partnership - eurocontrol · articles appearing in this magazine do not necessarily ... partnership...

PartnershipCNDCooperative Network Design

DMEANNetwork optimisation

SESAR JUA joint industry effort

Interview with Daniel CallejaDirector of Air Transport, European Commission

FlyA EuroNews programmein partnership with EUROCONTROL

Skyway is a quarterly publication of the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, EUROCONTROLVolume 12, Number 47, Spring 2008

Editorial

FocusCooperative Network Design:

a key pillar of the EUROCONTROL Agency

DMEAN network optimisation

Partnership in R&D

Civil-military cooperation

SKYbrary: from idea to reality

InterviewSkyway speaks to Daniel Calleja,

Director of Air Transport, European Commission

Stakeholder ForumSESAR Joint Undertaking

FAB EC: on the starting blocks

Independent PlatformSlow progress on FABs

SESAR UpdateSESAR progress

DatelinesEUROCONTROL/IFATCA joint press conference

ATC Global 2008 Exhibition and Conference:

Performance-based Global ATM

NewsPatrick Peters re-elected

IFATCA Executive Vice-President Europe

Visits

Fly: a EuroNews programme in partnership

with EUROCONTROL

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31 Skyway Magazine is a EUROCONTROL publication. Articles appearing in this magazine do not necessarily refl ect EUROCONTROL’s offi cial policy.

Publisher: David McMillanManaging Editor: Jean-Jacques SauvageEditor: Lucia [email protected] Linguistic Advisers: Language Service Layout: Frédérique FyonPhotography: Christian SampouxPrinting: EUROCONTROL Logistics and Support ServicesPhoto cover: © Véronique Paul/Graphix

Articles, photographs and letters from readers are welcome. Whilst every care will be taken of material submitted for publication, the Managing Editorregrets that he is unable to accept responsibility for any loss or damage.

EUROCONTROL Website: http://www.eurocontrol.int

Contents

3Skyway 47 - Spring 2008

d o aEditorial Editorial

Dear readers,

I am pleased to publish my fi rst issue of the Skyway Magazine since taking up duties as Director General of EUROCONTROL on1 January of this year.

This a pivotal time for air traffi c management (ATM) and the chal-lenges and opportunities for aviation are clear. They will both reside in safely and effi ciently accommodating the consistent growth in traffi c. Air traffi c in Europe is expected to double by 2025 – with between 15 and 19 million fl ights. This means that a signifi cant number of issues – capac-ity, safety, civil and military coordination, environment and performance – need to be addressed.

So are we up to the challenge?This fi rst 2008 edition of Skyway focuses on partnership, which I

see as a key way forward, if not the only way to meet the needs of all par-ties involved, beginning with those of the travelling public.

We have already identifi ed a number of solutions, as highlighted in the edition of Skyway.

The SESAR Programme has been maturing rapidly in recent months, with the production of its operational concept, its master plan and work programme and the setting-up of the SESAR Joint Undertaking.

DMEAN – the Dynamic Management of the European Airspace Net-work – aims to optimise the use of airspace between civil and military users and is expected to deliver a capacity increase of up to 25% by the year 2010. This is essential in the short term.

Initiatives focusing on the creation of functional blocks of airspace are making progress, albeit slowly, and their potential benefi ts in terms of routeing effi ciency are starting to be seen.

At the same time the existing European ATM network that needs to be optimised and CND – cooperative network design – sets a framework for action at national and regional level.

To implement pan-European action, Europe has the intergovernmen-tal approach of EUROCONTROL and the Community method. The inter-governmental approach has proved well-suited for cooperative network design, optimisation and performance review, and brings the added value of the military and pan-European dimensions.

On the other hand, the Community method brings the added advan-tage of its enforcement powers as well as an ability to drive large-scale programmes, such as SESAR.

The iteration between these two existing methods brings real benefi ts.

I am personally committed to delivering a stronger involvement of ATM stakeholders in setting EUROCONTROL’s strategy and priorities as we establish this convergence which is aimed at the single process for ATM that Europe needs.

Partnership with our stakeholders is our key priority and this edition of Skyway testifi es to that.

2008 will be very exciting for EUROCONTROL and I look forward to reporting on latest developments in the coming issues.

David McMillan,Director General

Chers lecteurs,

Je suis heureux de publier le premier numéro du Magazine Skyway depuis ma prise de fonctions, le 1er janvier de cette année, en qualité de Directeur général d’EUROCONTROL.

Nous vivons un moment capital pour la gestion de la circulation aérienne (ATM), et les défi s et possibilités qui se présentent à l’aviation sont clairs.Il s’agit, dans les deux cas, de gérer la croissance continue du trafi c dans de bonnes conditions de sécurité et d’effi cacité. Le trafi c aérien devrait doubler d’ici 2025, pour atteindre 15 à 19 millions de vols. Il nous faudra donc régler un nombre important de questions, qui vont de la capacité, de la sécurité et de la coordination civile-militaire à l’amélioration des performances, en pas-sant par la problématique environnementale.

Sommes-nous à la hauteur de ces défi s ?Ce premier numéro 2008 de Skyway met l’accent sur le partenariat,

qui constitue, selon moi, un moyen clé sinon l’unique moyen pour répondre aux besoins de toutes les parties intéressées, à commencer par ceux des passagers.

Comme vous pourrez le découvrir dans les pages qui suivent, nous avons déjà identifi é un certain nombre de solutions.

Le Programme SESAR a enregistré des avancées sensibles ces der-niers mois, avec l’élaboration du concept opérationnel, la mise au point du plan-cadre et du programme de travail ainsi que la création de l’Entreprise commune SESAR.

Le concept DMEAN – gestion dynamique du réseau aérien européen – a pour vocation d’optimiser l’utilisation de l’espace aérien par les usagers civils et militaires et devrait se traduire par un gain de capacité de l’ordre de 25% d’ici à 2010. En cela, il répond à un besoin essentiel à court terme.

Les initiatives visant à créer des blocs d’espace aérien fonctionnels en-registrent des progrès, lents certes, mais réels, et leurs avantages potentiels en termes d’effi cacité des trajectoires commencent à se concrétiser.

Dans le même temps, l’optimisation du réseau ATM européen dans sa forme actuelle doit être poursuivie : la CDN – conception d’un réseau coopératif – met en place un cadre d’action au niveau tant national que régional.

Pour agir à l’échelon paneuropéen, l’Europe a le choix entre la méthode intergouvernementale d’EUROCONTROL et la méthode commu-nautaire. L’approche intergouvernementale a fait ses preuves en matière de conception d’un réseau coopératif, d’optimisation et d’examen des perfor-mances, et elle apporte la valeur ajoutée que représentent les dimensions militaire et paneuropéenne.

La méthode communautaire, quant à elle, se distingue par les pouvoirs d’exécution qui y sont associés et la faculté d’impulser des programmes ambitieux tels que SESAR.

L’itération entre ces deux méthodes est porteuse de réels avantages. Dans le cadre de cette convergence qui vise à mettre en place le pro-

cessus ATM unique dont l’Europe a besoin, je me suis personnellement engagé à faire en sorte que les partenaires ATM puissent jouer un rôle plus important dans la défi nition de la stratégie et des priorités d’EUROCONTROL.

Le partenariat est donc notre priorité absolue, comme en atteste le présent numéro de Skyway.

2008 sera une année passionnante pour EUROCONTROL et je me réjouis à la perspective de vous rendre compte des derniers développements dans les prochains numéros de Skyway.

David McMillan, Directeur général

C

mg

Focus

4

Dr Erik Merckx, Deputy Director ATM Programmes, takes us on a plane journeyto explain what CND – Cooperative Network Design – is all about.

Cooperative Network Design A key pillar of the EUROCONTROL Agency

CND: what’s in a name?

The best way of understanding Coopera-tive Network Design (CND) is to get on a plane and travel across Europe.

Fasten your seatbelts and relax. If your plane leaves on time, this might well be because experienced people at your air-port have managed to optimise the runway capacity, or because they have managed to have a better view of actual taxitimes, or because discussions between airport authorities, the air navigation service pro-vider and the airline operators have taken place with a view to optimising capacity and fl ight scheduling.

Whilst taking off, you may not notice that the aircraft is equipped with a messag-ing system (like SMS), called data link, where the pilot is given clearance to take off by the air traffi c controller in the tower by means of an electronic message that pops up on a screen in the cockpit. This is new technology designed to make com-munication between the air traffi c control-ler and pilot safer and to solve some of the problems associated with traditional voice communication over the radio.

Once in the air, you might be fortunate to be on a fl ight for which the route is no longer an old zig-zag between various air-space structures, but an optimised path, which is shorter. The captain may proudly explain during the fl ight the fuel and CO2 savings he is able to make as a result of this. Your fl ight may even go straight through airspace which is normally re-served for military fl ights, but which has been opened because of good coordina-tion and agreement between civil and mili-

tary partners. If it is a very clear day, you will see that any planes below yours are fl ying at a distance which is closer than before, but still safe, i.e. 1000 ft instead of what used to be 2000 ft.

While you relax in your seat, you may again not notice that air-ground communication between the air traffi c controller and pilot has been improved by making additional radio frequencies available. This is the re-sult of another important project to ensure better and faster communication between pilots and air traffi c controllers.

As a passenger, you will obviously not have a clue about the impressive investment and effort deployed at the airports and by the air traffi c control centres to continue to cope with the ever-increasing traffi c. You will also not know – nor do you need to – how much talking and messaging is taking place between air traffi c controllers at the various air traffi c control centres to ensure that your fl ight is safe, smooth and timely amidst the other 30,000 aircraft fl y-ing on the same day in Europe. The tools that were designed to help them to cope with this workload have become more and more sophisticated. So have the tools

and the computers on the plane. Air traffi c controllers and pilots are constantly being retrained to work with the latest technol-ogy and procedures.

Most of what we see today in terms of capacity improvement and effi ciency im-provement – let’s call it performance – was designed fi ve to ten years ago. Before the ATM developments that you experi-ence in your fl ight were implemented, they were checked and re-checked, validated in simulations, and discussed between all parties involved. First and foremost, checks were carried out in order to en-sure that what was planned was safe. Or a safer way of working than in the past.

At the same time, studies were carried out to see whether this new concept, new technology or new operating procedure was commercially viable. Moreover, it may have been found essential to develop new rules or regulations to ensure that the new procedures would be applied by everyone in the same way.

Throughout the process, from design to implementation, many different stake-holder groups will have been involved in discussions, consultations and decision-making.

All the above is part of what we call CND.

The “C” (cooperative) stands for the Eu-ropean ATM community which, has jointly with the help of EUROCONTROL for the technical aspects and the European Commission for the political and legisla-tive aspects, implemented the ATM im-provements to make your journey better than before.

The “C” (cooperative) stands for the European ATM community, which has jointly implemented the ATM improvements to make your journey better than before


The “N” (network) is the amalgam of all the elements that in one way or another contribute to the smooth fl ight you have just enjoyed. It includes for example air-ports, fl ight routes, scheduling of fl ights, all the equipment used to make air traffi c control happen, both on the ground and in the air, all the information and commu-nication which is available and is shared between all the players in the network, and of course all the people involved (such as air navigation service providers, airlines, airport operators, military, regu-lators, and all EUROCONTROL experts and staff). All of this is strongly interlinked. As with a spider’s web, destroying one of the links in the network has a negative effect on the network as a whole.

Finally, the “D” (design) focuses on the joint creativity and professionalism of all of the players in the network who come

up with new solutions, in either the short or the longer term, in order to cope with the ongoing traffi c growth. Designers need to take all future performance cri-teria into consideration as regards safety, capacity, effi ciency, the environment and security.

CND sounds rather dull, and we are still looking for a more appealing name. Don’t hesitate to call the editor of Skyway if you have any brilliant ideas for its new name.

CND at EUROCONTROL

Most of the elements of CND require ex-pertise which is available within EURO-CONTROL. This expertise and the corre-sponding work programmes are currently spread over a number of directorates.

CND

EECEEEEEECCCCCCEEE

CFMU

IANS MUAC

DCMAC EATM

Plays a leading role inresearch for the European

ATM system

Operates air traffic flow& capacity management.CND activities focus on

the development ofpan-European solutions

Provides training to theATM community.

CND activities promote safety,capacity, efficiency, security

& increase environmentalawareness

Provides air traffic servicesin the four States airspace.CND activities relate to the

validation of operationalsolutions

Enhances civil-militaryand military-military

coordination

Leads the rapidimplementation of auniform European

ATM system

100% CND

100% CND 100% CND

1% CND

7% CND

60% CND

Adding together all the work done in these directorates just on CND results in a budget of €160 million (2008 budget). Cooperative Network Design (CND) is currently one of the four core pillars of the EUROCONTROL Agency (together with pan-European functions, region-al services and support to regulation and governance). A number of Agency directorates contribute to CND, as shown in the diagram opposite. The per-centages shown are estimates and may well fl uctuate over the period covered by the CND business plan. The interaction between these director-ates has traditionally been very good. Processes are in place to ensure the smooth transition of work among the directorates involved. Projects such as DMEAN are also run successfully across directorates.

However, there is always room for improvement. The setting-up of the SESAR Joint Undertaking will require the EUROCONTROL Agency to work in a different way, with an even clearer focus on accountability and deliverables.

Consequently, a decision was taken earlier this year to realign our CND work in a CND organisation which is even more suited to delivering faster and better. As of the publication of this issue of Skyway, the thinking on how to design this new CND organisation has reached a relatively advanced stage. Various possible scenarios are being developed. Implementation of the pre-ferred option is scheduled for the last quarter of this year. ■

Agency directorates’ contribution to CND

6

Focus

Short-term improvements to the network are being implemented in advance of the Single European Sky. Chris Bouman, DMEAN Framework Programme Activity Manager, assesses what difference the Dynamic Management of the European Airspace Network Programme will makeand what progress has been made so far.

DMEANNetwork optimisation

The DMEAN development and implemen-tation activities were launched in April 2006 in order to provide incremental improve-ments towards full implementation by 2011 with a view to addressing the relentless rise in traffi c.

In the initial defi nition phases it was already clear that DMEAN could not rely on new technologies or on clear-cut solutions such as RVSM. The solutions had to be found in making best use of the available, yet un-used capacity within the system, by improv-ing existing processes. This was recognised as being entirely dependent on intensifi ed cooperation between the ATM partners, supported by improved, targeted informa-tion sharing.

Thus, when the DMEAN concept of opera-tions was defi ned, its main thread consisted of an improved operational partnership approach. More precisely, when EURO-CONTROL Member States approved the DMEAN plan in April 2006, they emphasised their support for the partnership approach which was highlighted in the proposals.

What does this partnership mean in real terms?

The DMEAN concept considers that most short-term improvements can be achieved by using available airspace more effectively through a greater degree of dynamism in airspace allocation and route activation, and by integrating airport airside operations bet-ter into network operations.

More dynamic airspace allocation and route activation require the full operational coop-eration and mutual understanding of civil air navigation service providers, national military authorities, aircraft operators and the Cen-tral Flow Management Unit (CFMU). This cooperation takes place in the design of the airspace, based both on civil and military requirements with built-in fl exibility, and on reaching agreement as to how that airspace will be managed and used. The DMEAN approach takes national military mission requirements as a given, and puts no pres-sure on that requirement in light of civil needs. However, with optimised procedures and better information exchange, the available airspace not required for military missions can be much better utilised by civil users. A recent report by the Performance Review Commission confi rms this issue and the potential for short-term wins.

Examples of key improvement areas include lack of conditional routes through military airspace and underutilisation of those routes where they exist. Airspace design and man-agement action plans have been agreed, to implement more conditional routes, provid-ing reduced route length, and improvements to airspace use planning on the day before. These plans also include optimised coordi-nation between the military, air navigation service providers and the CFMU to address airspace availability changes, including im-proved notifi cation to the aircraft operators, and fl ight planning processes which support airlines in dealing with changing airspace availability. This fl exibility is supported by im-proved simulation tools, more continuous

DMEAN usersFred Bloem, FMP Manager and ATFCM Expert, LVNL/ATC Netherlands – “For LVNL it was very important to assess inte-grated ASM/ATFCM processes during the real-life trials in order to test the concepts which were developed on the basis of the DMEAN principles. The benefi ts coming out of these trials were considered an eye-opener.”

Carlo Bernasconi, Chairman, DMEAN Implementation Support Group, former Director of Operations, Skyguide – “DMEAN is a very promising pan-European undertaking to increase capacity in the short term. It is about fi ne-tuning the current system, without new technologies and big investments: just common sense and best practices, no rocket science! I really believe, looking at the initial results, that DMEAN will succeed in delivering the hidden capacity potential until SESAR takes over”.

Peter Vercauteren, Flight Operations Manager, International Air Carrier Association (IACA )“If the industry continues to require a traffi c growth at current levels over the next fi ve to ten years, we will have no other option but to fully embrace DMEAN including the increased operational fl exibility, pro-activ-ity and better collaboration that it implies. I don’t believe any of us would like to return to the situation we endured ten years ago.”


civil-military coordination procedures and a more modular design of military airspace, and as such can also accommodate short-term changes in military requirements.

Important steps have already been taken in this respect. Military stakeholders are ac-tively supporting the approach, provided their mission requirements are met, so that the net-work is truly optimised for all airspace users. Taking the mission requirements on board at an early stage will optimise airspace use for all parties. In this respect, a local and regional ASM1 support initiative known as LARA (see article on page 13) aims to link local and re-gional military airspace requirements with the management of the entire network.

The potential for improvement through better coordination between airspace man-agement cells, fl ow management positions and the CFMU was confi rmed in trials which took place in January. These tested different dynamic airspace management procedures, focusing on civil-military coordination. As a next step, operational trials are planned for April, in which applications of different airspace and fl ow management improve-ments will be tested in real life. The outcome will serve as a basis for procedures to be implemented across Europe in the context of the ASM Improvement Action Plan.

Aircraft operators, the ultimate benefi cia-ries of the network improvements, them-selves play a major role in better utilisation of what is available, such as conditional routes. To do this, however, they need better notifi -cation of route availability, fl ight plan process-ing improvements and safeguards against late changes affecting the required level of predictability and stability of operations. At the same time, operators need to consider a more dynamic and fl exible approach to fl ight planning and dispatch. This is in fact a key area where network delay reduction and fl ight effi ciency enhancement can be achieved before 2012.

In keeping up with traffi c demand, air navi-gation service providers are facing a num-ber of constraints. Staff shortage is an ongo-ing issue that is affecting capacity now and will continue to do so in the years to come. Regulatory and social issues affect the provi-sion of capacity when and where required, and ATC system upgrades require staff training and temporary capacity reductions. Environmental requirements are increasingly constraining capacity and even fl ight effi cien-cy improvements.

In the face of this challenging environment and the forecast rise in delay fi gures, achiev-able short-term improvements are needed if we are to cope with the increasing traffi c de-mand. Besides the many airspace-related enhancements in which service providers are involved, these improvements include cooperation and information exchange with the CFMU, for example in order to optimise the management of ATFCM2 scenarios and to ensure that all airspace data is accessible centrally, both of which directly benefi t the network as a whole.

The operational integration of airports into the ATM network, another DMEAN corner-stone development, is progressing well with more and more airports recognising that be-ing a full network partner is essential for both themselves and the network.

Airport CDM is now accepted as a major next step for airports in meeting many of their complex requirements.

With information such as actual capacity and runways and SIDs3/STARs4 in use, the CFMU can signifi cantly improve the optimi-sation of the network as a whole.

Area control centres and destination airports derive signifi cant benefi ts from a more accu-rate picture of fl ight progress, through DPI5 and FUM6 messages, resulting in increased accuracy of the estimated arrival time at FIR/

sector boundary or airport, including resul-tant ground-handling improvements.

More accurate information will also partly overcome the current loss of en-route performance e.g. due to non-adherence to ATFCM slots.

A new approach

The DMEAN improvements constitute a change in the approach to how we work together in designing and utilising the means which are at our disposal, and entail new procedures for collaborative decision-making to ensure that the requirements of all ATM partners are met.

The exchange of relevant ATM data is key to making this work, to considering the impact of the proposed airspace so-lutions, being notifi ed of opportunities or signifi cant events, and remaining aware of the airspace, airport and traffi c situation in order to take all this on board when plan-ning subsequent action. In the context of improved cooperation and quick wins, a best-practice register has been set up for use by stakeholders, with information from air navigation service providers, the mili-tary, airports and airlines – another good example of mutual support towards a common goal.

To provide a strong backbone and com-mon basis for all ATM partners, a DMEAN Stakeholder Action Plan for 2008-2011 is now on the table. Taking the actions set out in this plan will be crucial if we are to exploit what the system has to offer, in the short term.

A more dynamic management of airspace requires seamless cooperation between the ATM partners involved, and as such the operational partnership approach is at the heart of network optimisation and will con-tinue to be so over the next few years. ■

1- Airspace management

2- Air traffi c fl ow and capacity management

3- Standardinstrumentdepartures

4- Standardarrival routes

5- Departureplanninginformation

6- Flight update message

Focus

8

The EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre (EEC) has a long and established track record in cooperation and partnership dating back to the 1970s. Today, the Centre is working in one form or another with more than 180 different agencies, fi rms and suppliers. Dave Young, EEC Strategy Manager, reports.

Partnership in R&D

proached with a great deal of reserve in many sectors. Why would a management team want to face the compromises and considerations of working in harness with one, two or more organisations?

There is a multitude of reasons why the EEC has long since adopted this path. However, what is crucial is the recogni-tion of the absolute necessity for a coop-

erative approach to the development of ATM in Europe, a necessity imposed by the wide range and diversity of its actors and their business objectives.

Far from mastering these diverse needs and expectations, the European ATM Master Plan produced by SESAR never-theless sheds some light upon the fun-damental defi ciencies encountered and

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industryR&D Centre/

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40

50

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EEC partner distribution by project

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2-5partners

6-10partners

11-15partners

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2

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6

8

10

12

14

16

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Total projects

The large partnership network started more than 20 years ago with the recognition that developing new tools and operational im-provements for air traffi c management (ATM) required a move from tailor-made systems, software and hardware to coop-erative development exploiting commercial off-the-shelf products and services emerg-ing from other business sectors. Early examples of these partnerships which marked the history of the EEC would in-clude Prosat, ODID, PHARE, DSI and AVENUE (see table on opposite page).

An integral part of the EEC culture, part-nerships have been high on the list of its business objectives and strategy for many years now. The Centre measures the ef-fectiveness of its strategy through the partnerships and alliances created or to which it contributes.

Why partnership?

One may ask why the EEC is so insis-tent on partnership, especially as it is ap-

The EEC helps its partners deliver the best and most appropriate technologies and systems


provides directions upon which the Eu-ropean research community must now construct the foundations for the future evolutions to the ATM system.

Over the next eight years, the SESAR Joint Undertaking will target €2.1 billion of European research and development resources on an approach the industry have collectively agreed. The EEC has a major role to play in this endeavour. Yet it recognises that alone, it has neither the competences nor the capabilities to carry out all that must now be achieved.

Through its independence, the Centre remains an objective partner for the large community of technical organisations across Europe, helping them to deliver the best and most appropriate technolo-gies and systems. In aviation this does not happen overnight. Surprisingly, to-day’s implementations are the visible re-sults of yesterday’s cooperative research ventures.

Research is an integral part of the over-all lifecycle for the development of the European air traffi c system. The ATM re-search community has struggled in the past to ensure the transformation of its results into products and operations. There are many reasons for this and they will not be corrected in one foul swoop. However, the European Operational Con-cept Validation Methodology, E-OCVM (www.eurocontrol.int/valfor), provides a

very good vehicle to address some of the defi ciencies.

A product of successful international partnership, E-OCVM provides a widely accepted maturity model that traces a path through the various phases of re-search, development and deployment into operation, formalising the transitions between these – an ideal vehicle with which to illustrate the varying roles of the EEC and its partners throughout the re-search and development lifecycle.

Establishing a vision (V0)

The industry at large recognises the need to stimulate creativity and innovation in order to develop the scientifi c knowledge necessary to extend the horizons be-yond those currently identifi ed, establish-ing the foundation upon which Europe’s industries will remain competitive in the global market.

It is recognised that innovation thrives on diversity and multidisciplinary coop-eration from within academia and spe-cialised research institutes. To stimu-late this engagement and ensure its applicability to air transport, the EEC has developed and applied a number of instruments – CARE-Ino, visiting sci-entist and PhD scholarships schemes. These are complemented with a major annual event – The Innovative Research

vt

ApapsibwEs

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Ttonyiig

Prosat: early developments of satellite usage for air navigation in partnership with INMARSAT

and the European Space Agency (ESA), in which the EEC led the development of prototypes and

performed a number of simulations proving the feasibility of ADS-C applications.

ODID: the operational display and input development activity led by the EEC conducted a series

of experiments with partners from UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France, Switzerland and the

USA, which facilitated the progressive introduction of colour, windowing techniques, mouse and

early distributed system architectures into the controller working positions.

PHARE: the programme for harmonised research in EUROCONTROL, seen by many as the fi rst

major cooperative European venture in ATM, bringing together a number of European research

establishments and national authorities, combining their air traffi c control and aeronautics experi-

ence to mount a comprehensive and coordinated research programme.

DSI: the Denmark-Sweden Interface project of

the mid-90s realised in partnership with the

Danish and Swedish civil aviation authorities for

the development of their ATC systems. Interest-

ingly, this activity carried the positive results

from the ODID era through further simulation,

prototyping and detailed engineering specifi -

cations into the development of modern ATC

systems now operational in both Denmark and

Sweden, featuring human-machine interfaces

and controller-support tools.

AVENUE: the ATM Validation Environment for Use towards EATMS activity was the EEC’s fi rst ma-

jor engagement in the European Commission’s RTD framework programmes. Working in partner-

ship within large industry consortia, the project achieved a major step in moving the ATM industry

towards distributed architectures and industry standards in middleware.

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V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7

Examples of EEC partnerships

Focus

10

Partnership in R&D

Workshop – a forum for outreach and exchange of information for research-ers engaged in this particular sphere of activity.

Whilst acting as a very good start-ing point, with measurable successes, these instruments have not fully attained the objectives sought. Consequently the EEC has taken the lead in orchestrating work with visionary partners from indus-try and academia to stimulate research beyond the visions provided by ACARE and SESAR, and develop management processes and funding schemes that will facilitate the creation of scientifi c “centres of excellence”.

Within the management framework of the SESAR Joint Undertaking, the EEC will aim to ensure that each “centre” is a sustainable forum for the development and exchange of knowledge and capa-bilities, a stimulus for creativity and a vehicle to prepare future generations of engineers, bringing together academia and industry.

Scoping the concept (V1)

To date, the EEC has engaged with Eu-rope’s research establishments and aca-demia in a number of small investigative studies which maximise the cooperative research and funding opportunities of-fered by the EC’s RTD Framework pro-grammes. The results of these studies have contributed to the defi nition of the ATM Master Plan and SESAR opera-tional vision.

The long-term (2020+) work stream identifi ed in the ATM Master Plan cov-ers specifi c elements identifi ed as part of the SESAR operating environment but which are not attainable in the 2020 timeframe. Whilst the performance tar-gets and vision exist for the operating

environment, the level of maturity is low and therefore efforts must be made to develop knowledge and progress matu-rity, and, wherever possible, accelerate development for early implementation.

The EEC’s engagement and that of its partners is essential, but the Centre will ensure that this effort is now focused and complemented with increasing lev-els of engagement from the industry, in order to address the implementation challenges and satisfy the longer-term performance needs of the system.

Concept refi nement (V2)

Only in one respect does the EEC have a special and enduring role – it is indepen-dent. This is an important, probably vital, characteristic of the Centre, one which is appreciated by many of its partners in this phase of the development lifecycle.

The major integrated projects of EC’s RTD 6th Framework Programme, in particular C-ATM and Episode 3, have established the EEC as a valued and objective partner within the industry. Its leadership in orchestrating the refi ne-ment, validation and performance as-sessment of the concept is uncontested. It plays a key role in moderating the diffi -cult trade-offs between the various busi-ness interests of the major actors of the system: air navigation service providers, airport authorities, airlines, the military and the manufacturing industry.

Appropriation (V3)

Work achieved to date in the lifecycle has shown the feasibility, the performance and the operational viability of the solu-tions developed with our partners. It is now time to assemble, integrate and

The EEC has taken the lead in orchestrating work with visionary part-ners from industry and academia to stimulate research and develop management processes that will facilitate the creation of scientifi c “centres of excellence”


consolidate these improvements into a whole and pass on the responsibility to those who must further develop, indus-trialise and operate them.

The EEC remains the custodian of the overall system consistency when viewed from its operational perspective, provid-ing the regulatory and international stan-dardisation bodies with quality technical data that enables the development of balanced regulations and standards.

It continues to work very closely with its industry partners to ensure the transfer of accumulated knowledge and specifi -cations so that these may be fi ne tuned according to local constraints and op-erating conditions. Where necessary, it also supports simulations and live trials to ensure the appropriation of the system by the operators.

The idea becomes reality(V4, V5 and V6)

It may come as a surprise that the EEC continues its close association with its main partners from the industry even after the product of our research moves into operations. There are two main rea-sons for this – capabilities and aware-ness.

V0 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6

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AcademiaResearch establishments Industry

Air navigation service providers, airports & users

Exploring partnerships through E-OCVM

Whilst validation identifi es that we are build-ing the right system, verifi cation and quali-fi cation answers the key question as to whether or not we are building the system correctly. The complex technical systems and methodologies developed to support validation may once again support these processes. Of course, the EEC does not intervene in all areas, but when requested and when its facilities support the request, it acts as an objective and independent partner in the process leading to the “hall mark” guaranteeing safe operation.

Although only a very small proportion of its effort is dedicated to these phases of the life cycle, the EEC’s engagement sup-porting the actors of the industry ensures that we maintain our understanding of operations and the inherent constraints – knowledge upon which the future transi-tions are built into the research and devel-opment lifecycle.

Conclusion

The EEC’s positions, roles and partners in cooperative research and development efforts have been highlighted through E-OCVM and may be summarised in the diagram below. This provides a view which is of course incomplete and over simplifi ed.

Other relationships have been estab-lished in many of the transversal do-mains such as safety, environment, validation, etc., all of which are equally important in orchestrating the future improvements to the European ATM system. Due to the global nature of air transport, partnerships have also been established beyond the confines of ECAC to ensure the coherent develop-ment of procedures and technologies for the Single European Sky.

The EEC has been an important cata-lytic influence in forming some of these partnerships. It has brought the merit of independence to this moderating role and it has seen the partnerships resulting from this producing excellent results. It has required hard work, com-promise and patience from all sorts of partners – air navigation service pro-viders, airlines, suppliers, airports and many others. The rewards are and will be found in the creation of a better ATM system. When you see the results of SESAR in a few years time you might remember that a great deal of what will be achieved will be done in part-nership. Experience has indeed made this somewhat unnatural way of work-ing feel very much like normality at the EEC. ■

12

Focus

As the sole civil-military intergovernmental ATM organisation in Europe, EUROCONTROL is well positioned to facilitate and support its Member States and stakeholders in improving civil-military as well as military-military cooperation, leading to enhanced fl exibility and effi ciency in the use of European airspace by users and increased harmonisation.

With its Directorate of Civil-Military ATM Coordination (DCMAC), the EURO-CONTROL Agency can provide the appropriate level of expertise and plays a key role in the development and implementation of the future European ATM network through joint civil-military partnerships. Jean-Robert Cazarré, Director DCMAC, explains.


With traffi c in Europe’s skies rapidly in-creasing, at an annual rate of at least 4%, the need for smooth coordination amongst civil and military airspace users is growing in parallel. EUROCONTROL is working for the careful synchronisation of civil and military air traffi c management plans from the earliest stages of their development. All these plans should ultimately enable the fundamental objective of a genuine single European sky. To achieve this, the Agency is focusing on fi ve key areas:

■ regulatory harmonisation; ■ impact assessment studies;■ airspace management and performance improvement;■ interoperability of military CNS systems within SESAR ■ training.

Regulatory harmonisation

The implementation of the Single Euro-pean Sky will bring changes in airspace design and airspace use arrangements which will lead to harmonised regulations for general air traffi c (GAT) across Europe. These changes will in turn have an impact on the current national fragmentation of operational air traffi c (OAT) and will require the harmonisation of the relevant military arrangements.

Against this background, DCMAC is focusing on the regulatory harmonisa-tion of OAT. To this end, it is working to-wards the creation of an ECAC-wide OAT Transit Service (OATTS), harmonising national regulatory provisions and providing a fl exible environment for civil and military airspace users.

Military air operations go beyond GAT rules and procedures. The resultant gaps

must be fi lled with rules supplementing and/or deviating from GAT in order to ensure that the regulatory provisions and ATM arrangements required for military missions are in place. To this end, the Agency is currently developing specifi ca-tions for harmonised rules for operational air traffi c under instrument fl ight rules in-side the controlled airspace of the ECAC area, known as EUROAT. These are ex-pected to be delivered by end of 2008.


Impact assessment studies

Implementation of EC regulationsEUROCONTROL launched in 2007 an im-pact assessment of the implementation of EC regulations by the military. Known as SESIM, the programme focuses primarily on the impact on the military users of the implementation of common rules for the fl exible use of airspace (FUA), common requirements for the provision of air traffi c services and the European Community air traffi c controller licence.

Joint civil-military use of military aerodromesIn a bid to address the capacity crunch at airports, EUROCONTROL intends to sup-port the expansion of the use of military aerodromes by civil aviation. To do this, the Agency launched in early 2008 an ini-tiative which will take stock of the exist-ing legislation and practices across ECAC and relevant non-ECAC States in order to identify commonly applied practices. It will also consider EU regulation which may have an impact on these practices, assess the benefi ts and limitations for civil and military counterparts as well as iden-tify the institutional, legal, fi nancial and operational issues arising from the joint use of a military airport, and ultimately propose related solutions.

Conducted through study and research activities with the contribution of a task

force composed of States and EU-ROCONTROL experts, the initiative is expected to deliver an analysis that will support civil and military authorities in the development and implementation of joint civil-military aerodromes.

Airspace management and performance improvement

Local and Regional ASM (LARA)The Local and Regional ASM application (LARA) project focuses on automation in airspace management at local and re-gional levels for civil-military and military-military coordination. The aim of the project is to improve ATM performance through more effi cient and transparent decision-making processes between civil and military stakeholders. Addition-ally, PRISMIL, the Pan-European Reposi-tory of Information Supporting Military Key Performance Indicators programme, will provide the required performance moni-toring and feedback. The LARA application will be built on three pillars – airspace planning, airspace sta-tus and statistics. A demonstrator was developed and successfully tested dur-ing the CFMU ASM/ATFCM trial on 22-24 January 2008. The trial showed potential benefi ts for civil and military stakeholders

– in particular airspace management cells, air traffi c control centres, the Central Flow Management Unit and airlines. In a next step a prototype will be produced which will be tested by the end of 2008.

PRISMILIn order to measure civil-military ATM per-formance across Europe, the Agency has launched PRISMIL, the Pan-European Repository of Information Supporting Military Key Performance Indicators pro-gramme. It will implement a service of au-tomated data collection, KPI aggregation and online presentation of performance measurement results with initial operating capabilities in 2008.

Through the PRISMIL portal, authorised stakeholders will have online access to key performance indicators, a multi-dimensional view of data with detailed analysis capabilities. Users will be able to customise the portal layout in line with their needs. The tool is designed to be used by both military and civil personnel involved in ATM performance measure-ment, airspace design, airspace planning and airspace utilisation.

PRISMIL will maintain an open architec-ture, taking due account of new stake-holders, performance measurement and data sources.

In a bid to address the capacity crunch at airports, EURO-CONTROL intends to support the expansion of the use of military aerodromes by civil aviation.

EUROCONTROL is working to ensure the careful synchronisation of civil and military air traffi c manage-ment plans from the earliest stages of their development. ©

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Military CNSinteroperability in SESAR

DCMAC proactively contributed to the SESAR defi nition phase to ensure ap-propriate consideration of CNS interop-erability issues. To do this, DCMAC es-tablished and chaired the CNS Focus Group (CNS FG), consisting of civil and military planners, procurement agents, standardisation bodies, industry mem-bers, air navigation service providers and other stakeholders. The Group is seeking solutions to integrate military requirements into the future ATM envi-ronment developed by SESAR.

Training

Three times a year, DCMAC organises a training course on civil-military ATM coordination at the EUROCONTROL Institute of Air Navigation Services in Luxembourg. This course highlights the benefi ts resulting from enhanced civil-military cooperation in national and in-ternational ATM processes. It provides an overview of the European ATM insti-tutional framework and promotes op-portunities within the context of SES and SESAR civil-military ATM/CNS activities.

The course covers specifi c issues such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), OAT harmonisation, CNS interoperability and key performance indicators as well as cross-domain issues such as SES, SESAR, DMEAN, FAB, safety and se-curity.

The course participants are representa-tives from civil and military aviation au-thorities, air navigation service providers and regulators, active within the civil-military cooperation domain at national and international levels. The forthcom-ing sessions are scheduled for 2-5 June 2008 and 27-30 October 2008.

Furthermore, DCMAC is currently devel-oping three e-learning modules (SES, institutional framework and ATM/CNS) which will become accessible on the DCMAC website as from spring 2008.

Direct support to States

DCMAC currently provides direct support to several European States on specifi c civil-military coordination issues.

In Bulgaria, DCMAC is conducting a fact-fi nding study on the national implementa-tion of the EC regulation on fl exible use of airspace to help Bulgaria to identify pos-sible areas for improvements.

Since 2007, at the request of the civil and military aviation authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, DCMAC has provided sup-port in the area of civil-military ATM co-operation.

In Romania, DCMAC supports enhance-ments for national civil-military coordi-nation through the secondment of one offi cer from the Romanian Air Force and the attendance of two offi cers at the June 2008 DCMAC training course session at the Institute of Air Navigation Services in Luxemburg.

Conclusion

Through the Directorate of Civil-Military ATM Coordination, the EUROCONTROL Agency actively supports its Member States and stakeholders by improving civil-military and military-military coopera-tion and coordination in all ATM/CNS mat-ters. In partnership with Member States and stakeholders, the Agency works to provide the appropriate level of civil-military interoperability and synchronisation that will contribute to an effi cient and fl exi-ble implementation of the future European ATM network. ■

Focus

KYbraryPortal Enhancing Safety Portal Safety Regulations Portal

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Skyway 47 - Spring 2008 15

Bengt Collin, EUROCONTROL ATC operational expert, reports on the conception and development of SKYbrary – the single point of reference in the network of aviation safety knowledge.

SKYbrary From idea to reality

The idea

The idea for SKYbrary popped up some time ago. Searching for information on the Web, Tzvetomir Blajev, Safety Manager at EUROCONTROL, found that although the information was available, it was diffi -cult to fi nd out exactly where. For example “controlled fl ight into terrain” produced 213,000 hits on Google. On Wikipedia on the other hand, you would get one defi ni-tion. However, you can never be certain that the information is fully accurate.

On that occasion Mr Blajev found what he was looking for, but realised at the same moment that some information was miss-ing, while some was slightly out of date. What would happen if he looked for avia-tion safety-related material, and found incorrect information? The idea: to create a webpage where safety managers, in-structors and controllers could search for information - brilliant!

The name

The idea stayed in his head and resur-faced the next weekend when he searched Wikipedia. The idea was in place, but still no webpage. Where to start? It need-ed a name, something short and at-tractive, something like Allclear, the Air

Ground Communication Safety Tool Kit (www.allclear.aero). Mr Blajev found the name in a hotel lobby. It was at a Flight Safety Foundation Meeting and, creative as always, he got some of the meeting partici-pants to propose names. The rest is history.

The development

The fi rst idea developed into a knowledge base for aviation safety. So far some 500 articles have been produced, a number which is increasing every day. Visitors searching for information will, like in Wiki-pedia, fi nd other search words inside the articles leading to even more information.

As a second step it was decided to high-light one article, allowing it, in partnership with the customers, to focus on a specifi c subject. The highlighted article will change periodically and the webpage will stay ac-tive. To support this, visitors will also be able to contribute with articles, but more importantly with opinions. An open dis-cussion will enhance people’s awareness and interest in safety.

With the permission of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), an ICAO search engine is now under construction for this purpose. It will answer your ques-tions with relevant paragraphs and text

(not full documents!). On the launch date of SKYbrary, 9 May 2008, Annexes 2, 10 and 11, plus Doc. 4444 and 8168 are expected to be covered.

Partnership

SKYbrary could not have been achieved without partnership; from the start, ICAO and the Flight Safety Foundation have supported EUROCONTROL’s work.

Inside EUROCONTROL, experts from various spheres have contributed to the initiative. The overall design of the web-site has been developed by a EURO-CONTROL graphic designer, Seppe Celis, the legal aspects are catered for by Judith Schmitz, a lawyer from the Legal Service, and marketing is supported by Bènédicte Mon-tauriol, with previous marketing experience.

“We also have external partners, who are actively providing input and articles,” Tzvetomir adds. “The strength is that ev-erybody is working together. We believe we have everything we need to create, maintain and develop a unique product much searched for by the aviation com-munity. You have a lot to look forward to”.

Why not check the work in progress your-self; www.skybrary.aero

16

Daniel Calleja Director of Air TransportEuropean Commission

Interview

What would you say are the key challenges facing aviation today? How can the Commission help?

Our first challenge is safety. European citizens expect the highest safety stan-dards, which is why safety is at the heart of aviation community policy. The establishment of the European Avia-tion Safety Agency (EASA) is a major step towards uniform and binding safety standards throughout Europe.The Community “black list” of aircraft operators which are no longer allowed to fly in European skies for safety rea-sons is another concrete measure that the Commission has taken to deal with the safety challenge.

The environment is also an important challenge. Environmental awareness is growing and all industries must help contain emissions. Aviation must also play its part in this effort. The Com-mission is pursuing a global approach. Research and development should deliver more efficient air frames and engines. The introduction of aviation into the Emissions Trading Scheme will give incentives to limit emissions. Furthermore, a more efficient air traf-fic management system will deliver the shortest possible routes with optimised flight profiles.

And then there is the question of ca-pacity. Demand for air transport is ex-pected to continue to grow. The avia-tion infrastructure, air traffic control and airports, is being pushed to its limits. The infrastructure must be strength-ened and used more efficiently, which is why the Commission is tabling con-crete measures and an action plan.

What progress has been made to date towards the development of the Single Sky? What are the achievements to date?

The most important achievement has been to bring air traffi c management un-der the Common Transport policy. This achievement ensures that the founda-tions of ATM as an infrastructure industry, which must guarantee safety, are now covered by Community legislation. Safety requires clear separation between over-sight and service provision, together with a clear allocation of responsibilities, i.e. determining who is in charge for what. Given the growing aviation market, the Community was best placed to create this level playing fi eld.

SES integrated ATM within the wider transport issues and relevant policies like environment. This enhanced the chances of ATM benefi tting from EU funding. We should not forget that SESAR would not be possible without SES – you need to

combine legal, fi nancial and dialogue tools to frame a genuine industrial policy.

The Community approach to achiev-ing the Single European Sky entails a complete institutional framework, with the participation of all relevant actors. The different stakeholders are contribut-ing to the shaping of policy and decid-ing on rules. This improves the quality of the work and increases commitment. The European Parliament and Council have co-decided on the four regulations,

The Community approach to achieving the Single European Sky entails a complete institutional framework, with the participation of all relevant actors.

Skyway speaks to


conferring democratic legitimacy on Eu-ropean rules. Member States, both civil and military authorities, are part of the regulatory procedure in the Single Sky Committee. All segments of the industry are gathered in the Industry Consulta-tion Body. The social dimension of Single Sky is tackled in the ATM social dialogue working group. And EUROCONTROL has been providing its technical expertise in the preparation of rules.

The strength of the Community method has put the air traffi c industry in motion towards enhanced safety and transpar-ency. Member States have separated oversight from service provision. The safety know-how set in the EURO-CONTROL safety regulatory requirements has been transposed into Community law. Since 20 June 2007, air navigation service provision has become subject to certifi cation. The competence of air traffi c controllers has been harmonised to en-sure safe services and to allow more fl ex-ible resources management, also across national borders.

Sound accounting standards and adop-tion of the charging regulation are fi rst steps towards transparency and fi nancial effi ciency. Measures have been taken to speed up technological innovation and tackle capacity shortfalls. Beyond in-teroperability rules, the SESAR project was launched as the technological and industrial component of the Single Euro-pean Sky.

All in all, much has been achieved, but I am the fi rst to admit that we can still improve. We are ambitious and want to step up a gear in our efforts to improve performance.

The Commission will be proposing the second SES package in June. What will it involve?

The buzzword is performance. We are drawing conclusions from the report of the Performance Review Commission on three years implementation of SES. And we are translating the ten recommenda-tions of the High Level Group on the fu-ture aviation regulatory framework into ac-tion. Concretely, SES II will take the form of a package of measures. The package is dealing with developments since the launch of Single Sky in 2000 and with new challenges such as the environment.

The package has four elements – I pre-fer to call them “wings”. The fi rst element concerns the amendment of the four SES regulations to introduce a performance framework. Stakeholders called for stron-ger regulation of air traffi c control, which re-mains after all a natural monopoly. On the basis of an assessment of an independent performance review body, the Commission will set European targets to be implement-ed at national level. The new legislation would also strengthen the network func-tions. The air traffi c management system is a trans-European network for aviation. As such, there is a need for network coordina-tion to ensure performance of the network as a whole. The performance framework and the network functions will also facili-tate the integration of service provision into functional airspace blocks.

Secondly, in order to increase safety, the competence of the European Aviation Safety Agency will be extended to airport operations and ATM, so that the same safety logic applies to all links of the avia-tion safety chain.

A third element of the package focuses on technological innovation. The Council is being invited to endorse the ATM Mas-ter Plan. The endorsement will end the defi nition phase and trigger off the devel-opment phase under the management of the SESAR Joint Undertaking. Thefi nal element is the “action plan for airport capacity, effi ciency and safety”. With the implementation of the plan, we will be able to tackle capacity in the air and on the ground.

You have recently reiterated the need to accelerate the creation of FABs and their implementation by 2012. What needs to be done to achieve this objective?

Functional airspace blocks are an impor-tant tool in achieving seamless operations in a single sky. We are not entirely satisfi ed with the speed and the level of ambition of all current initiatives. That is why we would like to speed up the integration process. We do not believe that the bottom-upapproach should, at this stage, be modi-fi ed but we would rather aim towards pro-viding the wider performance framework in which Member States and air navigation service providers can direct their initia-tives. Concretely, the Commission would propose to set a fi rm deadline for imple-

SES II is dealing with developments since the launch of Single Sky in 2000 and with new challenges such asthe environment.

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18

Interview

mentation, to extend the requirement to the lower airspace; and to clear national legal and institutional hurdles to facilitate the integration of service provision.

The ATM industry is increasingly focusing on “performance”. What in your opinion needs to be done to make this industry more perfor-mance-driven?

During the intense consultation pe-riod towards SES II, the Commission was confronted with quite diverging views on current ATM performance lev-els. While some stakeholders were quite satisfi ed with the current situation,others called for robust economic interven-tion from the Commission to improve cost effi ciency drastically.

The starting point of our approach is the trans-European network: air traffi c man-agement and airports are the infrastructure for aircraft operators. All airspace users are entitled to the safest and best services and to use the network at the lowest pos-sible cost. Given the natural monopoly of air traffi c control, performance must be regulated.

The challenge is to set in place a regula-tory framework that drives the system to the required level of performance, adapted to the local situation. The Commission is proposing a framework with the following ingredients:

Firstly, an independent performance review body must help the Commission in assess-ing the state of the ATM industry. The as-sessment should cover four performance areas: safety, the environment, capacity and cost-effi ciency.

Secondly, network-wide performance tar-gets need to be set as an overall require-ment for setting local performance targets. National supervisory authorities are re-sponsible for organising wide consultation

to secure agreement on such local perfor-mance targets.

Thirdly, the system should be credible. The targets should therefore be made binding at Community level. Route charges could be used to provide the necessary incen-tives.

This performance framework is the mas-terpiece of SES II. By fi ne-tuning the tar-gets according to local requirements, the performance of the system as a whole will improve.

What are your views on the partnership between the Euro-pean Commission and EURO-CONTROL, on an operational and institutional level? How do you see it evolving over the next fi ve years?

EUROCONTROL has been, and will remain, an indispensable partner in the implementation of SES. EURO-CONTROL has been instrumental in pre-paring numerous implementing rules. It has provided the safety know-how in the form of EUROCONTROL safety regulatory requirements, to become Community law, and is coordinating the defi nition phase of the SESAR project.

So, it is partly thanks to EURO-CONTROL that we have achieved so much under SES. However, we are aware of the initiatives currently under way to improve and reform the gover-nance structures of this organisation. The organisation will evolve towards stronger cooperation with the Com-mission by developing synergies. The Community should set the political agenda while strongly relying on EURO-CONTROL’s fundamental technical expertise.

At national level, we have experienced lib-eralisation of aviation and corporatisation of air navigation service providers. The SES logic requires separation between regulation, oversight and service provi-sion. These critical developments should be refl ected in the governance structures of EUROCONTROL. The Commission will support the internal impetus for change with a view to reinforcing the role of industry.

The enhancement of cooperation between EUROCONTROL and European Commission in the implemention of theSingle European Sky must be based on the achievement and realisation of this reform process. ■

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Stakeholder Forum

Patrick Ky, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking, sheds light on the recently established entity which will play a key role in translating the results of research and development into proposals for EU legislation.

SESAR Joint Undertaking

In March 2008, the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) Consortium re-leased the ATM Master Plan which sets out how the region will meet its airspace capacity needs over the next 20 years. The Master Plan will be reviewed by EU Minis-ters, who are expected to endorse it later this year. The Master Plan is the culmina-tion of two years’ work by stakeholders within the Single European Sky initiative and provides a roadmap of what needs to be done to handle a tripling of air traffi c movements.

With delivery of the Master Plan, SESAR moves from the defi nition to the develop-ment phase. To manage this process, a new body was created by the EC and by EUROCONTROL. In June 2007, the two founding members committed €700 mil-lion to the SESAR Joint Undertaking (JU) for the period 2007 to 2016. The JU is responsible for managing the funds and resources assigned to the SESAR project and ensuring that the work is carried out in accordance with the Master Plan. In October 2007, Patrick Ky was appointed Executive Director of the SESAR JU. “The JU is a management entity, but it also has a contractual role. We receive a substantial amount of funding from the EU and EURO-CONTROL. We have to make sure that this funding is used in the proper manner”.

Ky has started to draw up a Work Pro-gramme which is due to be published in November 2008. The Work Programme will organise research and development work into detailed work packages. Some tasks will be allocated to JU members, and some will be put out to tender. Ky wants the results of the research work to go for-ward to implementation, and says that the JU is the right vehicle to achieve this. “We

currently spend something like €200 million a year on ATM research and development. If you look at what is implemented, it is very small compared to the amount invested.

“This is why the JU was created as an EU body; to make sure that we have the right link between the entity which manages the research and development and the EU in-stitutions.” He adds that “we can rely on the individual stakeholders, industry, Air-bus, air navigation service providers, and individual actors, but this will need to be supported by EU regulation, and the JU will have a major role to play in translating the results of research and development into proposals for EU legislation”.

As part of the JU’s remit to manage SESAR research work, a substantial part of its activity will entail evaluating new technologies and new procedures. On the basis of these validations, it will make de-cisions on what should be implemented, and what should become standard.

SESAR is an inclusive programme and the JU is no exception. Its membership is open to other public and private bodies as well as participants from non-EU countries. In order for body from a third country to

be able to participate, the country in ques-tion must have concluded at least one aviation agreement with the EC. When the JU issued a call for expressions of inter-est in mid-2007, some 25 organisations responded, and 15 were selected. These members are required to pay a contribu-tion, which may be in kind, and varies ac-cording their value and level of participa-tion. They become share-holders with a seat and voting rights, which depend on their contribution, on the Administrative Board. The minimum investment is €5 mil-lion for early subscribers, or €250,000 for small and medium enterprises.

In addition to six navigation service pro-viders, a group made up of six large air-ports and Airbus, the new members in-clude European manufacturers and one US company, Honeywell. Ky anticipates that 20-25 members will eventually join the JU. They will bring the benefi t of new technology concepts to the entity, and will play an important role in ensuring that SESAR technologies are shared with other regions of the world.

New members should take up their seats on the Board in November 2008, sitting alongside the EU and EUROCONTROL, which each retain at least 25% of the voting rights, and representatives from the airlines who account for 10% of votes. In addition, six observer seats are held by representatives of air navigation service providers, controllers, airports, manufacturers, military users and scien-tifi c bodies.

“The JU is a public-private partnership, the fi rst of its kind in the ATM fi eld,” says Ky. “It requires a lot of effort, but we can-not succeed if we work in isolation.” ■

The JU is responsible for managing the funds and resources assigned to SESAR and ensuring that the work is carried out in accordance with the Master Plan.

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20

Independent Platform

An important stepping stone in the creation of the Single European Sky is the formation of functional airspace blocks (FABs), proposed by the Eu-ropean Commission in order to optimise airspace use in accordance with user needs. The Commission requires Member States to create FABs as part of its 2004 airspace regulations, with a target date of 2009. Jenny Beechener, aviation journalist, reviews progress on FABs.

Slow progress on FABs

However, transforming Europe’s airspace, which is currently served by 35 naviga-tion service providers, into more effi cient FABs is taking longer than expected. The process involves civil and military airspace providers, as well as regulatory authori-ties. It raises issues of liability and national sovereignty, as well as a need for common procedures and interoperability between systems.

The Commission is relying upon Member States to develop the new building blocks, but warned in an interim report in early 2007 that legislation may be necessary in order to increase “the intensity of effort by Member States”. This has prompted new initiatives to lower cost and optimise routes across the region, and has acceler-ated work already underway to establish formal cooperation across national bor-ders.

Among the largest initiatives, FAB Europe Central (FAB EC) represents six States in the core area of Europe and handles over half of Europe’s fl ights. Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland will complete a feasibility study in mid-2008, and will then decide whether to make a political commitment to FAB EC. Interim results at the end of 2007 predicted improved safety and effi ciency, reduced delay, and optimised fl ight profi les as a result of an FAB encompassing the region’s upper and lower airspace.

The study is made up of seven working groups, overseen by a steering group

made up of senior civil and military author-ities, and supported by a high-level policy group that includes directors general of civil aviation, military authorities, and the Director General of EUROCONTROL. The Chairman of the FAB EC Steering Group, Bernard Martens, says that the study will evaluate the benefi ts of FAB EC, and produce a roadmap that will detail all the actions needed to bring it about. This will enable service providers to agree a mas-ter plan, and commit to the implementa-tion phase.

Martens recognises that the task is com-plex. There are diverging labour and legal systems to contend with, liability issues, and differing operational and technical systems, training practices and charging mechanisms, but he sees the operational

concept being developed by the FAB EC study as an important medium-term ini-tiative within Europe’s wider Single Sky objective.

The study partners seek a single harmon-ised airspace design with one set of civil and military air navigation rules. FAB EC also needs to achieve a seamless inter-face with the rest of the European net-work, and to progressively implement interoperable technical systems and com-mon services.

EUROCONTROL Deputy Director of ATM Strategies Alex Hendriks likens the pro-cess to starting a turbocharged engine: “You have to rev up until you reach a cer-tain rpm level before the turbocharger re-ally kicks in. It is the same with FABs. You


have to accept the fact that the service providers have to work together, and they need to establish mutual trust. Then the turbo really starts spinning and you start to go for common procurement, training, and services”.

Hendriks began periodic information meetings hosted by EUROCONTROL in 2007 to facilitate better dialogue between the various FABs under development. “We discuss common diffi culties and solutions, and interoperability, and ensure that the pan-European element is retained. It is a platform for all these initiatives to get to-gether, learn from each other, and ensure that we retain a united Europe”.

There are FABs proposed across most of Europe. They include reviews by neigh-bouring States into the benefi ts of working together. For example, between the Irish Aviation Authority and NATS UK; DSNA of France and Switzerland’s Skyguide; and Spain’s AENA with NAV Portugal. Recently Poland and Lithuania announced an FAB, and Bulgaria and Romania launched the BUL-ROM (now called “Danube”) FAB. There are more ambitious partnerships such as the Blue Med FAB which includes Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Malta, as well as the North African States of Egypt and Tunisia. However, few propose changes to the existing infrastructure, and the eco-nomic benefi t is small.

The seven States of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Re-public, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia launched FAB Central Europe (CE) in early 2007 to develop a more effi cient airspace structure covering both upper and lower airspace. FAB CE replaces the Central European Air Traffi c System (CEATS) ini-tiative – which began in the 1980s – to build a single upper area control centre located in Vienna. FAB CE differs from its predecessor by making use of existing capacity, under the management of one collective authority. FAB CE will use all ex-

isting and planned ATC facilities to meet future airspace demand.

Hendriks admits that to begin with the economic benefi ts are small, but believes that the effect of common management of airspace is undervalued. “Airlines are expecting double fi gures and are a little disappointed by what is coming out of the cost-benefi t analysis. Once there is trust and confi dence, however, thenI am sure that we will see a gradual move towards consolidation of service provision”. He adds that going for large ATC facilities may have drawbacks in terms of social impact, and in terms of contingency.

Completion of the FAB EC feasibility study and cost-benefi t analysis was achieved on schedule on 29 February 2008. Sub-sequently, the Director General of Civil

Aviation of the States formally accepted the study on 28 March and instructed the initia-tion of the further development and imple-mentation phases. As such, FAB CE may become one of the fi rst operational FABs.

However, fi gures published by the Per-formance Review Commission indicate that Europe’s fragmented airspace structure costs the airlines more than €1 billion annually, or 20% of their total en route charges. Among the primary cause are the fact that many control centres operate at below optimum size and the need for increased coordination between centres. Contributory factors also include multiple training facilities, administrations, and research and de-velopment activities.

With predictions that capacity con-straints will worsen in the short term, the Commission is under pressure to ease congestion and improve the safety and effi ciency of European airspace. Daniel Calleja, Director of Air Transport at the Commission’s Energy and Transport DG, says that fragmentation is still the major bottleneck in improving the performance of the European ATM system. Currently he believes it can be overcome with the right performance framework, regulatory structures, and the introduction of new technology at community level. (see ar-ticle on page 16)

With predictions that capacity constraints will worsen in the short term, the Commission is under pressure to ease congestion and improve the safety and effi ciency of European airspace.

Focus

22

Independent Platform

Slow progress on FABs

However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, in the shape of the NUAC Programme, which suggests that ANSP-led initiatives can change the status quo. The air navigation service providers of Denmark (Naviair) and Sweden (LFV) have agreed to further develop a scenario for future coopera-tion, under which a co-owned company will run the region’s three area control centres, and to eventually merge Dan-ish and Swedish airspace. The aim of the NUAC Programme is to lower costs while improving efficiency and safety. The Programme which entered a de-sign and development phase at the end of 2007, expects to set up the NUAC Company in 2009, and to hand over the operational responsibility for ser-vice provision in Denmark and Sweden to the Company in 2010, after which the airspace changes will take place in 2011.

“NUAC is part of a deep-rooted pro-cess” explains Programme Manager Nils Sprenger. “NUAC is one of three pillars forming the common LFV and Naviair foundation for any long-term development in the region, in a FAB perspective. The other two pillars are

Entry Point North and Coopans”. En-try Point North is the shared training institute co-owned by LFV, Naviair, and Norwegian service provider Avi-nor that opened in 2006. Coopans is a cooperation between LFV, Naviair, the Irish Aviation Authority and Thales ATM. The objective of this coopera-tion is to facilitate the joint procure-ment of upgrades for existing com-mon ATM systems and thus to ensure lower costs and identical versions of Thales’ Eurocat system from 2010 onwards.

“One of the reasons that we have got this far in the case of NUAC is that we are not just looking from an upper airspace FAB perspective. We have taken a more business-like approach and have analy-sed all the issues and the organisations involved. If you are looking for a solid busi-ness case, the FAB in itself will in my opin-ion not do it”. The NUAC partners have opted to further develop an Operational Alliance, one of four models analysed. It sets up a joint company that in the lon-ger term could lead to a single en-route charging zone and a common unit rate. It is also open to additional NUAC partners, it fulfi ls the expectations of the key stake-holders and is accepted by trade unions as a possible solution. The Operational Alliance is expected to potentially save €13 million annually in operational costs, and a further €37 million annually in socio-economic terms as a result of reduced fl ight times and emissions.

The case of NUAC shows what can be done to respond to pressure from com-munity, government and airspace users for more cost-effective service provision. It also shows the importance of including a broader range of issues such as organ-isation, regulation, interoperability, and social questions when creating a long-term partnership. The process involves many different entities and extends over a number of years.

The Commission has sent a strong po-litical signal through its requirement to establish FABs. It also recognises that it has stepped into a complex area, and is keen to support initiatives that bring about progress at grass-roots level. It remains to be seen whether this approach is suf-fi cient to meet user demand for higher capacity and lower costs. At present, the Commission is open to requests from the ATM community, but too much delay and this attitude may change. ■

“One of the reasons that we have got this far in the case of NUAC is that we have taken a more business-like approach and have analysed all the issues and the organisations involved,” explains NUAC Programme Manager, Nils Sprenger.


Stakeholder Forum

A few more weeks to go, and the Functional Airspace Block Europe Central (FAB EC) feasibility study will unveil its detailed fi ndings to the European aviation community. In line with the ambitions of the Single European Sky, the study, due by mid-2008, aims to develop integrated cooperative solutions for a safer, more effective and sustainable air traffi c management framework in the core area of Europe. Launched in 2006, the FAB EC feasibility study is being carried out by some 200 experts who are scrutinising all aspects of the future partnerships. The initial trends show promising results. Bernard Martens, Chairman of the FAB EC Steering Group, explains.

FAB ECOn the starting blocks

The deployment of major pan-European programmes, coupled with an enhanced civil/military cooperative framework and the efforts of individual air navigation service providers, have brought notable advances in European air traffi c management in the past decade. However, air traffi c is fore-cast to continue to grow. The problem of the current fragmentation of the European air traffi c management system must be ad-

dressed if we want the system to accom-modate such unprecedented growth safe-ly and effectively. In addition, air transport must respond to growing concerns over its effect on climate change and ensure that it can grow in a sustainable manner. The challenges are enormous; the industry has no alternative other than to work even more closely towards common objectives, with common rules.

Added value

The creation of functional airspace blocks should not be a sterile endeavour, but rather bring substantial added value to the aviation industry. Indeed that is precisely the ambition of FAB EC, with all partners involved in the FAB EC feasibility study (States, military and civil air navigation ser-vice providers) having defi ned a common initial set of precise performance targets. Added value will be delivered in the key domains of safety, the environment, ca-pacity, cost-effectiveness, fl ight effi ciency and military mission effectiveness. In order to improve overall performance, pragmatic solutions – for both civil and military air-space users – will be put forward as soon as possible. FAB EC will ultimately contrib-ute to the SESAR performance objectives. However, the performance targets identi-fi ed in 2007 are not carved in stone. They will be continuously evaluated as part of an ongoing and closely governed process – to secure real added value for a thriving, rapidly changing industry.

Focus

24

Stakeholder Forum

Initial results ofthe feasibility study

The intermediate results of the feasibility study are encouraging and have convinced the partners involved that the project will lead to sustainable benefi ts. The fi rst de-liverables of the seven working groups, which will form the basis for the fi nal study, already show that synergies will be found in the short and medium term in numer-ous areas, ultimately achieving economies of scale.

The Operational Working Group has delivered the common air traffic man-agement concept and the airspace de-sign is on track, focusing in particular on short-term capacity improvements (i.e. within five years) in three high traf-fic density areas called “hot spots”. Furthemore, experts are working on fundamental changes in the airspace structure in the long term, using the methodology of sector families. Another building block of the project is the cre-ation of a common civil and military air traffic flow and capacity management-airspace management (ATFCM-ASM)

FAB ECOn the starting blocks

Putting an end to fragmentationIn November 2006, six European States - Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands

and Switzerland - and their civil and military air navigation service providers - embarked on a far-

reaching feasibility study into the creation of a functional airspace block which will cover 1.7 million

square kilometres of core European airspace. Air traffi c in Europe is predicted to double by 2020 and

the airspace of the six countries is one of the busiest and most complex in the world. The objective

of FAB EC is to put in place a safer, more effective, sustainable, performance-driven cross-border

air traffi c management framework, both in the upper and the lower airspace, which will cope with

the expected growth. With six million fl ights handled every year, representing 55% of European air

traffi c, more than 230 airports and several hubs, FAB EC will be a major building block of the Single

European Sky.

The projectWith a budget of €3.5 million, the FAB EC feasibility study is organised along the lines of a project,

featuring a real partnership between the key players - civil and military – to tackle the main issues

FAB EC in a nutshell

function to optimise air traffic flows in the FAB EC airspace.

The Technical Working Group has sin-gled out several areas of cooperation for the short and medium term, notably in the areas of communication, navi-gation and surveillance infrastructure, technical fallback services, system-wide information management (SWIM)

FAB EC Customer Consultation Workshop,Zürich, 27 February 2008. The wide-ranging FAB EC consultativeframework ensures that the interests of allstakeholders are taken on board in the earlystages of the project.


(safety, operational, technical, institutional, civil/military and fi nancial and human resources matters)

to be addressed by the creation of the FAB. States and the CEOs of the air navigation service provid-

ers are represented in a High-Level Policy Group. Representatives of civil aviation authorities, military

authorities and air navigation service providers are overseeing the project process in a Steering Group.

Some 200 experts in seven professional working groups are active within the project. The consultation

process with the various stakeholders started in January 2007.

Performance objectivesIn 2007, all partners (States and civil and military service providers alike) agreed on a common strat-

egy. FAB EC will provide performance improvements in line with the SESAR performance targets and

an initial set of performance objectives has been identifi ed:

■ to improve safety levels, despite air traffi c growth;

■ to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment by improving routes, fl ight profi les and

distances fl own;

■ to increase airspace capacity in line with the forecast increase in demand of 50% by 2018, while

meeting the current European target of one minute maximum average delay per fl ight;

■ to reduce en-route charges for civil traffi c by 17% by ensuring that costs do not increase by

more than 25% by 2018 and to decrease military air traffi c management costs. This objective will

be achieved by fostering greater synergies between air navigation service providers;

■ to improve fl ight effi ciency by reducing the average route extension per fl ight by 2km per annum

until 2010, increasing to an accumulated total of 10 km by 2018;

■ to improve military mission effectiveness by optimising military airspace use and preventing

mission cancellations due to air traffi c fl ow and capacity management problems.

FAB EC aims to work out pragmatic and realistic solutions to meet these objectives. A step-by-step

approach will therefore be adopted to achieve quick wins at the earliest opportunity.

FAB EC landmarksThe results of the feasibility study are due by summer 2008. It will then be up to the States to decide

whether FAB EC will be established and to give the green light to the implementation roadmap. To

accelerate the process and secure political commitment, the six States intend to sign a Declaration of

Intent in the second half of 2008. A treaty is expected to be signed in 2009, and its entry into force –

after ratifi cation in each of the States – is scheduled to take place in 2011.

and ATS-related services. The final ob-jective is to deliver a common technical roadmap gradually leading to integrated technical systems and services.

Three civil/military cooperation models have been studied and developed.

From an economical point of view, the fi rst-pass cost-benefi t analysis has re-vealed that FAB EC has the potential to reduce delays, increase fl ight effi ciency and improve service providers’ fi nancial cost-effectiveness.

Last but not least, an inventory of regulatory requirements and discrep-

ancies has been delivered and future cooperation models between service providers, including governance struc-tures, have been scrutinised.

Beyond Europeanlegislation

In a bid to maximise the output of the overhaul process, several features of FAB EC point to the fact that the proj-ect’s ambitions actually go beyond the EU legislative framework. Firstly, the airspace considered is not only restricted to upper but also includes lower airspace so as to shape one continuum and take into account the

interconnectivity of the major airports. Secondly, the fact that both civil and military partners share a common vi-sion and strategy gives the initiative significant further impetus. Also, en-vironmental targets and military mis-sion effectiveness form integral parts of the project. Finally, FAB EC aims also to address structural improve-ments.

Partnership

Let’s face it; the challenges to the cre-ation of a safe, performance-driven and sustainable FAB EC which builds on the benefits of the legacy system are many. Yet we have the right toolset to turn these challenges into opportu-nities. One of the most powerful tools is the continuous dialogue we have been engaging in with our partners since last year. With no less than four large-scale consultative events held in one year and other regular consul-tative initiatives at various levels, the FAB EC partners - civil and military air-space users, airports, decision mak-ers, the industry, meteorological ser-vice providers, neighbouring States and air navigation services personnel - have been able to feed their expecta-tions, demands and ideas to the proj-ect management. This vital process ensures that the interests of all parties are taken on board in the early stages of the project. Finally, coordination with other FAB initiatives is paramount if the ambitions of the Single European Sky are to be achieved.

In conclusion – a lot of progress has been made, and there is more to come. The feasibility study has already opened up the way for new initiatives, pre-empting the change process. Meanwhile, all partners will continue to talk to one other. ■

Focus

26

SESAR Update

SESAR progress

Since the beginning of the project, Skyway has opened its columns to a regular report on the progress being made in the SESAR defi nition phase. This article continues along the same lines. In addition, as we approach the end of the defi nition phase, it outlines in a few paragraphs the SESAR Joint Under-taking created for the subsequent develop-ment phase, already formally initiated.

Defi nition phase

With its third milestone deliverable D3, the defi nition phase had established the target ATM concept, i.e. the future operational concept and its supporting architecture and technologies. The SESAR defi nition phase next addressed the ATM deployment se-quence, the time-ordered sequence of the individual changes necessary to implement the target concept, as a fi rst step in the full development of the ATM Master Plan. This work constituted the fourth milestone de-liverable of the defi nition phase (D4). It was accepted on 1 February and presented by the SESAR consortium at the D4 SESAR Stakeholder Forum on 11 February 2008, in Slovenia. It proposes three successive implementation packages from 2008 to 2020 and beyond.

Implementation package (IP) 1 (2008-13) is entitled “Creating the Foundations”. It is based on the deployment of current and ongoing European ATM initiatives such as DMEAN, and the full dissemination of cur-rent best practices. Implementation pack-age 2 (2013-20) looks at accelerating ATM to implement the 2020 target concept. This will be achieved by timely implementation of all the activities needed to achieve the

2020 targets, thereby improving the overall network’s cost-effectiveness and effi ciency (e.g. through wider and more dynamic information-sharing and enhanced automa-tion support). Implementation package 3 focuses on achieving SESAR goals in the long term. This targets the activities neces-sary for further performance enhancement of the overall ATM system beyond 2020 to fully implement the ATM target concept.

D4 stresses the importance, for the suc-cess of the transition and delivery of the performance benefi ts, of the actions of the stakeholders involved being synchronised. It also emphasises that the delivery of IP1 is a pre-requisite for implementation of the subsequent steps. It is also important to note that the members of the SESAR consortium have through D4 expressed their commitment to the implementation steps proposed for the shorter term and recom-mended the launch of the development and validation activities in line with the needs of the proposed transition sequence.

The fi nal two milestones (D5 and D6) were delivered to the Agency in mid-March for acceptance and will be presented for feedback at a Stakeholder Forum on 6 May in Rome. D5 addresses the produc-

tion of the ATM Master Plan. It will link and align the stakeholders’ programme activities and pave the way for D6, which details the actual work programme for 2008-2013.

Development phase – establishment of the SESAR JU

The vehicle used to pilot the develop-ment phase of SESAR is a joint under-taking, i.e. a public-private partnership. It represents the best way of generating the synergies of the respective capabilities of both the public authorities in charge of ATM and the ATM industry at large.

The SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU) was created through a European Community Regulation adopted by the EU Transport Council on 27 February 2007. The goals of the SJU are to develop and implement the technologies and operations that will sustain European air transport growth, to rationalise the efforts into a consistent work programme and to provide consis-tency between R&D and implementation, through Single European Sky legislation. More on this phase can be found in the article on page 19. ■

The objectives of the SESAR Programme are to transform the European ATM system, synchronise the plans and actions of the various partners, and federate resources. Partnership, in particular through the directinvolvement of industry, is enshrined in the concept of SESAR.


New

sDatelines

Patrik Peters was re-elected for

another two-year term as the In-

ternational Federation of Air Traffi c

Controllers’ Associations (IFATCA)

Executive Vice-President Europe at

the latest (47th) International Con-

ference of IFATCA, held in Arusha/

Tanzania. First elected to this posi-

tion in 2006, Mr Peters’ mandate

will extend until 2010. His ambition

to make the Federation a strong

and valued stakeholder in the air transport industry has been

demonstrated by the input made in the SESAR defi nition phase,

the cooperation in the Industry Consultation Board and other

Single European Sky-related fora. “We can look back to two

very successful European Regional Meetings (2006 Sofi a, 2007

Prague), where special workshops brought the aspects of “legal

issues” and “SESAR/SES” closer to IFATCA’s European mem-

bership, which now totals 44 member associations, represent-

ing 20,000 air traffi c controllers in Europe” he declared.

The work carried out over the past two years by the European

offi ce of IFATCA mainly concentrated on improving communica-

tions between member associations, educating the air traffi c

controller community on their role in a just culture environment,

raising interest in the complex SES and SESAR work and sup-

porting member associations in confl ict situations with their

respective national air navigation service providers, airlines and

regulators. “The future will bring its share of interesting times

and our priorities will be to follow the work of EASA in the area of

ATM and the airport domain, contribute to the implementation of

the SESAR master plan by participating with four partner stake-

holder organisations on the administrative board of the Joint

Undertaking, follow up on the different European FAB initiatives,

address the issues surrounding increased workload for the vol-

untary IFATCA representatives and to monitor the air navigation

service providers’ strategies for addressing staff shortages as

well as the trend of using overtime to alleviate such shortages,”

Mr Peters added. Patrik Peters has been working at EURO-

CONTROL’s Upper Area Control Centre in Maastricht since

1990. He currently holds the post of deputy supervisor and

examiner. ■

Patrik Peters re-elected IFATCA Executive Vice-President Europe

EUROCONTROL/IFATCA joint press conference2 April 2008, Brussels

Some 14 journalists from both the trade and general press attended the event. The question and answer session was particularly lively with journalists putting a number of questions to both speakers on the shortage of air traffi c controllers across Europe, the role of controllers in the future ATM system, the challenges of implementing a just culture across Europe and the progress of FABs and the Single Sky European Sky.

The EUROCONTROL Yearbook is an initiative which started seven years ago. Writ-ten by aviation journalists, each edition focuses on a specifi c theme and is pro-duced with a different stakeholder. This year’s issue extensively covers EURO-CONTROL and IFATCA’s work in the human factor and safety domains. It highlights the cooperation between the two organisations and the fact that the ATM system of the future will only work if it is wholeheartedly endorsed by those responsible for operating it. ■

The 2008 Yearbook is available at:http://www.eurocontrol.int/epr/public/standard_page/yearbooks.html

A CollaborativeApproach to the Future

EUROCONTROL/IFATCA JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE2 April 2008 - Brussels

On 2 April David McMillan, EUROCONTROL Director General, and Marc Baumgartner, President and CEO of IFATCA, held a press conference to mark the launch of the joint Yearbook “A Collaborative Approach to the Future”.

28

ATC Global 2008 took place on 11-13 March at Amsterdam RAI. Welcoming over 4,800 attendees and an increasing number of visitors from 95 different countries, this event, fi rst established in 1990 in Maastricht, has become a ‘must’ for the world’s leading-edge companies and key decision-makers driving the ATM/ATC industry today.

The theme of this year’s event was “Per-formance-based Global ATM” and provid-ed an invaluable insight into how the play-ers from the service-provision, regulation and aircraft-operator sectors expect the global ATM system to evolve – in terms of timescales, technologies and institutional arrangements – ensuring they are pre-pared for current and future challenges.

EUROCONTROL stand

EUROCONTROL’s stand had a running theme divided into two parts: “Shaping the Future: Delivering in Partnership”, un-der which some 20 short-, medium- and long-term initiatives/projects were dis-played under the headings of “technology and tools”, “airports”, “civil-military coop-

eration”, “DMEAN”, “navigation”, “environ-ment”, “terminal airspace improvements”, “safety” and “SESAR”.

EUROCONTROL experts were on hand to inform visitors further about these proj-ects and how EUROCONTROL’s collabo-ration with the aviation industry in general looks to accommodate the vast growth expected in the number of fl ights in a safe, effi cient and sustainable manner.

Conference

The ATC Global Conference brought to-gether leading global decision-makers responsible for planning the implementa-tion of the new generation of ATM archi-tecture, enabling viewers to understand

the impact of performance-based air navigation services on all aviation stake-holders. Speakers shared their views, giving delegates an insight into a broad range of perspectives. The new interac-tive sessions to encourage debate and audience participation proved particularly popular.

EUROCONTROL’s Director General, Mr David McMillan, delivered a keynote ad-dress touching on capacity issues, Eu-ropean challenges and solutions and the need to manage the ATM network on a global level. Another presentation was given on behalf of the Agency by Alex Hendriks, Deputy Director ATM Strate-gies, on the optimisation of airspace and FABs.

Datelines

ATC Global 2008Exhibition and ConferencePerformance-based Global ATM

The EUROCONTROL stand featured

some 20 short-, medium- and

long-termprojects


EUROCONTROL organises AIM Workshop

On 13 March, EUROCONTROL held the AIM Workshop – entitled “Towards the net-centric aeronautical information en-vironment – achieving AIM”.

Attracting approximately 100 people, the workshop aimed to provide a ho-listic overview of the evolution of tra-ditional paper-based, product-centric information provision by the aeronauti-cal information service (AIS) of a State to the concept of aeronautical informa-tion management (AIM) and the avail-ability of data in digital, selectable and exchangeable format, suitable for use in airborne and ground applications. The presentations addressed the need for change and presented the many and varied projects that are ongoing to fa-cilitate change.

Mr Ken Reid, Head of AIM Division at EUROCONTROL, opened and conclud-ed the Workshop.

JANE’S ATC Global AwardsOn 11 March 2008, during the ATC Global Event in Amsterdam, Jane’s held its annual ATC awards ceremony. Now in their ninth year, the awards recognise endeavour and achievement in air traffi c management (ATM) and help to raise awareness of contributions made across the industry. The award categories (enabling technology, industry, innovation, service provision, future systems and contribution to European ATM) are designed to reward new developments as well as collaborative ventures.

EUROCONTROL’s Airport Operations Programme received an award in the catego-ry “Contribution to European ATM”. Paul Wilson (right), Head of Airport Operations and Environment, and Eric Miart (left), Airport Programme Manager, collected the award.

1- David McMillan,EUROCONTROL’s Director General

2- Alex Hendriks, Deputy Director ATM Strategies

1. 2.

Visits

The recently appointed Director General of Civil Aviation of Albania, Mr Ervin Mazniku, vis-ited EUROCONTROL headquarters on 12 March. The programme for his visit consisted of an overview of EU-

ROCONTROL, a presentation of the European air traffi c man-agement context and of the Agency’s support to stakeholders with the implementation of the Single European Sky and SESAR (ASSIST). The programme also included a tour of the CFMU op-erations room.

On 5 March, Mr Jim Filippatos (sec-ond from left), Assistant Admin-istrator for International Avia-tion at the US Federal Aviation Administration, Mr John Hickey (right), Director of Aircraft Certifi cation and

Mr Tony Fazio (left), Director of the FAA Brussels Offi ce were received by Guido

Kerkhofs, Director ATM Programmes, at headquarters. They were briefed on a wide range of subjects, including EURO-CONTROL’s role in central fl ow management, performance re-view, SESAR and the environment.

A delegation from the Ministry of Transport of the For-mer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, headed by Mrs Marija Krstevska, Head of the Air Transport Department, visited EUROCONTROL on 28-29 February. They were briefed on EU-ROCONTROL’s role in ATM, the Agency’s strategic business planning activities, ECIP/LCIP and the ASSIST project.

Representatives of All Nippon Airways, including Mr Hiromitsu Kajinami, Flight Standards Deputy Director, Mr Shinya Ootani, Operations Control Senior Manager, Mr Masashi Hamada, Operations Control Manager and Mr Jun Nagai, Operations Control Assistant Manager, were welcomed at headquarters on 20 February. The visit featured presentations on avionics requirements in Europe and associated European regula-tions, SESAR Deliverable 3 and a tour of the CFMU operations room.

Jörg Hennerkes, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, visited EURO-CONTROL’s Upper Area Control Cen-tre in Maastricht on 11 December

2007. He was briefed on the current and future air traffi c man-agement challenges facing EUROCONTROL in Europe, and the performance of the Maastricht Centre.

30

On ondistrtionAdmDire

Mr ToBrussels


In 2007, EUROCONTROL and EuroNews initiated a partnership toproduce six programmes on air traffi c management-related issues.

FlyA EuroNews programmein partnership with EUROCONTROL

1st programme: air traffi c management The European air traffi c network and structures are complex; more than 800 million passengers fl y in Europe every year. How does air traffi c management actually work to keep all those people fl ying safely and effi ciently?

2nd programme: airports The skies are getting more and more congested, and the same is true on the ground.

An analysis in the Challenges to Growth study in 2000 shows that in 2020, the 20 top airports will be saturated at least 8-10 hours a day. How are airports dealing with the growing numbers of passengers and aircraft?

3rd programme:ATM and the environment Environmental issues are becoming increas-ingly important for society as a whole, and there is pressure on the aviation industry to re-duce aviation’s footprint as much as possible. How can air traffi c control help to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment?

4th programme: safety Europe has an excellent safety record. For over 40 years EUROCONTROL has been working with its partners to improve safety across Europe. Europe’s air traffi c controllers safely guide over 30,000 fl ights a day from their departure gate to their destination. How are they trained and what tools do they have at their disposal?

5th programme: civil-military coordination The sky is a fi nite resource and there are capacity constraints. In the past, civil and military aviation were two different worlds; today the military share their airspace with civilians – which means one airspace used in different ways.

How do we accommodate both civil and military fl ights without compromising safety?

6th programme: the future of ATM By 2025, we expect twice the traffi c that we see today in 2007. By 2050, expectations are that traffi c will be fi ve times greater than today. What does the future hold and how will ATC deal with this?

The enclosed DVD features the six programmes in sevenlanguages. We hope you will enjoy it! ■

© European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) April 2008

This document is published by EUROCONTROL in the interests of exchange of information. It may be copied in whole or in part, providing that EUROCONTROL is acknowledged as a source. The information contained in this document may not be modifi ed without prior written permission from EUROCONTROL.

For more information, please contact the Skyway editor, Lucia Pasquinie-mail: [email protected]: +32 2 729 34 20Fax: +32 2 729 91 98

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