Alan George/BRUSSELS
The European Union (EU) should develop a more active key role in European air traffic regulation by 2005. Detailed implementation and monitoring of the new air traffic management (ATM) system should be undertaken by an "autonomous regulator", says a yet to be released report from the European Commission (EC).
These are key suggestions of the High Level Group (HLG), comprising senior European civil aviation and military officials and established by the EC in January to recommend ways to create a Single European Sky (SES).
The SES is aimed at boosting ATM efficiency and reducing the delays which plague Europe and which partly stem from the continent's fragmented ATM structure. The project includes the integration of military and civilian ATM.
The HLG's final report, a copy of which has been obtained by Flight International, does not define the nature of the new regulatory body. Europe's air navigation organisation Eurocontrol will continue to play an important role, but mainly as a source of technical expertise and as a forum for non-EU member states, says the report.
Some observers favour the creation of an organisation within the EU to deal with ATM, along the lines of the proposed European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The report proposes that EASA should eventually be responsible for "safety regulation of ATM", and empowered to make "binding and directly applicable rules".
The report recommends a phased approach to the SES and points to the eventual introduction of new concepts, such as free route airspace to optimise capacity. Eurocontrol's pilot free route project is planned for 2006.
The HLG also proposes to standardise air traffic control systems across Europe and training for controllers to allow their mobility and ease staff shortages.
The report is being sent to EU member governments, with a further EC Communication to be issued in the second quarter of next year. The EC also aims to issue draft legislation which it is hoped can be approved by early 2002.
The HLG recommendations enjoy "a fair amount of consensus", says a Brussels official. The report is likely to be less welcomed by Eurocontrol, however. Although the group says SES implementation "could be managed in co-operation with Eurocontrol" and stresses that Eurocontrol could be a key forum in moves to extend the SES beyond the EU, it implies a diminished role for the organisation.
Eurocontrol is working towards EC membership of the organisation, which Eurocontrol hopes will provide the air navigation body with legal power to enforce ATM changes itself.
Source: Flight International