Single European Sky Has Positive Impacts on European Air Traffic Management
March 13, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The European Commission (EC) recently published an independent evaluation of the impact of the Single European Sky (SES) initiative on air traffic management performance.
The evaluation will help the EC prepare a formal report on the Single European Sky to the European Parliament and the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers later this year.
EC vice president Jacques Barrot said, "This report proves that we took the right initiative with the Single European Sky, but we still have some way to go."
The report was prepared at the EC's request by the independent Performance Review Commission of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL). Victor Aguado, director general of EUROCONTROL, said, "This report is one more illustration of the excellent support that EUROCONTROL brings to the implementation of the Single European Sky."
The report focuses on five main areas:
- Efficient and effective organisation of supervision and regulation.
- Performance criteria and objectives.
- Rationalisation of airspace and service provision.
- Civil/military cooperation.
- Organisation of service provision.
It notes that the Single European Sky has already had a positive impact, particularly by improving cooperation between member states and air navigation service providers. It finds that the SES offers powerful tools to improve overall cost-effectiveness and flight efficiency, plus reduce the fragmentation of air navigation service provisions.
However, the use of most of those tools remains at the discretion of member states, which can result in inconsistencies and does not guarantee significant improvements in performance. Furthermore, the application of existing safety regulations in Europe remains very diverse.
The report concludes that future efforts should focus on implementing the SES framework. Key remaining implementing rules still need to be developed and national supervisory authorities must develop the necessary capabilities to implement and enforce the rules.
The report also underlines the need to develop quantified performance criteria for the European air navigation system. New regulatory measures will also be required to ensure an effective organisation of service provision, in particular in terms of designation of service providers.
The Single European Sky entered into force in April 2004 and established a strong regulatory framework that aims to improve the provision of air navigation services in Europe beyond national frontiers. This framework relies on many specific implementing rules, some of which have already been adopted and others which are being developed.
As part of the framework, the EC must report on the implementation of the SES to the European Parliament and to the Council of Ministers every three years. To assist in the preparation of the first report due in April 2007, the EC asked EUROCONTROL - and specifically its independent Performance Review Commission (PRC) - to assess the actual and possible impact of SES on air traffic management performance and to suggest any further improvements to address remaining issues.
The report is available on The Single European Sky web site and on EUROCONTROL's Performance Review Commission web site.
Source: European Commission.