On Monday 15 April, the European Commission published a report by a Wise Persons Group on the future of air traffic management, in which ten recommendations are made to improve its effectiveness by 2035.
This study was conducted under the leadership of Pekka Henttu, Director General of the Civil Aviation Department of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency. This is in particular to improve the 'Single European Sky', fifteen years after the launch of this initiative (see EUROPE 8684/25, 8637/27). The authors of the report relied in particular on the results of the work of the European Court of Auditors published in November 2017 (see EUROPE 11916/7).
"Due to the growth of air traffic forecasts, we can expect further delays for air passengers too. That is unacceptable", said Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport Policy. "I am inviting Member States, the European Parliament and the aviation community to consider the recommendations released today", she added.
Among the recommendations addressed, it should be noted that the experts wish to strengthen Eurocontrol's role and competences in this field by giving it the necessary executive powers to manage the network.
The 'digitisation' aspect is also a key point of the report, advocating the implementation of digital airspace and the creation of a market for data service providers in air traffic management. In addition, staff training should be provided to ensure this digital transition.
Finally, the experts also recommend simplifying and strengthening economic regulation in this area, or setting up a technical and independent economic regulator to do so. Link to the report: https://bit.ly/2KNgnRo. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)