Brussels, 18/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - The day after the accident of the Air France Airbus A330, which crashed over the Atlantic at the end of May, the joint undertaking SESAR (responsible for developing the technological chapter of the European Single Sky programme aimed at modernising air traffic control in Europe) began work on launching a new programme of tests on air traffic surveillance and control at the request of the European Commission. Trials are expected to unfold in the Atlantic region where air carriers are not covered by air traffic control surveillance. According to a SESAR spokesman, the undertaking is working on this project, which will be in addition to some 300 other projects under development. Furthermore, on Friday 12 June, the director of the undertaking, Patrick Ky, signed financing contracts with 16 members of the undertaking (the European Commission, Eurocontrol and the aeronautics industry), totalling €1.9 billion for the years 2009-2016. €500 million come from the
industry while the remaining €1.4 million will be jointly and equally financed by the Commission
and Eurocontrol. (A.By./transl.jl)