Europe's Single Sky initiative to reform air traffic management (ATM) is set to go ahead after transport ministers and the European Parliament agreed a common position.

Although the European Commission's (EC) initial outline for the project has been watered down, it still represents the first example of significant co-operation across an entire continent in the ATM sector. Parliament has coaxed some major concessions out of the member states, which had threatened to block progress on the key issues of military/civil co-operation and design of functional blocks of airspace based on efficiency rather than national boundaries.

Airspace design remains in the hands of member states, rather than the EC's Single Sky Committee that is overseeing the reform process. However, the states have agreed that Eurocontrol, the region's ATM co-ordinator, will be "invited to the Committee, if appropriate, as observers or experts". Parliament had been demanding that Eurocontrol be given official observer status, but appears to find this compromise acceptable, believing that this will see airspace designed "in consultation with and on the basis of technical advice from Eurocontrol".

Parliament says that if a dispute arises between member states, the two parties may jointly seek the opinion of the Single Sky Committee. The latter's opinion would have to be taken into account in the efforts to find a solution.

Some leeway has also been made on the issue of civil/military collaboration. Member states have agreed "to enhance their civil/military co-operation". Military matters lie outside the remit of the EC, and some member states, notably the region's military heavyweights France and the UK, have resisted any dilution of national sovereignty to Brussels on this issue.

CANSO, the body representing air traffic service (ATS) providers, believes the compromise on airspace and military co-operation paves the way for real improvements in European ATM. "National states will no longer by definition set borders," says Alexander ter Kuile, CANSO's secretary general. He warns, however, that it will be "three or four years minimum" before airlines see any concrete results from the reform process.

Ter Kuile believes that resistance in some European states will diminish over time. He draws parallels with the deregulation in the European airline industry, where the more liberal states, such as the UK and the Netherlands took the lead, but others followed. "Even in France, I see a change of attitude," he says.

French unions and the state-owned ATS provider have been suspicious of the Single Sky proposals, seeing them as a Trojan horse for privatised providers to take control of European ATM.

The go-ahead for Single Sky comes at a time when the issue of delays is creeping up the agenda. This is despite the fact that delays are substantially down; October 2003 saw a 23% improvement in air traffic flow management delays compared with the same period in 2002.

The proportion of European flights delayed by more than 15min in the third quarter was 18.6%, compared with 22.7% in the third quarter of 2002 and a peak of 30.9% during the Kosovo war in 1999.

The improvements are, in part at least, due to technical improvements including reduced vertical separation minima. However, with traffic levels expected to rise with economic recovery, and the low-cost boom continuing, airlines, airports, and ATS providers are warning that the situation could deteriorate again.

COLIN BAKER LONDON

Source: Airline Business