Troubled central European ATC harmonisation initiative faces complete overhaul as airlines slam excessive cost
Central European airspace authorities intend to completely overhaul the troubled Central European Air Traffic Services (CEATS) programme to create a unified air traffic centre for the region, as the head of Eurocontrol finally admits that a new approach is needed.
Three of the eight air navigation agencies involved in CEATS programme – from Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia – are effectively mounting an effort to scrap the project and draw support for a different concept, which could be based on a co-operative effort formalised last year.
While Eurocontrol has been attempting to shore up CEATS, the agency's director general Victor Aguado has conceded that a “fresh look” is required, after airline associations condemned the programme as a waste of money.
Speaking to Flight International at the Jane’s ATC Maastricht 2006 conference, Aguado said: “In spite of all the efforts, we have to recognise that implementation of a system suitable to all of us hasn’t happened yet.” He says that the Central European region had relatively little air traffic management capability at the time of CEATS’ conception. “But today the reality is that we have infrastructure that’s advanced, and new requirements. This has to be reflected. Local requirements have to be taken into account.”
CEATS would have unified the upper airspace of eight participating states under the control of a single centre located near Vienna. But the programme has struggled to overcome political barriers and airlines have become increasingly sceptical. Both IATA and the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) have now withdrawn all support for CEATS, heavily criticising the expenditure and insisting that the project be terminated.
As the Maastricht conference opened, IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani, speaking in Brussels, said that €40 million ($58 million) had been spent on CEATS over the past seven years with no results.
He described the project as having “lost its way” and added: “CEATS is an example of how politics can ruin a great idea.” ERA head Mike Ambrose said that CEATS has become an “absolute fiasco” and holds up the project as an “example of poor cost control”.
Czech air navigation service chief Petr Materna said: “CEATS as a concept is great. But CEATS as a project is dead. Some of the air navigation service providers [involved with CEATS] have been facing dramatic increases in traffic. There’s no time to wait for a common centre or a ‘big bang’ solution.”
Materna said that the principle of a functional airspace block within the Central European region “makes a lot of sense”. The Czech agency, together with counterparts from Austria and Slovenia, is planning to host a meeting between all eight air navigation providers from the CEATS states to discuss possible options for achieving this in a cost-effective manner. He suggested that this “hard core” of three service providers could initiate a new co-operative effort for the region, one which could be joined later by other CEATS members.
Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have already declared an intention to harmonise the replacement of their airspace management equipment between 2007-2012 through a joint initiative known as ‘One ATM System’.
DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW / MAASTRICHT
Source: Flight International
