Julian Moxon/PARIS
The new European Commission (EC) Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio has come out strongly in favour of a transfer of airspace sovereignty to Eurocontrol as a way of solving the growing air traffic control (ATC) crisis in Europe.
In a statement to the European Parliament on 30 August, de Palacio took the line adopted by her predecessor, Neil Kinnock, in calling for a single ATC area. The sovereignty issue is controversial, however, and is opposed by some powerful Eurocontrol members, including France and the UK.
Palacio confirmed that "institutional changes" to Eurocontrol are high on the agenda. A senior EC source within the transport directorate says negotiations on the European Union (EU) becoming a member of the agency are expected to be concluded by the end of this year, followed by ratification in the middle of next year.
The move would provide Eurocontrol with a "political dimension that is now missing", says the source. He points out that "all attempts to attract transport ministers to Eurocontrol meetings have met with failure, because ministers refuse to come to Brussels for a single meeting on air traffic control matters". Once Eurocontrol is within the EU system, however, "they will be obliged to come".
The delegation of airspace sovereignty is seen as vital to improving the efficiency of airspace management, since it would provide for a total Europe-wide reorganisation of airspace sectors that remain under the control of national ATC administrations. "The main difficulty is that the sky is used for both civil and military purposes, so states would have to confer military sovereignty to Eurocontrol as well," says the EC source.
"We appreciate this will be a major issue for the military authorities," the source says, but adds: "We now have a dynamic for it which is forcing military and civil administrations to work together. Once they learn from that it will be easier for them to take responsibility for resectorisation of the sky."
Source: Flight International