Alan George/BRUSSELS
The European Commission (EC) is optimistic that its Single Sky project will be given the go-ahead at the European Council meeting in Gothenberg, Sweden, in late June.
Progress, however, will depend on the UK and Spain breaking the deadlock over Gibraltar which prevented the scheme from being considered at last month's European Union (EU) summit in Stockholm. The EC had hoped that the Stockholm summit could at least agree the project in principle and set an end-2004 target date for instituting the regulatory framework. In a bid to side-step the long-running Gibraltar issue, which centres on the failure of a 1987 deal between the UK and Spain concerning Gibraltar airport, a clause would have exempted Gibraltar from the Single Sky scheme pending resolution of the conflict.
"Even that proved too controversial," says an EC source, adding: "There were difficulties in the Commission. The consensus was that the parties needed a few more months to resolve the matter."
The Single Sky initiative is designed to increase air traffic management (ATM) efficiency in an effort to reduce the delays which have plagued European air traffic and which partly stem from the fragmentation of the continent's ATM structure. The project, in which EC transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio takes a close personal interest, includes the integration of military and civilian ATM.
The UK and Spain are now engaged in talks aimed at breaking the Gibraltar impasse, which has dogged agreement on EU aviation initiatives, including the EC's membership of Eurocontrol and the formation of the European Aviation Safety Agency.
Officials stress that the overall schedule for implementing the European Single Sky has not been affected by the delay.
Source: Flight International