It was announced from Brussels, on 2 April 2019 that CANSO (Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation) has emphasised that flexibility and realism are needed at the local level in implementing proposed and challenging EU-wide air traffic management (ATM) targets. The new targets are for the third reference period (RP3) of the Single European Sky Performance Scheme. It is understood that they cover performance in the areas of safety, flight efficiency, en-route delays and cost.

In its statement CANSO indicates that it strongly supports the need for such performance-based targets as important to the development of ATM in Europe. However, the proposed new targets are understood to pose a significant challenge: to reduce unit costs while continuing to tackle the pressing capacity constraints affecting performance in Europe. It is therefore, according to CANSO, vital that the binding local targets that flow from these EU-wide targets are realistic, achievable and appropriate for present conditions.