EU Member States discussed on Tuesday 24 May, in the framework of a meeting of the EU Council’s Aviation Working Party, the French Presidency’s compromise proposal for a number of provisions included in the third chapter of the proposed regulation on the implementation of the ‘Single European Sky’ (see EUROPE 12845/10).
The French Presidency of the EU Council first clarifies certain provisions concerning the possibility of having separate performance plans in certain circumstances for ‘en-route’ services - outside the vicinity of aerodromes and whose charges are collected from airlines before being passed on to Member States - and for terminal services, whose amounts are collected directly by local authorities.
A performance plan should therefore be established for each reporting period and for each designated air traffic service provider for en-route and terminal services in respect of all air traffic services provided by that service provider.
On the other hand, an air traffic service provider for en-route services could agree with the competent national supervisory authority that a separate plan be established for the terminal services for which it has been designated.
Joint performance plans
The paper also proposes that Member States may agree, including with their designated en-route service providers, to submit - under certain conditions - only one joint performance plan for en-route and terminal services.
This would be possible where the airspaces controlled by the air traffic service providers concerned are adjacent or where an agreement between the service providers concerned and the Member States in question is signed with the aim of improving air traffic management, through cooperative initiatives covering at least the duration of the reference period.
However, the intention to submit a joint performance plan should be made public at least nine months before the start of the reporting period in question. The performance plan should then contain common capacity, climate and environmental objectives covering the entire en-route airspace controlled by the service providers.
Finally, the text returns to the local circumstances to be taken into account when assessing a plan as being consistent with EU objectives.
Local circumstances preventing the achievement of one or more of these objectives could be taken into account when a plan for hiring and training of operational staff is required to fill a shortage of qualified personnel and this shortage cannot be filled before the last year of the reference period, or if a modernisation investment plan is required and involves an increase in total depreciation and capital costs of more than 20% over the reference period compared to the previous reference period.
See the document: https://aeur.eu/f/1w0 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)