Pressured by figures showing that air traffic delays in Europe are increasing, Eurocontrol is getting tough on the implementation of its latest measure to increase airspace capacity. The Brussels-based air navigation agency is demanding that all parties commit to the required vertical separation minima (RVSM) programme if it is to succeed in reducing congestion.
The implementation of previous Eurocontrol-inspired capacity increasing programmes has been plagued by delays and confusion. All were designed to relieve the ever-worsening congestion in European airspace and to benefit aircraft operators and passengers. It goes without saying, therefore, that they must be introduced as planned, and on schedule, and everyone must play their part.
For RVSM, Eurocontrol has devised a masterplan to ensure that all of the players - nation states, air traffic control authorities, commercial aircraft operators and the military - know about it. Savings of more that $2.3 billion are expected from the reduced delays and fuel savings from more direct routing and improved access to upper flight levels. So the opportunity exists for Eurocontrol to reverse its far from impressive record on the timely arrival of capacity-enhancing programmes.
The introduction last year of basic area navigation (B-RNAV) to help reduce bottlenecks in the European network was chaotic. B-RNAV was originally due to start on 29 January, 1998, and was delayed for three months as huge numbers of aircraft did not meet the requirements in time. It was further delayed until August after Eurocontrol was flooded with exemption requests from operators weeks before the April implementation date.
The Association of European Airlines (AEA) blamed Eurocontrol for the B-RNAV debacle, saying that the agency had failed to make firm decisions on the implementation early enough. According to the AEA it was only in June 1997 when Eurocontrol and the JAA agreed to accept the global positioning system (GPS) as a B-RNAV sensor. This meant airlines only had a few months to order GPS equipment, get it installed and obtain certification.
Implementing 8.33kHz channel spacing has also been delayed because of the low percentage of compliant aircraft. It was supposed to be introduced on 1 January this year, but this date was dropped last June and will now be enforced in October. The introduction of the airborne collision avoidance system (ACAS II) is expected to be more successful as Eurocontrol fully appreciates operators' difficulties. Airlines are being kept well informed. All aircraft with more than 30 seats or with maximum take-off weight of more than 15,000kg operating in ECAC (European Civil Aviation Conference) airspace will have to be fitted with the latest version of ACAS equipment - known as Version 7 - by 1 January, 2000. The US Federal Aviation Administration was late in issuing the technical standard order for the Version 7 equipment (it became available in December) which meant that airlines faced major problems acquiring and installing the equipment, training crews, achieving certification and so on. Eurocontrol has recognised this problem and has put a contingency plan in place - a 15-month transition period during which operators unable to meet the deadline can be granted an exemption.
Eurocontrol's weakness is that it has never had the legal power to implement the new capacity increasing measures, and there are plenty more in the pipeline it wants to introduce. Its revised convention, now being enforced, will go some way towards providing this, but, typically for a pan-European organisation, will take years to become effective. Meanwhile, it does have the power to plan ahead, and its moves on the RVSM issue show that it is taking the initiative.
All of these programmes are extremely demanding on operators in terms of cost and time, but if they know the benefits, are fully informed of the requirements and are given enough time to meet them, there will be a far greater chance of compliance. Only then will the trend towards increased delays be halted, and then, hopefully, reversed.
Source: Flight International
