Boeing, Airbus agree to work on air traffic issues

A man looks at a scale model of Boeing's 787 dreamliner at their booth at the Singapore Air Show in Singapore in this February 19, 2008 file photo.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Plane makers Boeing Co and Airbus said on Tuesday they signed an agreement to work together to modernize global air traffic management as part of an effort to cut aviation's impact on the environment.

The companies will seek to speed up improvements to the world's air transportation management system in order to increase efficiency and eliminate traffic congestion, according to a statement by the companies' top commercial aircraft executives.

Scott Carson of Boeing and Tom Enders of Airbus, a unit of Europe's EADS, signed the agreement on the sidelines of the third Aviation and Environmental Summit in Geneva.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)