COLIN BAKER BRUSSELS
Plans to fundamentally reform Europe's air navigation system could still fail, despite the accession of the European Commission to Eurocontrol
"Notwithstanding serious difficulties, the European Commission (EC) has succeeded in joining Eurocontrol." There was a clear sense of relief in the voice of European transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio on 15 October as she was finally able to sign the deal which sees the EC take its place on the council of Eurocontrol, Europe's air traffic management (ATM) co-ordinator. Her relief is understandable.
The EC's accession to the comes after a tortuous two years in which agreement was held up by the long-running dispute between Spain and the UK over the sovereignty of Gibraltar - that political battle has held up a whole range of aviation legislation. The accession of the EC will provide Eurocontrol with some much-needed muscle. The EC should provide the regulatory backing which the agency has lacked, with the power to turn Eurocontrol decisions into binding directives. In theory, this means that airlines, or others, will be able to challenge non-compliant service providers in court.
However, serious doubts remain about Palacio's ability to push through her more fundamental proposals on single skies for Europe. These are designed to transform a fragmented ATM system, still built around national boundaries, and starting with a common ATM system in Europe's upper air space above 28,000ft (8,540m).
The European Parliament has already lent its backing, passing the EC's single skies proposals in September, albeit with a couple of amendments. Supporters of the reform process have broadly welcomed this support. However, the proposals have met with potentially damaging opposition within the Council of Ministers, which represents the governments of the EU member states. In particular, France, Greece and Portugal refuse to endorse the proposals.
If Parliament and the Council of Ministers cannot agree on a way forward, the EC will have to step in and try to act as a mediator in an attempt to form a common position - as is happening on the issue of airport security. If this process fails, then the future of the whole project is in doubt. "Single skies will not progress as long as the governments and Parliament hold different views," warns Alexander ter Kuile, secretary general of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO). A resolution to the conflict is not likely to happen before the end of the year. "The situation is very fluid," ter Kuile says.
France, Greece and Portugal have been a thorn in the side of single skies since Palacio launched her reform effort three years ago. France, in particular, sees the reform as privatisation through the back door, despite the fact that the EC is adamant that this is not the case. "I have repeated on different occasions that ATM is a natural monopoly. The issue is who is going to provide this natural monopoly, and that is up to member states," she says. Noting that the majority of the member states have state-owned air traffic control provision, she states: "This is the landscape that we have to work with." Eurocontrol director general Victor Aguado also plays down the idea that single skies is a vehicle for privatisation. "The keyword is co-operation, not competition," he says.
However, observers are quick to point out that the driving idea behind single skies has always been functional blocks of airspace that are designed for efficient usage rather than around national boundaries. The fear is that if single skies is watered down, and the EC does not have the power to impose these functional blocks of airspace, the fundamental deficiencies which the proposals were meant to tackle will be left in place.
Airline concern
Airlines are clearly worried by all this. "We pray every morning that something will come through," says Dr Christoph Klingenberg, executive vice-president for group infrastructure at Lufthansa. He says the litmus test will be the acceptance of the idea that private companies can provide ATM services, pointing out that UK management services provider Serco is responsible for upper airspace ATM provision in the Middle East.
In a recent presentation, Serco chief executive Grant Rumbles argued that "national ATM providers have a conflict of interest as regards national ATM boundaries". He adds: "Customers, that is airlines and the travelling public, require and deserve quality, efficient air traffic services which provide best value." France, and particularly the French air traffic controllers union, are set square against private sector involvement, fearing it will lead to job losses as Europe's ATM providers consolidate.
If there is one area of agreement, it is that the separation of ATM provision and regulation is a good idea. The EC's single skies proposals will see a committee, under the auspices of Brussels, which will oversee regulation. Pointing to the "fairy tale" that single skies is a threat to aviation safety, says Klingenberg. "Far from it, safety is actually increased as long as there is a forceful regulation authority." He points to the example of airlines, which face regular inspection of their maintenance facilities by outside regulatory bodies, and contrasts this with the current system whereby ATM provision and regulation is ultimately the responsibility of the same body.
There is criticism from across the industry that the single skies committee will not have enough input from key stakeholders. Klingenberg, for instance, complains that as ultimate users of the system, airlines should have some input into the design of the airspace blocks, while ter Kuile says that ATM providers should also have more representation. For her part, Palacio is keen to point out that with the setting up of the single skies committee and membership of Eurocontrol, the EC will concentrate on regulation. "The EC is not going to engage in ATM," she says. "We are not going to hire experts who would overlap with Eurocontrol's work."
However, both Brussels and the airline community have shown their impatience with Eurocontrol in the past, and despite the spur given to the organisation by EC membership, Klingenberg says while he acknowledges the need for a central flow management unit (CFMU), he still expects a "leaner" Eurocontrol in the future.
Despite the doubts about the future of single skies, industry has welcomed the accession of the EC to Eurocontrol, a body which has suffered in the past from a lack of firepower. The EC's accession should also assist the process of assimilating the 10 east European member states due to join the European Union in 2004. Speaking at the signing ceremony in Brussels, Danish transport minister Fleming Hansen says that Eurocontrol's "extensive knowledge and competence in ATM can now be combined with the EU's political and legislative power, which will ensure more ideas can be realised". Eurocontrol's Aguado says: "There is new hope for the future. We can now carry out the mandate entrusted to us."
Certainly the Danish presidency has given some impetus to ATM reform, a point acknowledged by Palacio. Hansen says that the Danes have made single skies "a top priority". However, their presidency runs out at the end of the year, when the mantle passes to Greece, one of those opposed to single skies.
The EC's membership of Eurocontrol may be a step in the right direction, but it is clear that there is a long way to go before airlines and passengers can fly in an ATM environment which is organised for their convenience, rather than to fit into national boundaries.
Source: Airline Business
