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.”