Brussels, 18/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European industrial project SESAR (new-generation European air traffic management system) was launched on 17 November in Brussels at the headquarters of Eurocontrol (European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation) in the presence of European Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot and Eurocontrol Director General Victor M. Aguado. In view of the fact that Europe's volume of air traffic is expected to double by 2025 and concerns for safety are growing, it is vital that air navigation management infrastructures (dating from the 1970s) are modernised, and that the current fragmentation of air traffic control is addressed. For this reason the 'Single European Sky', launched in 2004, includes a technical element known as the SESAR programme (Single European Sky Air Traffic Management and Research - its previous name SESAME being unusable for copyright reasons). “We must modernise our air traffic control systems in order to respond to the constraints of cost, efficiency, respect for the environment, safety and security - which are incontrovertible dimensions of the transport equation”, stated Mr Barrot in his speech at the launch. SESAR should thus encourage the optimisation of air navigation, making it safer - for example through the use of new techniques for numerical and verbal communication, calculating the distance to ground of aeroplanes with special on-board systems, and turbulence detection. SESAR would also be the first practical use of the European radio navigation system, Galileo. As the second most important hi-tech industrial project in Europe after Galileo, SESAR should inject some 50 billion Euros into the European economy, and generate some 200,000 highly skilled jobs in the EU. Whilst in 2002 the air transport sector was responsible for approximately 12% of total greenhouse gas emissions from transport in Europe, SESAR should allow for a reduction in emissions of between 4% and 10% per flight (depending on the type of plane). In addition SESAR will triple the infrastructure capacity of air traffic control, increase air traffic control safety tenfold, and reduce by half the cost of air traffic control borne by airlines, explained Mr Barrot, who believes “SESAR is a concrete demonstration of cooperation between the EU and Eurocontrol. The main challenge is the sheer extent of this project, since within the next ten years the aim is to equip Europe with the most effective, reliable and competitive air traffic control infrastructure in the world”.
The SESAR programme will unfold in three phases, the first having been launched on 17 November. The SESAR consortium - which groups together airline companies, airports, and providers of air services and staff - was created for the definition phase (2005-2007), whose objective is to develop a road map for the project within 2 years, comprising the choice of technologies that will be employed and the organisation of the programme. The Commission and Eurocontrol will share costs of the definition phase, which are expected to be the region of 60 million Euros. The development phase (2008-2013) will consist of developing the key technologies as laid down in the road map. A new organisation - the common SESAR initiative - will be created based on a public-private model between the EU, Eurocontrol and industry, in order to ensure the consistency of project management as well as a balance between public and private funds. Like Galileo, the programme will have the potential to welcome partner countries - which would strengthen their technical, commercial and regulatory cooperation with the EU in the aeronautical sector. The cost of the second phase, estimated at 300 million Euros per annum, will be shared equally between the Commission, Eurocontrol and industry. The deployment phase (2014-2020) should mostly fall to the private sector, both in its practical application and in its funding. For Mike Ambrose, Director General of ERA (European Regions Airline Association) and member of the SESAR consortium, “the Single European Sky is the most ambitious EU project since the liberalisation of the air transport sector”. Industry's support for the SESAR project clearly shows its commitment to stand side by side with the Commission, “but neither airline companies nor passengers will accept SESAR as just one of many project ideas - they want concrete results”, warns Mr Ambrose.