Industry must secure at least half the €2.1 billion ($2.77 billion) worth of work involved in developing the necessary technology and systems if Europe is to fulfil its Single European Sky vision of making flights safer, shorter and less polluting.
Thales chief executive Denis Ranque says industry has a major role to play in the development of a new, highly efficient generation of air traffic management systems. Speaking on behalf of the European aerospace and defence industries organisation ASD, Ranque said at the 8 December launch of the SESAR Joint Undertaking (JU) that it is essential in the scope of the JU work programme and funding scheme to establish an adequate share for technology and systems development activities.
"In the eyes of industry, if the programme is to meet it goals, this share is at least half of the activity of the planned SESAR development phase," said Ranque.
"As we move towards an agreement on the definition and scope of this phase in March, this point should receive high priority and recognition by the JU, the European Commission and Eurocontrol and be reflected in the forthcoming workshare arrangements."
Fifteen of Europe's largest aeronautical companies are signed up to the vital technology development component. The participants are Airbus, Alenia Aeronautica, Frequentis, Honeywell, Indra, Natmig, SEAC (a new consortium expected to comprise six large European airports), Selex Sistemi Integrati and Thales, plus national ATC providers AENA in Spain, DFS in Germany, DSNA in France, ENAV in Italy, Noracon in Austria and NATS in the UK.
EU transport ministers have also reached agreement on the technical SESAR provisions while the European Parliament's transport committee this week adopted, by a large majority, a recommendation that will help speed the Single European Sky package II legislation through its first reading when the whole Parliament meets in January.
Leisure airline group IACA applauded that vote, saying it was particularly pleased to see binding performance targets for air navigation service providers alongside an obligation to implement functional airspace blocks by 2011 that would reduce fragmentation of European airspace.
"Such is the importance of this project to the future of European aviation and the environment, we urge EU member states to make sure the SES II legislation is adopted swiftly along the lines of the [committee] vote," says IACA director general Sylviane Lust.
By 2020, SESAR is expected to increase European air capacity threefold, improve safety by a factor of 10, reduce environmental impact per flight by 10% and cut air traffic management system-related expenses by 50%.
Source: Flight International
