Emma Kelly/AMSTERDAM
The European Commission (EC) has set up transportation groups to start gathering views from potential users of the Galileo satellite navigation system. Although forums have been established for the maritime, road and rail industries, no such group has been set up for aeronautical users.
"We don't want to design a system that's no use for aviation, but we don't want to design a system that's directly for aviation," Brian Toll of the EC's directorate general for transport told delegates at the Flight International Air Navigation conference, which took place in Amsterdam late last month. "To a large extent, we understand the type of system aviation wants. We understand their requirements," he says. The EC wants to "talk honestly" with airlines about Galileo, says Toll, but he concedes that "we have not got far with that".
The commission is progressing with the definition phase of the satellite navigation system, due to be operational in 2008. The EC will issue a call for proposals to develop the system in November.
Considerable work has been done on the proposed public-private partnership (PPP) for the system's development, says Toll. A PPP task force has been established to determine who wants to invest in the programme and at what levels. Funding for Galileo, which is expected to cost between € 2.2 billion and € 3 billion ($2.3-2.4 billion) through to 2008, will initially come from European agencies, including the EC's Trans-European Network budgets (€ 500 million), research and development budgets (€ 250 million) and the European Space Agency (€ 500 million).
Annual operational costs from 2008 are estimated at € 140-205 million, says Pietro Lo Galbo, head of the navigation department of the European Space Agency.
Revenue sources for Galileo will include a levy on receivers, and different levels of service, with second- and possibly third-tier services having subscriptions and controlled access.
A decision on whether to go ahead will be made at the end of next year, followed by the launch of the development phase.
Source: Flight International
