The UK and Ireland have just forged a unity of approach to the management of their skies that they never managed on the surface
It makes consummate sense for the UK and Ireland to merge their airspace, for air traffic management purposes, into a single functional airspace block (FAB). Its sectorisation has yet to be designed because the plan - under consideration for some time - has only just been formally launched by the two countries' air navigation service providers (ANSP), National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
The most significant thing about this event is the political will involved. Close co-operation between neighbouring ANSPs is not new, with some of them even taking air traffic management responsibility for parts of the adjoining country's sovereign airspace. Eurocontrol, which is a supra-national body, runs the Maastricht centre which controls the upper flight information region (UIR) over parts of four countries, and this is the only existing FAB. But now, for the first time in aviation history, two national governments have agreed that while their sovereign airspace may remain what it says it is, the provision of ATS within their airspace does not have to be strictly national, nor to take account of borders in its design and division of responsibilities. An FAB is what it says it is: functional, purely utilitarian. It is designed for the efficient provision of air navigation services, nothing else. Its sectorisation and the tasks which area control centres carry out are not determined by political territorialism. FABs are intended to become the building blocks of the Single European Sky.
By coincidence, Eurocontrol has just launched three formal consultations on "interoperablity mandates entrusted to it by the European Commission". These will develop protocols by which neighbouring ANSPs co-operate operationally. Agreeing standardised methods and systems is essential, but how much better it would be if mandating was not required because agreement about the objectives has been reached voluntarily between neighbouring governments and ANSPs?
NATS and the IAA are blazing the trail. In a few years a single UIR over the two countries is quite likely. Any guesses about its name/callsign? How about Shandon or Lannon?
Losing their religion
It's easy to remember a time not so long ago when the Boeing 737 was as worshipped by the low-cost carriers (LCC) as their "peanuts and pretzels" on-board service.
How things have changed. After its landmark win with EasyJet's mega-order in 2002, Airbus has taken the LCC sector by the scruff of the neck and ousted the incumbent US twinjet at almost every turn.
Hot on the heels of Airbus's recent success at Air Berlin - where Boeing lost out despite the airline's installed fleet of 40 Next Generation 737s - the European airframer looks to have won yet another competition - the 80 aircraft deal to supply AirAsia with its new fleet.
Success at this fast-growing LCC was described as "critical" by a Boeing executive recently as the US manufacturer sought to stem the flow of LCC business going to Toulouse. LCC scalps already taken in the Asia-Pacific region by Airbus include Jetstar/Jetstar Asia, Star Flyer of Japan and Tiger Airways, while the only major LCC in the region to choose the 737NG has been Virgin Blue.
As they stick more victory pins into their world map of 737 operators, Airbus sales men like to crow about the fact that there are very few examples of A320 operators switching allegiance. Boeing often points to the loser's age-old excuse that pricing was a deciding factor, but when wasn't it?
And while it has been losing the LCC battle Boeing has also been negotiating a long-term delivery deferral with American Airlines - one of the blue chip US major airlines that was signed up as part of the controversial "exclusive supplier" arrangements in the 1990s. These "pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap" deals - conceived under the old Boeing regime - gave the US manufacturer a strong position in the US market but has arguably come back to bite. American Airlines does not plan to take any more of the 57 737NGs it has on order until 2013.
Despite its LCC failures, Boeing continues to rack up 737 orders. It has sold over 130 so far this year - largely from existing carriers. But perhaps only a return to its earlier sales philosophy will persuade the LCCs to change course from Toulouse.
Source: Flight International
