Patrick Ky, executive director of the SESAR
Joint Undertaking, outlines progress of Single
European Sky ATM Research program
development phase March 9, 2010, at ATC
Global conference in Amsterdam.
The Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) program will need public money to assist airlines in equipping for new capabilities, according to the head of the management organization overseeing the development phase.
The European Commission will propose to the Parliament and Council of the European Union (EU) this year who should manage the SESAR deployment phase, which is scheduled to begin in 2015, and how it should be funded. Airlines are pushing to have the 27-state European government fund a substantial amount of that cost, said Patrick Ky, executive director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking.
“We think that it will be necessary to have public money used in order to provide incentives for airlines or for Air Navigation Service Providers to equip early for SESAR technologies,” said Ky, speaking Tuesday at the ATC Global conference in Amsterdam. “We have already started to lobby to have SESAR on the radar scope of the EU budgetary discussions which are starting now for the budget which will cover the EU operations between 2014 and 2021.”
The SESAR JU is managing SESAR’s development phase, now in progress with some 220 of 300 projects initiated. The organization has a budget of 2.1 billion euros over eight years. The total cost of SESAR is estimated at 35 billion euros, with airlines incurring 20 billion euros to equip or retrofit for new operational capabilities.
Ky said public support could be provided through co-funding programs or “innovative” means, such as creating a fund for early equipage. He indicated support of an airline industry call to use Europe’s Emission Trading Scheme to help underwrite SESAR, saying “it would be a very good initiative.”
FAA Sees Modest Growth in 2010
The sluggish economy will put the brakes on growth in the U.S. commercial air industry, according to a FAA forecast released Tuesday.
FAA’s Annual Aerospace Forecast predicts domestic passenger enplanements will increase modestly, by 0.5 percent, in 2010, and then grow an average of 2.5 percent per year until 2030. In the short-term, the agency expects to see declines in both domestic and international capacity as carriers respond to the economic downturn. U.S. airlines will reach 1 billion passengers a year by 2023, two years later than earlier forecasted.
At the forecast conference in Washington on Tuesday, FAA, Department of Transportation and industry officials called on the industry to step up its emphasis on implementing Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) technologies to improve efficiency and accommodate the increase in traffic.
“I believe that this aviation forecast is a major point in a very strong business case for NextGen. If you’re thinking that because the numbers are down, there’s no need for NextGen or airport improvements, I would counter that it is unwise to make long-term decisions with short-term information,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt.
Industry officials also stressed their support for NextGen and called on industry leaders to speed up equippage incentives for NextGen technologies.“What excited me most about NextGen is its potential,” said James May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association. “What concerns me most is when we’re going to implement NextGen … Right now, I don’t think NextGen is the national priority that it needs to be.”
Babbitt will give a keynote address at the RTCA Spring Symposium in Washington on April 6. For more information, or to register, visit www.aviationtoday.com/symposium/.
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