Brussels, 21/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - One of the quantitative objectives of the European Commission in the context of the functional airspace block (FAB) system would be to reduce the current cost of European air navigation by 4.5%. All objectives will be put to the Single Sky Committee (SSC) for approval. The SSC is to meet on Monday 25 October to fine-tune the definition of the system's quantitative objectives set out within the Single Sky 2 framework, which modernises air traffic management in Europe (EUROPE 9690 and 9689).
The proposal could be adopted by the end of the year. In this case, national or regional implementation plans should be submitted to the Commission by June 2011 at the latest, in the aim of introducing targeted and binding performance criteria into air navigation services in Europe, defined in relation to security, flight efficiency, capacity/delays and costs. This performance scheme will be the base for future functional airspace blocks, which will allow airspace to be divided up according to the operational needs of air navigation and independently of national borders.
At this stage, the main aim of the performance scheme is to reduce the current cost of aviation by 4.5% on average, but it is still not certain whether this ambitious objective will receive endorsement from national experts within the committee. In line with the provisions of the Single Sky programme, reductions foreseen could be reached by reduction in fuel consumption, better flight trajectory planning and the gradual introduction into aviation of new technology developed in particular under the SESAR programme (the Single European Sky ATM Research Programme).
Three options are currently on the table relating to the structure of management and funding of the deployment phase of this technological chapter on Single Sky: - maintenance of the current form of the public-private partnership with funding assured equally by the aeronautics industry, the Commission and Eurocontrol (the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation); - displacement of responsibility for SESAR deployment to the network manager (an entity created and set in place within the Single Sky framework) with, at the same time, the establishment of a control system that would ensure that revenue from fees paid by air companies for air traffic control services are reallocated to cover the needs of air navigation; - and the creation of a new agency.