Today, National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and its 29 consortium partners, the European Commission and EUROCONTROL announced in Brussels the signature of the contract for the definition phase for a Single European Single Sky Implementation Programme (SESAR, formerly SESAME).
In a joint press conference held with Jacques Barrot, Vice President of the European Commission and Victor Aguado, Director General of EUROCONTROL, the successful finalization of the negotiations and the signature of the contract as well as the formal start of the Definition Phase were announced.
Paul Barron, Chief Executive of NATS said, "NATS is fully committed to the objective of the single European sky and to supporting the SESAR initiative. We are delighted that today marks another major milestone towards achieving this."
The SESAR Consortium presented its 30 members and outlined the contents and expectations towards the two-year effort leading towards the European ATM master plan. The consortium consists of a broad and representative range of players from the European air transport industry, bringing together airspace users, airports, air navigation services providers and supply industry.
"Following the successful negotiations with EUROCONTROL, the SESAR Consortium is now concentrating all its efforts towards the successful completion of the Definition Phase," said Olaf Dlugi, Chairman of the SESAR Executive Committee. "In addition to the cooperative efforts to be conducted in the integrated teams for completion of the six milestone deliverables we will focus on the interaction with the air transport industry.
Broad commitment and buy-in going beyond our consortium members will be key success factors for the Definition Phase and the subsequent Implementation Phase."
Following the signature of the contract, the consortium now is launching the first step of the Definition Phase Study. In this phase the work aims at establishing the six milestone deliverables starting with the analysis of the overall air transport framework, followed by a definition of the performance objectives for the future ATM system, the target concepts that will be able to fulfill such objectives and the deployment and implementation sequence of relevant solutions. In the final two deliverables, the European ATM Masterplan will summarize the recommendations of the air transport industry and the concrete work-programme for the first phase of implementation will be defined.
Furthermore, the consortium intends organizing a workshop for each deliverable starting with a kick-off workshop in early 2006. The objective of such workshops is to communicate on the results and give the air transport community the opportunity to feed back and comment on the outcome per deliverable.
SESAR has been recognized by the political, institutional and operational air transport community as the most appropriate means to focus and mobilize the required investment in support of the benefits achievable through the operational implementation of the Single European Sky legislation.
The SESAR Definition Phase is a first step towards the kick-off of the actual SESAR implementation phase and will, over a two year period, define and validate the actions to be launched, and their associated committed planning, for securing a safe and efficient high-performance air transport system by 2020.
CONSORTIUM PARTNERS:
Airspace Users: Air France, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Iberia, AEA (Association of European Airlines), ERA (European Regions Airline Association), IAOPA (International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Association), IATA (International Air Transport Association), KLM.
Airports: Aéroports de Paris (ADP), AENA (Aeropuertos Espanoles y Navegacion Aérea), Amsterdam Airport SCHIPHOL, BAA ( UK airport group), FRAPORT, LFV (Luftfartsverket), Munich International Airport.
Air Navigation Services Providers: AENA (Aeropuertos Espanoles y Navegacion Aérea), Austro Control GmbH, Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS), DSNA (Direction des Services de Navigation Aérienne), ENAV, LFV (Luftfartsverket), LVNL (Air Traffic Control The Netherlands), NATS (National Air Traffic Services), NAV Portugal.
Supply Industry: AIRBUS, BAE Systems, EADS, INDRA, SELEX Sistemi Integrati, THALES ATM, THALES AVIONICS.
Project Directorate: Air Traffic Alliance E.I.G./G.I.E., a grouping of EADS, Airbus and Thales
Project Associates: In addition to the partners mentioned above, a network of project associates has been set up including amongst others, military representatives, professional associations of controllers and pilots, Regulatory and Certification Authorities, Research Centers, and US industry. They will provide their technical expertise and support to the buy-in process towards European and non-European air transport stakeholders.
