the human resources it has and the technical conditions, so their control system, are also obstacles".

Reporter: Does this lead to route deviations?

"Of course, yes".

The regulation on the "Single European Sky" will be applied, at the earliest, after the European Parliament elections.