EC Launches Single European Sky II

June 26, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

The new proposals aim to improve airline safety, cut costs, reduce delays and lower fuel consumption.

Under SES II, airlines could save up to 16 million tons of CO2 emissions and cut their annual costs by between two and three billion euros.

The package aims at a full reform of the European air traffic management system, which will be key to managing the doubling of traffic expected by 2020.

Not only airline passengers, but also freight forwarders and military and private aviation will benefit. In addition, the package will create more jobs in aviation.

Meanwhile, European manufacturing industry will gain from being at the forefront of innovation in air traffic management technology (for example, such satellite radio navigation systems as Galileo and Data Link), thus giving it a competitive edge in global markets.

The SES II package is based on four pillars:

• Updates to existing legislation from SES I in 2004.
• The Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) master plan, which constitutes the technological pillar.
• A safety pillar.
• An airport capacity action plan.

The first pillar introduces several enhancements to the original SES legislation (see IP/01/1398), including binding performance targets for air navigation service providers, a European network management function to ensure convergence between national networks and a definitive date for member states to improve performance, initially through a cross-border cooperative approach known as "functional airspace blocks."

The new package places environmental issues at the core of the Single European Sky, and improved air traffic management should reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation. Prospective improvements are up to 10% per flight, which amounts to 16 million tons of CO2 savings per year and a reduction of annual costs by €2.4 billion.

The technological pillar focuses on introducing better technology. The SESAR program brings together all aviation stakeholders to develop and operate a new generation, Europe-wide air traffic management system. Its deployment will enable the safe, sustainable and cost-effective handling of twice the current traffic by 2020.

The safety pillar provides for increased responsibilities for the European Aviation Safety Agency. This would ensure precise, uniform and binding rules for airport safety, air traffic management and air navigation services, as well as sound oversight of their implementation by European Union member states.

Finally, the airport capacity pillar tackles the shortage of runways and airport facilities, which currently threatens to become a major bottleneck. The initiative seeks to co-ordinate better airport slots issued to aircraft operators with air traffic management measures as well as the establishment of an airport capacity observatory to fully integrate airports in the aviation network.

"This package is a win-win for passengers, for Europe's economy and for the environment. The skies in Europe are still fragmented. As a consequence, flights are, on average, 49 km longer than needed," said Antonio Tajani, EC vice president responsible for transport.

"Our proposal aims at helping reduce queues to take off and land, and passengers will have more chance of arriving on time. At the same time, the package will help us deliver safer and greener flying, while creating more capacity," he added.

For further information see the FAQ on Single European Sky Second Package (MEMO/08/432) and the EC's web site for the Single European Sky.

Source: European Commission.