Brussels, 10/07/13 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 10 July, the European Commission announced further investment of €600 million in European Single Sky (ESS) technologies. This flagship project aims to decongest European airspace by tripling its capacity and reducing air traffic management costs by half.
This funding will come from the Horizon 2020 programme for SESAR, the new generation Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research system, whose mandate has been extended until 2024. The research programme will continue to be co-funded by Eurocontrol and the aviation industry. Its total budget for 2014-2020 is expected to rise to €1.6 billion (€2.1 billion for the current period, 2007-2013).
The main projects finalised in SESAR include: 4D management trajectories; the SWIM system (System Wide Information Management Infrastructure), an intranet-type system to enable airports, weather forecasting services, airlines and control centres to exchange information instantaneously; the first remote control tower where air traffic management at an airport is performed somewhere other than in the local control tower. 80% of SESAR projects have tested their output in a real-life environment.
Funds will help towards the integration of drones in the air traffic management system, developing the means to allow airlines to fly more direct routes, and increasing the efficiency and safety of access to runways. The challenge for the 2014-2020 budgetary period is to conclude the research, development and validation phase so that the final phase of using this new technology can begin across the board. (LM/transl.fl)