Single European Sky - Where is it?

Industry Selects Projects To Speed Single European Sky

by Bill Carey

 - April 16, 2015, 11:05 AM

 

An industry alliance appointed by the European Commission (EC) has recommended that Europe spend €836 million ($898 million) on 110 projects to expedite the Single European Sky vision of a seamless air traffic management (ATM) system. The public share of that amount would be more than planned, so the alliance recommends prioritizing certain “foundation” projects.

In a Preliminary Deployment Program, Version 1 (PDP v1) document publicly released on April 15, the Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) Deployment Alliance responds to an EC regulatory requirement that ATMsystems be deployed in a timely and synchronized way. The alliance plans to deliver the full deployment program to the EC for approval in June.

In December, the EC selected 40 organizations to serve in the alliance, which also has the official role of Sesar “deployment manager.” The membership consists of 25 airports, 11 air navigation service providers (Ansps) and carriers Air France, British Airways, easyJet and Lufthansa. Its managing director is Massimo Garbini, formerCEO of Italian Ansp ENAV.

The alliance assessed 143 candidate projects the Sesar Joint Undertaking has vetted, narrowing those to 110 it considered “flagged green” to begin. The €836 million cost would require €409 million ($439 million) in public co-funding, overshooting the €240 million targeted from the Connecting Europe Facility that finances transport, energy and telecommunications projects on the continent. But the overall investment reflects a “positive message about industry’s readiness to implement,” according to the PDP v1 document. One potential pitfall is that European military authorities submitted no projects, and “there is no evidence that projects submitted went through a consultation process with the local military authorities.”

The alliance recommends prioritizing short-term projects that can be accomplished by 2016, mirroring an approach the industry in the United States adopted to kickstart the NextGen modernization. Examples of ATM“functionalities” it prioritizes would extend aircraft arrival management to en route airspace and support time-based scheduling of required navigation performance operations. The smaller set of foundational projects could be co-funded for €304 million ($325 million), according to the alliance, which calls for the maximum co-funding contribution. The EC’s Innovation and Networks Executive Agency, which manages the Connecting Europe Facility, will determine the eventual funding level.

Separately, the European Cockpit Association (ECA), which represents some 38,000 pilots from national pilot associations, on April 11 issued a 20-point set of “prerequisites” for ATM modernization. The position points are contained in a document titled “The Future of Flying in a Single European Sky: A Crew Perspective.” Among them, the ECA calls for “pilot-centric” technical solutions that maintain the pilot in command as the ultimate authority responsible for the operation of the aircraft and prevent “flying the aircraft from the ground.”