This article will shed light into our ideas behind regulatory coverage of Global Airspace Radar, here at GAR, we will call it “Brussels Corner”. The goal is to discuss regulatory topics and their consequences to operations for i.e. Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) and airspace users, in a way that outlines the different point of views and expected impacts with respect to regulatory proposals of individual stakeholders, in an understandable and transparent way. Moreover, we want to keep readers up to date with what is being drafted, discussed, voted for and adopted in Brussels. We will also give a voice to key players with interviews and thematic features.
Let’s start with a short recap of the big picture, the regulatory landscape in Europe and a bit of history.
What is an ANSP? Of course, we all know what an ANSP is, so maybe the question is more about, where did the concept of an ANSP initially begin? The Chicago Convention from 1944 did not provide a specific definition, it only provided a description of “air navigation facilities”, and that such facilities should be a State responsibility.
The first Single European Sky (SES) package and framework Regulation (EC) No 549/2004 defined an ANSP as “any public or private entity providing air navigation services for general air traffic”. So air navigation services (ANS) are responsibilities of a State and public or private entities can perform these tasks. The SES package also adds a condition to provision of ANS, namely ANSPs have to be certified by Member States to offer their services.
In Europe, we have many countries with different cultures, aviation history and legal set-ups. And even with the same legal framework, the SES, they developed differently. From the integration of an ANSP into the Directorate General of Civil Aviation with a functional separation DSNA (France), to a partial privatisation ENAV (Italy) and 100% state owned company like DFS (Germany) or ENAIRE (Spain).
The first phase of SES (2004-2010)
In the nineties, Europe struggled with flight delays and airspace congestion which were the main triggers for creating the initiative of the Single European Sky (SES). The first phase of SES took place between 2004 and 2010. The first SES package was adopted in March 2004 and laid out main principles such as:
- Creation of National Supervisory Authority, being independent of ANSPs. The service provision should be separated from regulatory/oversight functions
- Establishment of “common requirements for the safe and efficient provision of ANS” – a set of criteria that ANSPs had to comply with, in order to provide ANS
- Establishment of an EU-level benchmarking system for performance, which allowed a benchmark against peers.
The second phase of SES II (2009)
The second SES package brought a set of further important changes for ANSPs:
- Introduction of the performance scheme, with its key performance areas of: safety, capacity, cost-efficiency and environment, setting binding performance targets for each state
- In this framework the automatic full cost recovery was replaced by the concept of determined costs – capped in advance for the duration of a reference period
- This was complemented by the obligation to show transparency between en-route and terminal services.
The way forward with SES II+ in 2024
1st December, 2024 marked the final date of the regulatory approval of the SES II+ package after years of institutional and stakeholder negotiations. While the regulation has now entered into force, the European Commission must develop and propose necessary implementation regulations, to be adopted in collaboration with Member States.
Our editorial team will report on the execution of SES II+, monitor the progress of the implementation regulations, provide background analysis and interviews with key stakeholders, report the latest news and share opinions in this space. Stay tuned for the updates, opinions and prognosis regarding the next steps of the Single European Sky!
