I was delighted last week to see Eamonn Brennan elected to run Eurocontrol, the Europe-wide coordinating body for air traffic control. He takes over in 2018 and is no doubt already working out what his priorities will need to be – because there are a lot.

Each year the Association of European Airlines (AEA) brings together the leaders of its member airlines to discuss major issues facing the aviation industry. Last week, given NATS’ role as a strategic partner of AEA, Andy Shand, General Manager of Customer Affairs and I attended their 2014 Leadership Summit.

European airspace is some of the busiest and most complex anywhere in the world. Every day thousands of air traffic controllers guide millions of passengers safely to their destinations. Yet to most people, the choreography going on above them is entirely unnoticed.