Seven years after its last initiative in this area, the European Commission presented, on Tuesday 22 September, an “upgrade” of its proposal to reform the Single European Sky. In other words, a revision of the ‘SES2+’ initiative, on which negotiations have been dragging on since 2013 (see EUROPE 11448/17).
The institution’s objectives have broadly remained the same: to establish a safe and, above all, cost-effective air network, while avoiding unnecessary delays and emissions. However, some provisions have been updated to take account of new priorities, in particular environmental priorities, and changes in the aviation sector.
In particular, the new proposal addresses one of the most controversial points of the 2013 proposal: the “vertical unbundling” of air navigation service providers, which today have a natural monopoly.
In order to increase competition in this market, the Commission proposes here that en-route air traffic services should be “voluntarily decoupled” from other air navigation services, such as air traffic data services, communication services or meteorological services.
Rather than having the data produced by all air navigation services themselves, it would therefore like to see providers able to buy the data on a European market.
“In return, only air navigation services which are not provided under market conditions would be subject to economic regulation and their costs and service quality levels would be examined”, the Commission says.
Such a market would, in the Commission’s view, create a more flexible provision of air traffic services and lead to cost reductions as early as 2030.
“Services not so good”
Charles-André Quesnel, Air Traffic Controller and Chairman of the ATM Committee of the European Transport Workers’ Federation, “struck” that the Commission’s proposals once again respond to the logic of budget cuts.
“What the Transport Commissioner failed to mention is that the zigzag trajectories of the planes”, which cause delays and increase fuel consumption and which this reform must put an end to, “are mainly due to staff shortages linked to the cost reductions imposed since 2012”, Mr Quesnel assured EUROPE, referring to Adina’s speech Vălean to the press.
He also deplored the consequences that “unbundling” could have on the security chain, arguing that “lower costs will lead to poorer services”. The creation of a market, he says, could indeed force providers to choose to do without certain data, which have become too expensive.
It is also concerned about the problems of outsourcing that this could cause, especially if a service provider goes bankrupt, for example in the context of a crisis such as the Covid-19 crisis, depriving service providers of essential data.
European Green Deal
The Commission’s new text also takes into account the objective of achieving carbon neutrality and a 90% reduction in transport emissions by 2050, set under the European Green Deal.
This new SES2+ should contribute “to reducing aviation emissions by up to 10% through better flight path management”, promised Ms Vălean. According to the Commission, in 2019 the delays alone resulted in a surplus of 11.6 million tonnes of CO2.
The institution therefore proposes, in particular, that air navigation charges should be modulated according to the environmental footprint of the airspace user.
In order to avoid unnecessary detours, it also introduces the possibility of introducing common unit rates throughout the EU. At present, these rates - which define what a company will pay per kilometre driven in a given area - vary from country to country.
Unmanned aircraft
Finally, the new proposal takes into account in particular the emergence in recent years of new airspace users, such as unmanned aircraft - or UAVs - whose safe operation in the existing air traffic environment “represents a major challenge for the system”.
This upgrade of SES2+ therefore proposes that the Common Information Services (CIS) can also be used to ensure the safety of unmanned air traffic and not only that of manned traffic.
It is therefore proposed that CIS should use operational data held by air navigation service providers responsible for UAV traffic, “which should make these data available at marginal cost”, the Commission says.
“Smoother” negotiations
The text also introduces provisions for the integration of the Performance Review Body (PRB) into EASA - the European Aviation Safety Agency. It also removes the mandatory use of Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs), which may however continue if States so wish.
New functions, such as optimising airspace design and air traffic flow management, and capacity have also been added to the responsibilities of the network operator - Eurocontrol, until 2029.
Determined to see this new attempt at reform succeed, the Commission has made sure to introduce changes “that will satisfy everyone”, Adina Vălean assured the press. Her proposal, she hopes, should receive “better support from decision-makers” and result in a “smoother institutional process”.
On this point, the Commissioner stressed in particular that the departure of the British should make it possible to put an end to the continuing deadlock over the status of Gibraltar airport (see EUROPE 11210/14).
Finally, it called for the rapid adoption of the text and assured that it would enter into force by 2024.
To view the proposal: https://bit.ly/3hT7KQu (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)