Europe's Single Sky project to transform the region's fragmented air traffic management (ATM) system is likely to be delayed by disputes over military airspace, the role of Eurocontrol and the underlying issue of national sovereignty.
In early July, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) passed a second reading of the Single Sky bill, but included a couple of key amendments to a common position agreed by the Council of Transport Ministers in March. As a result, the Council is likely to reject the Parliament's proposals and the Single Sky project will then move into the conciliation process in the third quarter, with the European Commission (EC) acting as mediator. If this happens, the 2005 timetable for the start of Single Skies is likely to slip.
The Council had demanded that military operations and training be excluded from the proposals, but made provision for civil use of military airspace when it was not in use.
Parliament, by contrast, is calling for a "framework" for co-operation between civil and military ATM to be established and for member states to work towards full integration.
However, there is practically no chance of member states agreeing to this, with the UK and France set against the idea and defence issues not within the remit of the EC. A number of MEPs did not support the military amendments. "There is a real danger that, by seeking to amend the common position in this regard, we might jeopardise the entire Single Sky project," warns Mark Watts MEP. "We consider it essential to retain the common position in the area of military operations," concurs Jacqueline Foster MEP.
Most of those involved in the process, including the EC, have acknowledged that excluding the military is necessary if the Single Sky proposals are to become reality. "It is accepted as a fact of life," says Alexander ter Kuile, secretary general of CANSO, the trade body for corporatised air traffic service (ATS) providers.
He adds, however, that the Parliament is doing the right thing in trying to leverage as much out of the military as possible. "They ought to be calling for that. Their role is to seek a pan-European system." He believes a compromise on the issue can be reached.
In any case, each member state will send a military, as well as a civil representative, to the Single Sky Committee that will oversee Europe's ATM once the project is implemented. This should at least improve co-operation between the two airspace users. Some member states, notably the Netherlands, are working towards joint military/civil ATM. Others, including Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, already have such operations.
However, continuing wrangles over how to build functional blocks of airspace, and Eurocontrol's role in managing them, may prove trickier to resolve.
The EC and the member states have already fallen out over this issue, with the latter demanding that airspace is built around national boundaries rather than the most efficient design available. Parliament wants Eurocontrol to be given observer status in the Single Sky Committee, a proposal that was rejected by the Council of national ministers when they adopted a common position on Single Sky back in March.
The Council sees the committee giving Eurocontrol mandates for action, along with a timetable, that would mean Eurocontrol will take its orders from the EC. If Eurocontrol disagrees with a mandate, or if the committee deems progress on a mandate to be unsatisfactory, the Council says that Brussels "may adopt alternative measures to achieve the objectives of the mandate concerned".
Eurocontrol argues that observer status would ensure that any disputes are resolved before they reach this stage. Under pressure from Parliament after the first reading, the Council has agreed to give Eurocontrol some role in deliberations on implementing decisions, but the two sides have yet to reach a compromise over the issue.
The role of Eurocontrol lies at the heart of discussions on Single Sky. The EC, backed by the increasingly corporatised and independently minded national ATS providers, wants to see a complete separation of the regulatory and provision aspects of ATM. Under this vision, the ultimate regulatory power would lie with the EC's Single Sky committee, with Eurocontrol effectively limited to a role as technical advisor.
Eurocontrol, meanwhile, is pushing for a combined role as regulator and provider, arguing that its programmes to create multinational functional blocks of airspace, such as the Maastricht Upper Airspace Centre in northwest Europe, and Central European Air Traffic Services (CEATS) in central Europe, can form a platform for the future.
Eurocontrol's critics point to the fact that after 12 years CEATS is still not off the ground and argue that the way to change Europe's ATM is through a "bottom up" approach. "This is the only way to do it," says CANSO's ter Kuile. "You need local knowledge. Local controllers know what can and cannot be done."
Eurocontrol insiders say that under the revised Eurocontrol Convention due to come into force next year, Maastricht could be corporatised and later spun off. Germany's ATS provider, DFS, is known to be keen to take over Maastricht.
Despite these problems, those close to the Single Sky project say that reports that it is running into trouble are wide of the mark. Ter Kuile says it is likely that a compromise will be reached and notes that Parliament stated that even though ATM provision is a public service, it can be carried out by private sector companies - a recognition that the trend towards commercialisation of ATM in Europe is here to stay.
The European Parliament also added some less controversial amendments, including the introduction of an "industry consultation body" to sit alongside the Single Sky Committee, and including airlines, flight-safety organisations and manufacturers.
Eurocontrol insiders say that there is even an outside chance that Parliament and the Council will be able to reach a compromise during the summer recess, keeping the timetable for the Single Sky project on track.
COLIN BAKER LONDON
Source: Airline Business