Florian Guillermet is the Executive Director of the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research Joint Undertaking (SESAR). During this programme’s 10th anniversary celebrations, EUROPE had an opportunity to interview Mr Guillermet as part of an event focusing on the digitalisation of aviation infrastructure in Europe, in Tallinn, on Tuesday 7 November. (Interview by Lucas Tripoteau)
What balance sheet would you draw up of the action taken by SESAR ten years after it was set up?
Florian Guillermet - There are three factors in the aviation value chain: aeronautical construction, flying operations and the ecosystem that helps facilitate the overall operations within this chain. Air traffic management and control are part of this latter category.
It is in this context that SESAR intervenes, in an effort to modernise the European system, tackle expected growth in air-traffic and help it perform more effectively.
So far, we have carried out an initial tranche of research and development (R&D) that has led to the delivery of a certain number of “technological bricks” that are currently being rolled out at a European level which will help to develop the first level of harmonisation in the different aviation control systems in the European Union. This will help improve the interoperability of systems between states and the aircraft that fly over a national airspace, which will be subject to the same kinds of control. This is the first area of success achieved by SESAR.
What are your work priorities over the coming months and years?
We are currently developing a second R&D programme to further improve the level of interoperability. This will involve the automation of systems and tools provided to pilots and air-traffic control managers.
We are also examining the challenges to the Single European Sky of tomorrow. It is in this context that we are organising the event today in Tallinn, which is important. Today’s challenges are very different to those of 10 or 15 years ago, due to an increasing appetite for airspace. Previously, this was mainly used for commercial aviation but with a greater use of drones, these challenges are no longer the same. In tomorrow’s sky we will also have greater numbers of autonomous and connected aircraft and we therefore have to adapt the air traffic management system.
Returning to the theme of the event, what are the opportunities currently offered by the digitalisation of air-traffic management?
The air traffic management system has up until now been highly partitioned at a national level. Thanks to SESAR, the different elements in the value chain have now been packaged. It is necessary to ensure that this is reconnected, effective and consumes fewer resources. The European groups do not just have to build highly performing vehicles but the way in which they are put to use should be effective too.
The management of information and digital communication, as well as increased automation of the air traffic control system is therefore essential.
Digitalisation will also help us to provide decision-making support tools that will certainly provide human beings with a different role in the future that is more based on supervision and control.
What are the risks created by digitalisation?
The advantage of the previously fragmented system was that any upsets were limited. By connecting the different national systems, the risk of any perturbation arising will be more frequent and could have a more significant impact. This affects the whole challenge of cyber security, which also exceeds the domain of aviation control. In this regard, we will be following with interest the work undertaken by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
The other risk created by digitalisation is the emergence of new global aviation actors. Our leading position could therefore come under threat and we would have to work to maintain it in the future.
What initiatives should the EU institutions take and what do you expect from industry players?
Through SESAR and the European Commission aviation strategy we can see that the Union has a consolidated approach to the future of air traffic control. This currently involves putting this vision into practice and the political, regulatory and financial initiatives to comply with this roadmap will be essential. In the next multiannual financial framework, it will also be necessary for the challenges to be clearly defined and examined.
European industry has today established a joint declaration emphasising the importance of digitalisation. This digitalisation is no longer seen as a sectoral question but as a global one. This is a key result we need to achieve because we will not be able to manage the sky of tomorrow with the tools of today.
What challenges does Brexit create in the field of air-traffic management?
We are following the work of the European Commission from afar and it is not our vocation to intervene in the negotiations. It is clear, however, that the “technological bricks” only makes sense at a continental and global scale. We therefore need to ensure that the future air space is devised at a European level. The United Kingdom is currently part of our programme and it is an important partner.