DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
EU member states' concerns lead council to invoke "conciliation procedure" to allow Europe to reach compromise
Europe's transport ministers have admitted that there are substantial barriers to the creation of the Single European Sky (SES), despite unanimously endorsing the plan last year.
The SES is seen as the key to improving the efficiency of European air traffic management (ATM). However, concerns among European Union member states over the potential loss of sovereignty and other issues have forced the council of ministers to invoke its "conciliation procedure", giving Europe until December to reach a compromise.
The SES depends on the fundamental principle that ATM airspace structure should be designed purely for efficiency, ignoring national borders unless they help with air traffic control sectorisation. This implies that ATC centres in some countries may become responsible for managing traffic in the skies of neighbouring states. This already occurs at Eurocontrol's Maastricht centre, which is responsible for airspace over parts of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Some states see sovereignty over their airspace as inseparable from the ATM task and from their own responsibilities for aircraft safety in their skies. The European Parliament, meanwhile, remains resolutely in favour of going ahead with the SES plan, having accepted that it provides a solution to growing congestion.
Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio is optimistic about a compromise being reached within the next six weeks. If none is forthcoming, spokesman Gilles Cantelet says the programme will be frozen, but not cancelled.
Cantelet points to the problems national politicians are facing in their own states in trying to promote the SES scheme, including fierce opposition from ATC unions, which fear it may lead to the privatisation of air traffic services or the relocation of jobs.
Some countries are dubious about allowing military airspace sectors to be used by civil flights when the military are not using them. Gantelet points to Portugal, where ATM is under military control and fears being overpowered by its larger neighbour Spain. He also highlights Greece and Turkey, Eurocontrol states with neighbouring airspace but a historically tense and unstable political relationship; and France, which is highly unionised and traditionally resistant to any encroachment on its sovereignty.
Source: Flight International
