European Air Traffic Management Master Plan; Overnight News

After issuing its Strategic Guidance in Support of the Execution of the European ATM Master Plan, describing how the agency’s activities will contribute to achieving program targets, the European Commission, this morning, announced a $2.7 billion investment in a deal signed by 16 companies and European Commission/Eurocontrol as part of its effort to unify the polyglot of air traffic management systems in Europe by 2020, save emissions and billions of dollars as well as improve safety by a factor of 10.

The deal comes as air traffic management agencies from the U.S. and Europe as well as airlines and aerospace manufacturers are set to meet today during the Paris Air Show. Related Story

"Unless these efforts deliver their results on time, the European ATM (air traffic management) system will be unable to face the projected growth of air traffic," the European Commission said in its announcement. .

The pact, including airports as well as Indra, Airbus, Honeywell and Thales and the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR), prompted EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani’s statement: "In the context of a global recession, the financing and timely development of SESAR has become literally vital."

Europe’s airlines want a single European ATM agency and the announcement last week, which follows endorsement of the Air Transport Management Master Plan by the European Council on 30 March 2009, unveils guidance on how the new system will be introduced and implemented.
The European Union has begun technical development for its long-anticipated Single European Sky (SES) air traffic management plan and ATC modernization. Publication of Strategic Guidance in Support of the Execution of the European ATM Master Plan, was greeted favorably by airlines, airports and manufacturers.

Europe’s airlines want a single European ATM agency and the announcement last week, which follows endorsement of the Air Transport Management Master Plan by the European Council on 30 March 2009, unveils guidance on how the new system will be introduced and implemented.

The European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA), which represents low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet, have long called for the replacement of the 39 air traffic control agencies with one pan-EU organization - replicating the system in the United States.

"In the US they have one system, God help them when they have to try and figure out our system," Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said of the helter skelter method of air traffic management in the EU.

Mike Ambrose, director general of the European Regions Airlines Association (ERA) added, “This may prove to be a shining example of how European co-operation can produce real benefits – but only if European Union Member States support the project fully as well. The EU has done such work before very successfully with its air transport liberalization measures. Indeed, this type of high-level activity is arguably the field in which the EU most excels. Senior officials will need to exercise the same level of determination to ensure that the industry's commitment to this project does not founder against the rocks of sovereign interests.

He was echoed by Airbus chief executive Tom Enders who said, "The benefits could be even bigger. (Current) ATM is a limiting factor to the growth of air transport. The way air transport operations are presently conducted and the current systems will not allow the sustainable growth of air transport. Future systems will integrate the aircraft as an essential element of the collaborative operations. Modern ATM is also key in enhancing the eco-efficiency of aviation.”

Up until now, European Union member countries may have shared open borders and, bar a few exceptions, a common currency, but their ATC systems were nationally unique. Even though pan-European air transit has been coordinated by Eurocontrol since 1963, the fragmented collection of dissimilar ATM systems requires users - airlines and business aviation operators alike - to navigate through 27 different national airspace regimes, each controlled by a unique air navigation service provider (ANSP) operating according to its own rules and often with exclusive, aging equipment. Consequently, flying direct is rarely possible, and the divergent routings are the antithesis of efficiency. It is as if each of the 48 contiguous American states operated its own ATC system, and the FAA had to coordinate the activities of 48 separate ANSPs just to get an aircraft across the country.

The €2.1 billion European ATM program will develop a modernized air traffic management system for Europe to prevent the crippling congestion of the European sky and reduce the environmental impact of air transport.

Original discussions to develop the project began in 2000 under the SESAR banner and has been defined in various forms since 2004. Under current plans the 27 EU members plus 11 non-E.U. neighbors will agree to stitch their sovereign airspace into a seamless blanket over the Continent and standardize their ATC systems.

As one European Parliament member said: "By 2012, we will have a Schengen of the sky," a reference to the treaty signed in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, in 1985 that created the EU's common frontier system.

The heart of the proposed system is "functional air blocks" (FABs) claimed to promote more direct routings than today's procedure, where international flights must transit national ATC zones as they are passed from one state authority to another, leading to bottlenecks, delays and unnecessary fuel consumption. FABs are therefore expected to allow shorter flight times, saving fuel and commensurately reducing CO2 emissions. Projected financial savings among system users are estimated to be as much as €2 billion annually. So far, nine FABs have been designed, including an integrated U.K./Ireland zone scheduled to come on line first as a demonstration project.

These airspace blocks, as well as providing opportunities for reduced route lengths, fuel burn and emissions, should also "provide the opportunity for airspace optimization around airports which could facilitate more continuous descent approaches from higher up the descent path,” something that has been rolling out successfully in the United States and at 20 European airports, but the target under the new program is for 100 airports by 2013.

Another potential area for ATM efficiency improvement is in the hands of the airlines. Civil Air Navigation Services Organization secretary general Alexander ter Kuile said improved airline flight planning could yield fuel savings of 2% on intra-European routes, since many carriers file the same flight plans automatically for familiar schedules, possibly missing opportunities to optimize their routing by being unaware of airspace and routing reorganization.

In terms of figures, the program has set itself the long-term target – beyond 2020 – of tripling air traffic capacity, halving costs for airlines, increasing safety ten-fold and reducing the environmental impact of every aircraft by 10 percent.

The guidance document published on June 10 aims to "provide a consistent baseline and ensure that all its activities are aligned and consistent with the plan."

Deputy Director SESAR Contribution for Eurocontrol Cooperative Network Design Directorate Bernard Miaillier said: “Eurocontrol is fully aligned behind the European ATM Master Plan and our aim is to help our members and stakeholders to do likewise. “Strategic Guidance in Support of the Execution of the European ATM Master Plan is a living document and we will keep it updated to reflect any future agreed changes to the European ATM Master Plan.”


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