European Parliament gives boost to the Single European Sky

Newsroom 14/03/2014 | 09:44

The European Parliament, meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg, approved the amended Single European Sky (SES) legislation known as SES 2+ on March 12. The legislation now must be approved by European Union member states.

“The Single European Sky initiative is crucial to boost competitiveness in the aviation sector, create jobs and contribute to the European economy’s growth. Today’s vote in the Parliament gives a boost to the entire project,” stated Siim Kallas, European Commission vice president for transport. “It is now up to the member states to take this important issue forward, and deliver a truly efficient air traffic system in Europe.”

The SES 2 + initiative looks to head off a capacity crunch as the number of flights is forecast to increase by 50% over the next 20 years. Inefficiencies in Europe’s fragmented airspace bring extra costs of close to 5 billion Euros each year to airlines and their customers.

Among changes, the SES 2+ legislation calls for “full organizational and budgetary separation” of national authorities from the ATC organizations they oversee; opening ATC support services to competitive bidding; and strengthening air traffic management (ATM) performance targets.

Companies will be able to form industrial partnerships with the regional ATCentities called functional airspace blocks (FABs).