The Commission welcomes the agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council with a view to…
The Commission welcomes the agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council with a view to creating a single European airspace for the benefit of both civil and military users. This agreement, secured on 9 December in Brussels at the end of a conciliation procedure between representatives of the two institutions, covers the whole package of legislation laying down the objectives and operating principles for the single European sky. Loyola de Palacio, Commission Vice-President responsible for energy and transport policy, stated that These rules will enable the European Community to become the strong regulator which Europe needs if it is to have consistent, efficient measures covering its entire airspace. Following the second reading by Parliament, the essential aim was to finalise the conditions for more integrated management of co-operation between civil and military activities and delimitation of the optimum air traffic control zones. This issue was resolved by highlighting the added-value of a discussing these crucial dimensions at the EU level. Now the agreement reached within the conciliation committee must be ratified by Parliament in a plenary session and by the Council.
Loyola de Palacio added that We have reached a milestone in European transport policy. I started work on the single sky when I arrived in Brussels in 1999, with the objective of reforming Europe`s air traffic management system in 2004. After four years` work I am pleased to see that Europe now has a single sky allowing safe, sustainable growth in air transport. It was indispensable to modernise air traffic management and to tailor it to operators` needs, extending beyond national frontiers. The single European sky will allow air passengers to benefit from higher quality of service and will create new opportunities for service-providers in the European Union. The compromise reached on civil/military co-operation and on definition of the optimum air traffic control zones is satisfactory, in that it strengthens the civil-military co-operation and commits the Member States in the process of reconfiguration of the upper airspace.
The package of legislation agreed between the European Parliament and the Council is based on the results of the work of the High-Level Group on the creation of the single European sky and meets two key objectives.
The first is to establish a decision-making and regulatory framework which will improve air safety standards and, at the same time, remedy the structural problems afflicting air traffic control. Within this framework, the Commission will act with the technical support of the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol).
The second is to mobilise all concerned in a comprehensive reform of air traffic management by reorganising the provision and supervision of air traffic control services and speeding up the development and introduction of new technologies. All the organisational, operational, economic, financial, social and technical aspects will be covered by a wide-ranging action programme designed to ensure that airspace is organised and used in a way meeting the needs of civil and military air traffic.
In 2004 the Commission, with the collaboration of Eurocontrol, will turn to the task of drafting the detailed rules needed in order to put this package of legislation into action.
BACKGROUND
European single sky
Apart from undeniable technological progress, Europe`s airspace is still organised just as it was at the start of the `60s, when traffic was far lighter and governed by extremely strict bilateral agreements.
Air traffic control means assistance given to aircraft to cross airspace. The objective is to keep aircraft a safe distance apart and to guide them along their assigned route. Air traffic controllers tell pilots by radio which flight path to follow. This task is performed from the control tower at the airport of takeoff and landing and, during the flight, from one of the 41 control centres on the way to the destination.
On the way from Rome to Brussels, aircraft overfly nine different control centres.
The control centres and control towers operate within national airspace. Each national airspace is governed by rules of its own, particularly on relations between civil and military air traffic control.
Flight altitudes vary from one country to the next, as well as the no-fly zones declared for military reasons or the equipment used to keep track of aircraft.
Air traffic control is organised differently depending on the State: some have privatised it, others have set up public agencies or kept this function in the public sector.
At the end of 1999 the European Commission launched a reform of air traffic control in Europe. Such a reform had become urgent because of air traffic delays. Since 1999, on average one flight in every four is delayed by over 15 minutes. Many different causes share the blame: the airlines, the airports, air traffic control and the weather.
This initiative was supported several times by the European Council
Fuller documentation is available on the Internet from:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/themes/air/english/single_eur_sky_en.html
What are the objectives of the Single European Sky?
The objectives of the Commission`s proposals on creation of a Single European Sky are:
- to increase air traffic control capacity, as necessitated by the annual growth rate of around 5% in air traffic;
- to improve safety. Air traffic control in Europe is amongst the safest in the world, but it is not organised equally rigorously in every State. In response to traffic growth, a more systematic, more binding approach must be developed;
- to reduce fragmentation of air traffic control. Today each State organises air traffic control above its territory. Disparities in the rules and organisational arrangements create inconsistencies which have knock-on effects on traffic flow and regularity;
- to ensure closer integration of the military sector in organisation of air traffic control and in rule-making;
- to smooth the way for the introduction of new technologies. Co-operation must be encouraged between air traffic control services, equipment makers, airlines and controllers with a view to introducing new equipment offering better performance.
The Single European Sky has nothing to do with privatisation of air traffic control.
Nor will the Single Sky introduce competition between air traffic management services. This is a natural monopoly it is inconceivable for two control centres to operate within the same airspace.
The Commission attaches the utmost importance to safeguarding the public service requirements to be met by air traffic control.
At the start of the year 2000 the Commission set up a High Level Group made up of civil and military representatives from the Member States. A parallel Industry and Social Group shadowed and contributed to the work of the High Level Group. These two groups cleared the way for the Commission to submit proposals for legislation in October 2001.
Following the yesterday`s Conciliation agreement, the legislative package must be voted by the plenary session of the European Parliament and formally adopted by both institutions. The whole regulatory framework should be definitively in place by the end of 2004.
Despite the fact that all the relevant organisations were closely involved throughout the work, a few trade unions, particularly in France, have been criticising the proposals. The Commission has started formal talks between air traffic control employers and employees.
There are approximately 13 000 controllers in the European Union. One of the main reasons for air traffic delays is the shortage of controllers to manage traffic at certain centres. Estimates suggest that 10 to 15% more will have to be recruited in the short term.
Eurocontrol is an intergovernmental organisation with 31 members but, at the moment, it has no powers to lay down regulations and penalties. This is why Community mechanisms are needed to govern operation of the Single Sky.
Despite the success of certain technical programmes, the problems with air traffic control demand a more political approach capable of overcoming the consequences of fragmentation. The Commission plans to build on the complementary strengths of Community mechanisms, producing binding rules, and the technical expertise offered by Eurocontrol. To this end, the European Community has become a member of Eurocontrol.
The sky is becoming an increasingly rare asset as the number of flights increases. The armed forces in every country need military airspace, which must be precisely delimited. But consistent, co-ordinated use must be made of these rare resources. For example, at the week-end the armed forces conduct no training exercises in the airspace reserved for them, which should therefore be freed for civil use to provide easier access to certain airports which are particularly congested at the week-end.
The Single Sky and closer co-operation between civil and military users should ensure better use of airspace and, as a result, reduce delays.
The principal objective is to reduce fragmentation in the sky by creating functional blocks of airspace extending beyond national frontiers and on the ground by encouraging co-operation between air traffic control organisations. These methods require active support from the States concerned: there is no question of imposing them against the will of the States.
The Commission also wants fuller account to be taken of co-operation with military users. It goes without saying, however, that their defence tasks are paramount. No measure taken to create the Single European Sky should prejudice defence or surveillance imperatives or Member States` right to direct their armed forces. Safeguard clauses could, of course, be invoked instantly for national defence or training reasons.
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