ATC capacity, staffing shortages cause flight delays in Europe, IATA says

Air traffic control delays in Europe have more than doubled over the past decade, causing significant disruptions, according to a report from IATA released this month, but air navigation service providers say the issues causing delays are multifaceted and that singling out air traffic control is problematic. Air traffic flow management (ATFM) delays in 2024 were up 114% compared with delays in 2015, despite just a 6.7% increase in flights between 2015 and 2024, according to the IATA report. The analysis excluded delays caused by weather, as well as flight cancellations spurred by air traffic controller strikes . Data from the Central Office for Delay Analysis at Europe’s airspace coordinator, Eurocontrol, shows most delays in 2023 and 2024 were reactionary delays — delays caused by issues with previous flights — and the second largest cause was airlines. [caption id="attachment_57293887" align="aligncenter" width="1075"] (Courtesy/DFS)[/caption] “It is clearly visible that delays have numerous causes,” DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), Germany’s air navigation service provider (ANSP), told Cargo Facts . “ATFM regulations are only one factor among many others. And the air navigation service providers are responsible for only a portion of the ATFM delays.” Between January 2015 and October 2025, 7.2 million flights were delayed due to ANSPs, according to IATA. Of those, 700,000 were delayed by thirty minutes or more. Within ANSP control ATFM delays are broken into two categories in the IATA report: those within the control of an ANSP and those outside the ANSP’s control. Causes within the ANSP’s control — dubbed “CRSTMPI” in the report — are air traffic control (ATC) capacity, routing, staffing, equipment and industrial action; airspace management; and special events. [caption id="attachment_57293890" align="aligncenter" width="1389"] (Courtesy/IATA)[/caption] ATC staffing and capacity issues were responsible for 87% of ANSP-controllable delays in 2024, according to IATA. [caption id="attachment_57293891" align="aligncenter" width="1379"] (Courtesy/IATA)[/caption] The IATA report singles out Direction des Services de la Navigation Aerienne (DSNA), France’s ANSP, and DFS as having the highest total CRSTMPI ATFM delays and costs. [caption id="attachment_57293889" align="aligncenter" width="1447"] (Courtesy/IATA)[/caption] DSNA, which controls 14% of total flight hours, caused as much as 38% of delay costs, while DFS, which controls 9% of total flight hours, caused as much as 16% of delay costs, IATA said. Delays in France Air traffic controller staffing at area control centers (ACC) in France grew 16% from 2015 to 2023, according to the IATA report. In that time, instrument flight rules (IFR) flights in France increased 10% and IFR flight hours increased 9%. IFR flights are those in which pilots rely on cockpit instruments and ATC guidance rather than visual cues due to lack of visibility. Air traffic controller hour productivity declined in all of France’s ACCs between 2015 and 2023, according to IATA. [caption id="attachment_57293888" align="aligncenter" width="1521"] (Courtesy/IATA)[/caption] DSNA did not respond to requests for comment from Cargo Facts , and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) declined to comment. CDG was the second busiest cargo airport in Europe and the eighteenth busiest cargo airport in the world in 2024, with cargo throughput of 1.9 million tonnes, a 2.3% increase year over year, according to Airports Council International (ACI) World’s 2025 edition of its annual world airport traffic dataset. Delays in Germany [caption id="attachment_57293892" align="alignright" width="358"] (Courtesy/IATA)[/caption] Air traffic controller flight hour productivity declined across all ACCs in Germany, according to the IATA report. IATA attributes this to an 8% increase in air traffic controller hours on duty between 2015 and 2023, despite 20% fewer in air traffic controllers at ACCs. “This means that not only has productivity dropped, but it has also been achieved through high levels of overtime,” the IATA report said. ATC-related delays in German airspace in 2024 averaged about fifty seconds, and those numbers have improved in 2025, DFS said. And the delays in German airspace cannot be siloed from the rest of Europe, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) owner and operator Fraport told Cargo Facts . “It is also clear that there are delays, which we mainly attribute to an unchanged situation in European airspace,” Fraport said. “This is an overall European issue, which also affects the handling of cargo flights.” FRA ranked as the busiest cargo airport in Europe and the sixteenth busiest cargo airport in the world in 2024, with cargo throughput of 2 million tonnes, a 6.5% increase YoY, according to ACI World. Moving forward Addressing ATFM delays requires collaboration throughout Europe, investments in ATC capacity and workforce, and infrastructure modernization, IATA said in the report. Enhanced cross-border coordination, especially during peak seasons, and contingency planning must be prioritized, the report said. “We’re now seeing the consequences of Europe’s failure to get a grip on air traffic control,” IATA Director General Willie Walsh said in a Dec. 9 release. “A small, expected improvement in 2025 from a very bad 2024 does not change the deterioration that we have seen over the last decade.” Cargo Facts will present four invaluable events for airfreight professionals in the first half of 2026, starting with Cargo Facts LATAM, on Feb. 10-12. To see the agendas and register for the events, visit CargoFactsEvents.com .

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