Ballet in the sky — planning, resilience and what lies ahead for summer 2026

“Aviation is a massive ballet in the sky, with thousands of very small decisions being made every day that all interact with each other.”

It sounds lyrical, almost indulgent, until you sit with it for a moment. Because aviation really does move like that: not as a single sweeping motion, but as countless steps, each one dependent on the previous. A flight plan adjusted here. A gate reassigned there. Level cleared. The effect may not be visible immediately, but it will be felt — somewhere, by someone, later.

That sense of interconnectedness ran through the recent episode of Altitude hosted by Russell Porter, with Steven Moore, Head of Network Operations at EUROCONTROL’s Network Manager, and Steve Fox, Director of Operations Control at NATS. Together, they reflected on what 2025 taught the network and what it needs to remember as another busy summer approaches.

A better year, not a perfect one

By the numbers, 2025 was an improvement on previous years. Delay across the European network reduced compared with the previous summer, performance stabilised, and, perhaps mercifully, the weather was less disruptive than in 2024.

“It was a better year overall,” Moore said, before adding the necessary caveat: “but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.”

The relative success of 2025 did not come from one bold intervention or technological leap. It came, instead, from alignment: airlines, airports, air navigation service providers and the Network Manager working in step. Aviation typically rewards coordination more so than individual brilliance.

When airspace feels ‘full’

One of the recurring questions is whether airspace ever becomes full. Passengers often hear that their flight is delayed due to “air traffic” without really knowing what that means in practice. The reality is more subtle. Steve Fox offered a practical answer.

Capacity is not about physical space, but workload. Airspace is divided into sectors, each managed by controllers who must remain within safe workload limits. When traffic density or complexity increases, flow restrictions are applied to prevent unsafe overload.

“Air traffic flow management is the first safety barrier,” Fox said. “It’s about protecting controllers from having more traffic than they can reasonably manage while also making sure we’re using the available capacity efficiently.”

Planning for what we know — and what we don’t

There is, of course, a plan. Every summer is shaped months in advance by post-season reviews, historical data, airline schedules and airport slots. Known pressure points are mapped. Structural reroutes agreed. Capacity balanced as carefully as possible.

And then the weather arrives.

Thunderstorms, fog or strong jet streams can shift traffic flows dramatically, creating early arrivals, holding patterns or cross-border congestion.

“A thunderstorm at seven in the morning on a Friday has a very different impact to one in the middle of the night,” Fox observed. Managing those effects relies on constant coordination across the network.

The network is now rich in data. Modelling, machine learning and AI support forecasting, system development and operational awareness. But neither Moore nor Fox suggested technology alone holds the answer.

Experience still matters. So does judgement. So does knowing when to intervene — and when not to.

Thinking as a Network

Steven Moore outlined EUROCONTROL’s “Think Network” campaign, which encourages all stakeholders to consider the wider consequences of local decisions. Whether it is flight planning, pushback timing, level changes, or gate allocation, individual actions can have significant downstream effects hundreds of miles away.

“Whatever your role,” Moore explained, “you are part of the aviation ecosystem. Thinking network-wide really matters.”

One priority is protecting the first rotation of the day. Even a small delay early in the morning can multiply as an aircraft operates multiple sectors, potentially ending the day tens of minutes late and disrupting crews, connections and curfews.

Asked what single change would most improve network performance? Their response was: better information. More disciplined execution. Earlier collaboration. Smarter use of capacity. Each contributes a step to the wider choreography.

Because in aviation, as in ballet, success rarely comes from one dramatic move, but from thousands of small ones, executed well, together.

You can watch the full episode of Altitude on YouTube, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.