The Minister of State with responsibility for aviation has said it is unfortunate that there is a degree of protectionsim by some EU member states about holding all control over their skies.
Jack Chambers said if we want to see the Single European Market as well as efficiencies and sustainability in aviation thrive, there should be further progress in the Single European Sky initiative.
"It's something we'll continually raise or try and get to some level of agreement on it, but you're correct, it hasn't made sufficient progress in recent times," he said.
Mr Chambers added that he has sympathy with Ryanair's calls for better EU level cooperation on aviation to prevent strike action by air traffic controllers in one Member State having a knock-on effect for passengers through cancellations and delays.
"It's something at the European Council level we'll be trying to raise more frequently so that we have greater cooperation and we don't have passengers affected by strikes or specific decisions within Member States," he said.
"And they should be protected. But that's something that Member States control, so it's difficult for the European Union to resolve very quickly."
Mr Chambers made the comments at the official launch of AirNav Ireland, the new air navigation service provider created by separation out of the air traffic control division from the Irish Aviation Authority into a new commercial semi-state company.
The move has happened because it is considered best practice globally to keep air navigation and aviation safety regulation separate.
Employing 630 people, AirNav Ireland runs the air traffic control services at the country's main airports in Dublin, Cork and Shannon.
It also manages 455,000 square kilometres of airspace, including 90% of all aircraft flying between Europe and North America, which is controlled from the North Atlantic Enroute Centre in Shannon and its North Atlantic Communications Centre in Clare.
"So not only do we manage those three airports but we manage all of the aircraft routing from through the North Atlantic from the United States into Europe and vice versa and that happens twice a day," said Dr Peter Kearney, Chief Executive of AirNav Ireland.
"So far this year we've managed almost 1,000,000 aircraft, so a massive improvement in traffic since 2019."
AirNav Ireland will be completely self-funding, with revenues coming from charges and fees on airlines using its services.
The company aims to recruit and train 240 new air traffic control students over the next decade to cope with an expected 30% jump in air traffic between now and the end of the decade."
"We'll obviously need some extra engineers, safety and compliance personnel as well," said Dr Kearney.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Mr Kearney said technology is moving very fast in the sector and AirNav Ireland will soon be able to use virtualisation technology to manage air space anywhere in the world from Ireland.
Asked whether there was an inherent contradiction between expected growth in air traffic and the Government's sustainability targets, Jack Chambers said sustainability has to be at the core of aviation.
"We're working with all stakeholders from an aviation perspective to make sure that they make sustainable decisions," he said.
"But people still need to travel, be connected and as an island nation, I think aviation has played a hugely important role as we've grown our economy over the previous previous years and we have to be at the forefront of making sure that growth is sustainable."
Regarding concerns about current aircraft noise at Dublin Airport and as that growth continues, Mr Chambers said the Government has established the independent noise regulatory body to deal with the matter.
"They have a lot of noise monitoring and they're expanding the level of noise monitoring over the coming period," he said.
"But providing mitigation for affected residents will be part of that and I think having a balanced approach where we allow aviation and connectivity to continue to thrive to promote our economy, but also supporting mitigation measures for residents would be important."
"And having an independent noise regulator as part of that I think will play a key role to provide that balance over the coming years."
