Brussels, 28/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - “Airlines need urgent deliverables. Member states must stop procrastinating and make progress towards a genuine Single European Sky”, stated Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, Secretary General of the Association of European Airlines (AEA), supporting the recent comments and threats made by the European Commission on the lacklustre efforts by member states on the first objectives set for 2012 (see EUROPE No 10503). Indeed, the aviation sector widely and with one voice backed the Commission approach: four European associations representing the interests of air lines - the AEA, the European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA), the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and the International Air Carrier Association (IACA) - took a common stance in support of the Commission. They were highly critical of the lack of commitment shown by national governments to improving the efficiency of European Air Traffic Management (ATM), something which could bring substantial savings. Simply putting in place a performance scheme would save €250 million over the three years of the reference period (2012-2014). It would be expected that such a prospect would be very attractive to governments, said John Hanlon, Secretary General of ELFAA: “The current economic climate should be an added incentive, but member states are now using this as an excuse to stall the project”. (MD/transl.rt)