| Single European sky: responding to future needs in terms of airspace safety and capacity |
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To deal with the growth in air traffic and improve flight safety in Europe, such is the demanding mission to be fulfilled by the Single Sky, the major reform in air traffic management in Europe. The sky is not a vast infinite space devoid of boundaries. On the contrary, within Europe, it is deeply fragmented between States, between civil and military space and between air traffic control systems, despite the adoption of the Single Sky regulations in 2004. In this regard, European airspace currently comprise no less than 70 national and local control centres which operate 31 different systems and provide poor overall performance despite a relatively high cost. Against this background of strong fragmentation, European air traffic is constantly increasing: it has grown by more than 100% since the beginning of the 1990s and will continue to grow by about 4% per annum until 2020. All Union States and airports have profited significantly from this.What is more, these growth prospects are boosted by the recent agreement between the United States and the European Union relating to the creation of a transatlantic open sky. A “veritable capacity wall” threatens to be erected in Europe if air traffic control is not profoundly reorganised.This capacity challenge goes hand in hand with an unequivocal demand for air safety from the people of Europe. If this high level of current growth is maintained in Europe, the number of air disasters could increase proportionately. Consequently, increasing the safety of air travel is an imperative just as important, if not more so, than increased European air traffic control capacity. The purpose of the single sky is therefore to offer a framework that brings together all European airspace players to enable them to provide an efficient response to the sharp increase in traffic while at the same time adhering to even higher safety standards. It is in order to de-fragment that airspace, in other words to ensure that national air navigation service providers act on a wider scale, that we need single rules and standards both designed and implemented at Community level. These rules will offer concrete benefits to all users of European airspace: more safety, better timekeeping for passengers and airlines, better performance for the organisations concerned, improved management of capacity in gate-to-gate aircraft management and at the same time less environmental damage. We will give priority to European airspace management according to performance criteria in order to remove the bottlenecks created at certain route-points caused by fragmentation of airspace according to national territories and military training zones. By reducing the complexity of routing aircraft through European airspace, flight distances will be significantly reduced (50 km per flight on average) and flights will rarely be delayed. Which, moreover, will have extremely positive environmental consequences due to the reduction in CO2 emissions (reducing flights by 50 km would prevent about 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere). Strengthened by this «licence to grow», the air transport sector will itself again be in a position to create jobs and thus make an active contribution to the sound health of the European economy. In the same way as the aeronautics industry which will be a party to the implementation of the essential interoperability of the various European air traffic control systems. The Union already committed itself to an initial set of reforms in 2004.We must now move forward. This is why the Commission has just presented a second “package” of proposals. The arrival of this new package moreover comes against a background of crisis, as was the case with the previous one. As in the aftermath of 11th September 2001, many airlines are currently announcing severe financial difficulties, seriously threatened by costly oil. In view of these difficult circumstances, I am convinced that this second package can make a relevant contribution, particularly thanks to the simplification of governance and the introduction of a framework governing the performance of the European air traffic management network. The single sky is sometimes interpreted by professional air traffic controllers as a threat to employment. Against the current background of a significant shortage of human resources in control centres, I can on the contrary calmly state that the successful implementation of this operational air traffic control concept will improve working conditions. De-compartmentalising air traffic control is therefore the true revolution set in motion by the Single European Sky. A single airspace for Europe is an ambitious but essential project. To achieve it, the cooperation of all players is indispensable. Together we can build a Single European Sky which is safer and cleaner.� Antonio TAJANI, The European Files N° 15 - July 2008
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