AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT - Freeing Europe' s airspace - WHITE PAPER
Date: 1996-03-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Eurocontrol, air safety, air space, air traffic, air traffic control

2 JW 

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COMMISSION  OF THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

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Brussels,  06.03.1996 
COM(96)  57  final 

AIR  TRAFFIC  MANAGEMENT 

Freeing Europe's  airspace 

WHITE  PAPER 

(presented  by the  Commission) 

TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

I.  BACKGROUND 
(a)  Definitions 
(b)  The basic ATM  functions 
(c)  The participants 

II.  AIRSPACE CONGESTION 

(a)  The problem 
(b)  The initial  response 
(c)  The present  state of play 

III.  THE SHORTCOMINGS 
A  fragmented  picture 
Lack of decision-making  mechanisms 
Lack of decision-making  aids 
Inefficient  use of  available resources 
Lack of means of  following  up decisions 
Lack  of tools for  implementation and support 
Inadequate cost control 

IV.  DEFINING  A SOLUTION 

(a)  The need to separate regulatory  and operational  functions 
(b)  The operational  function 
(c)  The regulatory  function 

V.  OPTIONS  FOR THE SINGLE ATM  SYSTEM 
Option  1 : a "European monolithic structure" 
Option 2  : a solution limited to the Community 
Option 3  : a broader European solution 

VI.  CONCLUSIONS 

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This White Paper examines the background to the current situation in air traffic  management 
in  Europe,  and  the  shortcomings  of  the  present  arrangements,  before  defining  a  "single 
ATM  system  for  Europe"  and,  finally,  outlining  the  Commission's  views  on  the  best 
institutional  arrangements  for  the future.  It is supported  by an Annex which  looks  in more 
detail  at the different  aspects  of building  a unified  system;  and four  technical  Appendices. 

I.  BACKGROUND 

(a).  Definitions 

1.-  The  term  "air traffic  management"  (ATM)  is  generally  accepted  as covering  all the 
activities  involved  in ensuring  the  safe  and  orderly  flow  of  air  traffic.  It  comprises 
three  main  services  : 

Air traffic  control  (ATC), the principal purpose  of which is to maintain  sufficient 
separation between aircraft  and between aircraft  and obstructions  on the ground 
to  avoid  collisions.  However,  this  safety  objective  must  not  impede  the  flow  of 
traffic  and must therefore  meet the needs of users.  Appendix 2 describes  how this 
service  is  provided  in practice,  and  the  division  of  responsibilities  between  the 
various  parties  involved. 

Air  traffic  flow  management  (ATFM),  the primary  objective  of  which  is,  again 
on  safety  grounds,  to  regulate  the  flow  of  aircraft  as efficiently  as  possible  in 
order to avoid the congestion of certain control sectors.  The ways and means used 
are increasingly directed towards ensuring the best possible match between supply 
and demand by staggering the demand over time and space,  and also by ensuring 
better  planning of the control  capacities  to be deployed  to meet the demand.  The 
Commission communication on congestion and crisis  in air traffic1  describes how 
this  service  is  performed. 

Airspace  management  (ASM),  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  manage  airspace  - a 
scarce resource  - as efficiently  as possible  in order to satisfy  its many users, both 
civil and military.  This  service concerns  both the way airspace  is allocated to its 
various users  (by means of routes, zones, flight  levels, etc.) and the way in which 
it  is  structured  in order  to provide  air  traffic  control  services. 

(b).  The basic ATM  functions 

2.-  Air traffic  management comprises two distinct,  basic functions  - one  "regulatory",  in 

a broad  sense;  and the other  "operational". 

COM(95)318  final,  5.7.1995. 

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The  first  of  these  functions  involves  setting  broad  objectives  in terms  of  the  safety, 
quantity,  quality  and price  of the services  to be provided  and taking  steps to ensure 
that  they  are  met.  It  also  involves  the  allocation  of  airspace  to  its  various  users, 
including  military  users,  and all  the measures  needed  to meet  a wide range  of other 
policy objectives to do with such issues as environmental protection, town and country 
planning,  national  defence  and meeting  international  commitments. 

The  second  function  is  the  actual  provision  of  services,  for  reward,  within  the 
regulatory  framework  provided  by  the  first  function.  This  is  a  quasi-commercial 
activity,  the  safety  aspect  of  which  is of  course  essential. 

(c).  The  participants 

3. -  These services and functions are the responsability  of individual countries, which have 
put in place the necessary  organisations and infrastructure  by their own. In few cases, 
two  or  more  countries  have  used  regional  organisations  to  provide  some  of  the 
:  in  Europe, 
corresponding  services  and  functions 
EUROCONTROL's  control  centre  at Maastricht  provides  air  traffic  control  for  the 
upper  airspace  of  the  Benelux  countries  and  Northern  Germany  under  specific 
agreements between the Agency and the States concerned. EUROCONTROL has also 
been given responsability  for setting up and implementing a Central Flow Management 
Unit  (CFMU)  to provide  ATFM  over  nearly  all  of  Europe. 

jointly  on  their  behalf 

The regulatory  framework  in which the operational  function  is provided  nevertheless 
always  remains  a national prerogative,  except  when exist  "ICAO Standards",  which 
are  binding  international  commitments,  or  "EUROCONTROL  Standards"  made 
mandatory  by  the Community  (Directive  EC/93/652 - see paragraph  8). 

As a consequence,  each State is almost entirely  free  to decide the level  of  service  to 
be provided  and  the means to be employed  for  this purpose,  with  the result  that the 
technology  used  and  the  results  achieved  vary  very  widely  from  one  country  to 
another,  making the overall  system  less  efficient  than it  should  be. 

4. 

To  overcome  this  problem,  if  only  in part,  most  countries  in the  world  have  felt  it 
necessary  to develop their  international  cooperation.  They  have done so on the basis 
of  the  principle  of  "full  and  exclusive  sovereignty  of  each  country  over  its  own 
territory",  as established  in the Chicago convention of  1944 which laid the  foundation 
of  the global  system  of  international  air  transport. 

In  this context,  the International  Civil  Aviation  Organisation  (ICAO)  was  set up to 
define  and  adopt  the  common  rules  - the  "ICAO  standards"  -  needed  to  make  the 
system interoperable so that any one aircraft  could travel anywhere in the world.  This 

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OJ  N.  L  187, 23.1.1993. 

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organisation,  which has  184 member countries around the globe,  is also responsible 
for  ensuring  that the  services  correspond  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  needs  of the 
users  by adopting  and amending  from  time  to time Regional  Air  Navigation Plans, 
including  the  European  Regional  Air  Navigation  Plan.  It may,  consequently,  give 
certain  States  responsibility  for  supplying  such  services  to  aircraft  crossing 
international  waters.  It is nevertheless  a relatively  flexible  framework,  within which 
it  is  possible  to notify  differences  from  the  common  rules,  while  the  undertakings 
given in the Regional  Plans are not legally binding. 

Groups of States have also chosen to cooperate more closely at regional  level and, in 
some  cases,  to  consider  actually  integrating  their  national  services.  It  was  for  this 
reason that EUROCONTROL3 was set up in 1960 by an international  convention, to 
provide  air traffic  control  for the entire upper airspace of  its Member  States.  This, 
however,  represented  too great a transfer  of  sovereignty  for  some  of the first  of its 
member countries  : even before  the Convention entered  into  force,  France  and the 
United Kingdom reclaimed control of the whole of their own airspace,  and Germany 
later largely followed  suit.  Consequently,  EUROCONTROL  was given essentially a 
coordinating  role in planning and research,  and its Convention was supplemented by 
a multilateral  agreement under which it was given responsibility  for collecting route 
charges. 

In parallel  with these developments,  and in view  of  the lessons  learned  from over-
ambitious  attempts  at  integration,  ICAO  reinforced  the  existing  mechanisms  for 
cooperation at regional  level by setting up the EANPG,4  which meets once or twice 
a year as necessary and works more or less continuously  on updating and monitoring 
the European Regional Air Navigation Plan. 

At  a  more  political  level  the  European  Civil  Aviation  Administrations  have 
established,  under the aegis of  the Council  of  Europe,  the European  Civil Aviation 
Conference  (ECAC)5 where they can discuss  and co-ordinate  their various policies. 

5.  Up until now,  despite the existence and continuing development of its competence in 
aviation, the Community has no formal status in any of these organisations.  It is only 
involved as an observer,  in certain aspects of their work. 

Today,  EUROCONTROL  has 20 Member States (the States of the European Union except Finland and Spain, plus Cyprus, 
Hungary, Malta, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey). The multilateral agreement on route charges covers these same 
countries plus Spain. 
European  Air Navigation  Planning Group. 

ECAC is now composed of 33 European States,  including  all EU Member States. 

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III.  AIRSPACE  CONGESTION 

(a)  The  problem 

5.-  Air traffic  control was initially regarded primarily  as a safety  service,  the constraints 
of which  in terms  of cost and delays  - which were  in fact  relatively  minor  - had to 
be tolerated.  It did not begin to be seen as a restrictive  factor  before  the  1980s. Until 
then,  airports  has  been  regarded  as the  main  bottleneck  and  it  was  thought  that  the 
development  of  air  transport  was  therefore  only  limited  by  the  number  of  runways 
which the environment  would  tolerate. 

In  1986 only  12% of  intra-European  flights  were  delayed  by  more  than  15 minutes 
(for whatever reason: ATC, weather, airline, airport,  etc.), but the figure rose to 20% 
in  1988 and 25% in  1989, chiefly  because  of  infrastructure  congestion. 

This  appeared  inacceptable,  not  only  because  of  the  direct  overcost  of  delays  to 
airlines evaluated at 2000 MECU6 annually, but also in view of the millions of hours 
wasted by the travelling public, as well as the deteriorating perception of air transport 
at a time  when it faced  increased  competition  from  other  transport  modes. 

Remedial measures, and the concomitant investment programmes described hereunder, 
have  considerably  improved  the  situation  in  the  early  90s:  in  1993,  the  number  of 
flights  delayed by  more  than  15 minutes  fell  back  to its  1986 level  of  12% despite 
a  50%  increase  in  traffic. 

Since mid-1994, however, according to the Association of European Airlines (AEA), 
delays have been increasing again and over  1995 the proportion  of flights  delayed by 
more than  15 minutes  was  18.4%. 

Appendix  2 describes  this trend  and attempts  to quantify  its economic  impact. 

(b)  The initial  response 

6.-  These  developments  led  to general  frustration,  and  showed  that  inadequate capacity 
in  air traffic  control  systems could also jeopardise the liberalisation  process  already 
under way and constitute a major  obstacle to the free movement of persons,  especially 
in  inaccessible  and  island  regions.  Accordingly,  most  of  those  involved  demanded 
radical action to deal with this problem,  the resolution  of which would bring positive 
social  and economic  benefits. 

Accordingly,  towards  the  end  of  1988  the  Commission  proposed  a  number  of 
Community  measures  in this  field7. 

Sources  : IATA,  late  1980s; INSTAR  "Phase 0" report,  1995 

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COM(88)577  final.  These  proposals are now being withdrawn by the Commission. 

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The  European  Parliament  also  considered  this  issue  and  on  18 September  1992 
adopted  a resolution  on the saturation  of airspace8 which advocated the establishment 
of  a  single  air  traffic  management  system  based  on  the  Community's  institutional 
mechanisms. 

The Council did not adopt the Commission's proposals, however, and on 18 July  1989 
adopted  a resolution  on air  traffic  system  capacity  problems9  which saw  multilateral 
cooperation  within  EC AC  as  the  best  way  of  resolving  them;  and  called  upon  the 
Commission  to  help  EUROCONTROL  to  accomplish  its  tasks  in  this  connection, 
using  Community  legislative  instruments  as  appropriate  to  ensure  that  decisions  or 
resolutions  adopted  by the competent  international  bodies  are  actually  implemented. 

7.- 

In parallel,  the ATM  community  was  itself  taking  stock  of  the  situation  and  various 
strategies  were  devised  to  improve  it: 

(a)  In  1988  it  was  decided  that  ATFM  activities  should  be  centralised  in  order  to 
make the most efficient  use of the available  ATC capacities  with the aid of a full 
picture  of supply  and demand  in Western  Europe.  EUROCONTROL  was asked 
to  establish  a Central  Flow Management  Unit  (CFMU),  which has  been set up 
gradually  since  1992 and  will  be  fully  operational  in the  summer  of  1996 when 
all the national  air  traffic  flow  management  activities  will  have been  transferred 
to  it. 

(b)  The EC AC en-route strategy  was adopted  in  1990. This resulted  in the launching 
of  the  European  Air  Traffic  Control  Harmonisation  and  Integration  Programme 
(EATCHIP)  for  which EUROCONTROL  was  given  responsibility. 

The programme calls for the adoption of joint rules, procedures and  specifications 
to ensure  the interoperability  and interaction  of the various  national systems.  An 
EATCHIP  Work  Programme  (EWP)  has  been  established:  in  1994  the  annual 
expenditure  under  the EWP  amounted  to  68 million  ECU,  and this  will have  to 
rise even further  between now and the end of the century. Its implementation will 
henceforth  be a standing  EUROCONTROL  function. 

At  the  same time,  individual  countries  have  agreed  to  improve  the capacity  and 
performance  of their national systems in order to meet, by  1995 and  1998, jointly 
defined  operational objectives to ensure the overall consistency  of investment and 
avoid  the  emergence  of  weak  links.  The  details  of  the  various  national 
programmes  make up  the  Convergence  and  Implementation  Programme  (CIP). 
The  ECAC  countries  have  invested  an estimated  ECU  1 200 million per  annum 
on  average  since  1992  in the  modernisation  of  their  national  systems,  and  it  is 
considered  that a similar  outlay will be needed over the next three years  in order 
to  implement  the CIP. 

OJNoC284,  2.11.1992. 

O J N oC  189, 26.7.1989. 

Version  of  5.3.%  - 055.96/EN 

EUROCONTROL  and  its  member  countries  have  also  agreed  to  undertake  a 
major  effort  on research  and development  to define  the concepts and develop the 
tools  required  to meet  foreseeable  long-term  needs.  The  aim  is to bring  about a 
uniform  European  Air  Traffic  Management  System  (EATMS). 

(c)  Finally,  in  1992  a  strategy  was  established  to  improve  the  interface  between 
airports  and  air  traffic  services  (APATSI).  Responsibility  for  monitoring  this 
programme is shared between EUROCONTROL and the ECAC Secretariat,  while 
the  individual  countries  are  responsible  for 
implementing  it.  Within  this 
framework,  procedures  have been developed  for  improving  runway  capacity  and 
a new body,  the Central  Office  for  Delay  Analysis  (CODA),  is being  set up  for 
collecting  and  analysing  data  on delays  so  as  to determine  their  causes  and take 
appropriate  steps  to reduce  them. 

This  pragmatic  approach  is  supported  by  all  concerned,  particularly  the  airline 
associations  actively  involved  in EUROCONTROL's  standardisation  work. 

For  its part  the Commission,  as requested  by  the Council,  has lent  its support  to the 
implementation of the ECAC strategies through various forms of  financial assistance; 
and the adoption of a Directive making the  "EUROCONTROL  standards"  mandatory 
within the Community10  (see also paragraphs  28 and 29). 

(c)  The present  state of  play 

9.-  As  already  seen,  there  are  now  signs  that  the  rate  of  delays  is beginning  to  worsen 
again  seriously  after  the  significant  improvements  in  recent  years.  The  figures  for 
1995 are amongst the worst ever recorded.  On average,  some  18.4%  of flights  were 
delayed by more than  15 minutes over the year;  in September,  the figure  was back to 
the  1989 level  of 25%  (compared  to  17.5% in September  1994); and,  in December, 
severe  weather  contributed  to  a  figure  as  high  as  27.1%  (compared  to  15.2%  in 
December  1994). 

Although the cost of ATC delays to airlines had steadied at around ECU 2 000 million 
annually  despite  the  increase  in  traffic,  this  level  remains  extremely  heavy  as  it 
accounts for  some 5.5%  of the total cost  of intra-European  air  services.11  The  initial 
conclusions  of  the  study  by  ECAC,  with  the  support  of  the  Commission,  on 
organisational  arrangements  (INSTAR)  showed  that there  is  still  considerable  room 
for  improvement  in the quality  of the  service  provided.  Taken  together,  a reduction 
in delays  and  an improvement  in the network  of  air  routes  could  result  in an annual 
saving  to airspace  users  of  some  ECU  2 000  million; 

10.-  Moreover,  the costs of providing ATC en-route services increased  from  1986 to 1993 
by 60%  in real terms  (120% at current  value)  - that is, faster  than traffic  has  grown 

10 

OJ No  L  187, 23.1.1993,  Directive  93/65 

Sources: IATA and  AEA,  late  1980s; INSTAR  "Phase 0"  report,  1995 

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and  accounted  for  5.6%  of  the  cost  of  intra-European  air  services,  compared  with 
3.8%  in  1986.  The  figure  may  even  be  as  high  as  20%  in  the  case  of  regional 
services.12  The  INSTAR  study  also  concluded  that  steps  could  be  taken  to  curb 
further  rises  in the  cost  of  this  service,  thus  saving  a  further  ECU  600 million  per 
year in charges to airspace users.  That is roughly one quarter of the total amount paid 
today. 

11.-  At  their  informal  meeting  in  Palma  on  15  July  1995,  the  Community  Transport 
Ministers  recognised  the  need  for  further  progress  in  this  field  to  achieve  the 
objectives  of  economic  efficiency,  social  cohesion  and  sustainable  mobility,  as  laid 
down  in the Treaty.  They  also expressed  the  wish  that this White Paper,  then being 
drafted,  would  put forward  proposals  to that  effect. 

This  view  is  broadly  shared  by  the  European  Parliament,  as  can  be  seen  from  its 
various  resolutions  on the subject,  particularly  those  adopted  on 27 September  1994 
on  air  traffic  control  in Europe13  and  on  14 February  1995  on the way-forward  for 
civil aviation  in Europe.14  The Parliament  considers,  moreover,  that the  Community 
should be more involved in the process.  It has therefore  called for the  "harmonisation 
and integration of the different  national ATC systems, under the aegis of the EU, and 
the establishment  of the basic  framework  for  a single unified  ATC  system  covering 
the entire Community  airspace  and controlled  by a single Community  Civil Aviation 
Authority",  and  has  requested  the  Commission  "to draw  up,  as  soon  as possible,  a 
complete  and  detailed  timetable  to  achieve  this",  reminding  the Commission  "of  its 
powers  in the event  of  non-compliance  by  a Member  State with the  obligations  that 
are  incumbent  on it under  the Treaty  on European  Union. " 

This  is  the view  generally  taken,  too,  by a number  of  airline  associations  and  other 
airspace users,  who have called for  a full  exercise  of Community  competence in this 
sphere. 

The  "Committee  of  Wise  Men",  set up by  the  Commission  in  1992 to work  out  an 
overall  European  air  transport  policy,  also  echoed  this  view. 

12.-  As the technical  and operational  value of the ECAC  strategies  described  here above, 
is recognised  by all parties  involved,  it is clear  that the  lack of further  progress  and 
even  the current  deterioration  is  largely  attributable  to an increasing  inability  of  the 
present  organisational  arrangements  to cope  with  the  growing  demands  required  of 
them.  The  Commission  has decided,  therefore,  to  review  what  needs  to be  done  in 
Europe  to  build  an  efficient  Air  Traffic  Management  system  so  as  to  identify  the 
organisational  shortcomings which slow down, hamper or block further  developments. 
The  results  are  set out  in the Annex to this paper,  and are  summarised  in the 

See  Appendix  2. 

OJ  No C 305, 31.10.1994. 

OJ  NoC  56, 6.3.1995. 

Version  of  5 3.96  - 055.96/EN 

following  chapter.  On  this  basis  the  Commission  has  developed  its  views  on  the 
appropriate  organisational changes required;  and how the Community could best play 
its role  in achieving these objectives  while respecting  the principle  of subsidiarity  or 
proportionality  and taking account of the experience and expertise  of the international 
organisations  already  involved. 

III.  THE  SHORTCOMINGS 

A fragmented  picture 

(Sections 3.2,  3.4.2,  3.5,  3.7,  4.1,  5.1  and  5.5  of the Annex) 

13.-  Establishing  a unified  European  air  traffic  management  system  with  the  capacity  to 
satisfy  the  foreseeable  needs  in acceptable  economic  conditions  would  be  a complex 
undertaking  requiring  the  development  of  new  concepts  and  technologies  and  heavy 
investment  in equipment  and human  resources.  But  first  of  all,  there  is  a need  for  a 
full  understanding  of  all  the  aspects  if  the  right  decisions  are  to  be  taken  and 
implemented  in good time. 

At the moment,  the only means of obtaining  this comprehensive  picture  is by getting 
information from various bodies working in parallel - which only adds to the confusion 
in an already  highly  complex  field,  and  wastes  resources  and  effort.  Apart  from  the 
Community's  own  activities,  which  are  described  in  paragraphs  28  and  29, 
these 
bodies are: 

-  EUROCONTROL  and  the  ICAO  European  Regional  Office  for  air  traffic  flow 

management; 

the  EATCHIP  Project  Board,  for  en-route  strategy,  the  definition  of  common 
objectives,  procedures  and specifications  and monitoring  their  implementation; 

the APATSI  Project  Board,  for  the airport/air  traffic  services  interface; 

the Joint  Aviation Authorities  (JAA)15,  for  performance  levels  and  specifications 
for  on-board  equipment; 

NATO's  Committee  for  European  Airspace  Coordination  (CEAC),  for  the 
co-ordination  of military  and civil  requirements; 

The Joint Aviation  Authorities  are an  informal  grouping of national  aviation  administrations,  which deals with the saety  of 
aircraft  and their operators. 

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10 

the  ICAO's  European  Air  Navigation  Planning  Group  (EANPG),  for  general 
planning  and  liaison  with  neighbouring  countries  and  regions. 

The adverse  effects  of this fragmentation  become particularly  apparent when it comes 
to standardisation  or  research  and technological development,  where different  bodies 
are  responsible  for  different  parts  of  what  should  be  considered  as  a  single, 
comprehensive  system.  Management  of  airspace,  air  traffic  flow  planning  or  the 
management  of  crises  also  suffer  from  the  lack  of  a global  approach. 

Although  ECAC  could  possibly  be  given  responsibility  for  overall  coordination,  its 
present  Secretariat  lacks the resources  to perform  this role; and in any case it is by no 
means  certain  that  this  body  has  either  the  political  dimension  or  the  legitimacy  to 
enable  it to do  so properly. 

There  is a need to establish a single body capable of bringing together all the elements 
necessary  to develop  a comprehensive  European  ATM  policy. 

Lack  of  decision-making  mechanisms 

(Sections  1.1,  3.2,  3.3,  3.4.1  and 3.4.3  of  the  Annex) 

14.-  Any  comprehensive  approach  to  ATM  must  also  be  accompanied  by  appropriate 
mechanisms for efficient decision-making. Today, however,  the various bodies operate 
mainly  on  the  basis  of  consensus,  as  far  as  the  regulatory  aspects  of  ATM  are 
concerned.  This  slows  down  the  implementation  of  the  ECAC  strategies  since,  now 
that nearly  all  the easiest  points  have been  settled,  the process  is  starting  to  stumble 
over  trickier  issues.  This  is the case with,  for  example,  the use of  airborne  collision 
avoidance  systems,  the drafting  of common procedures  and specifications,  the use of 
VHF  frequencies  and  the  reduction  of  vertical  separation,  on  all  of  which  decisions 
appear  to  be  hard  to reach  through  the  EATCHIP  processes.  By  contrast  it  seems 
probable that decisions could have been reached  on all these points if rule-making had 
been based  on majority  voting. 

But  above  all,  the  present  state  of  affairs  cannot  go  on  as  it  is  because  it  does  not 
recognise  the fact  that airspace  must be regarded  as a common resource  which has to 
be  managed  in  the  best  interests  of  all  users.  The  need  to  take  national  defence 
requirements  into  consideration  is  sometimes  used  as  a  justification  for  such  an 
approach,  but  these  concerns  could  easily  be met by  instituting  proper  safeguards. 

There  is  a  need  to  introduce  effective  decision-making  processes  based  on  majority 
voting  instead  of unanimity,  together  with appropriate  safeguard  mechanisms  to deal 
with  exceptional  cases  where  national  security  could  be  threatened. 

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Lack  of  decision-making  aids 

(Sections  3.1,  3.6.1,  4.2,  4.3,  5.1  and  5.2  of  the  Annex) 

15.-  A major  weakness in the present arrangements  is the lack of management  information 
to assist  the decision-making  process.  This  is already  widely recognised,  and several 
of  the programmes  in EATCHIP  and  APATSI  are  intended  to address  the causes. 

The  first  cause  is the lack of suitable  indicators  to access  the quality  and quantity  of 
the  service  provided  or  to  be  supplied.  This  hampers  traffic  flow  management  and 
planning;  and  hinders  any  detailed  cost-benefit  analysis  of  major  investment  or  of 
options under consideration for boosting the capacity of the system,  such as Reduced, 
Vertical  Separation,  Area  Navigation,  etc. 

The  second  lies  in  individual  countries'  reluctance  to  reveal  details  of  costs, 
investment,  manpower,  etc. This lack of transparency  makes it difficult"to  check that 
the  common  objectives  are  attained,  to  conduct  cost-benefit  analyses  on  the 
appropriate  scale  or  simply  to  make  comparisons  to  evaluate  the  performance  and 
efficiency  of  all  involved. 

The third  stems  from  the inadequacy  of the human  and technical  resources  available 
to carry  out the analyses  required  to support  the decision-making  process.  This  can 
be explained by the fact that, until comparatively  recently,  air traffic  control services 
were invariably provided by national authorities as a monopoly public service in which 
users  had  little say.  That,  however,  is certainly  no longer  acceptable today,  not least 
for  the  users,  and  every  decision  must  be  fully  justified  on  the  basis  of  technical, 
economic  and  social  criteria  in  order  to  make  sure  that  they  will  give  the  expected 
results  in  terms  of  safety  and  capacity;  ensure  the competitiveness  of  the  European 
economies;  and be acceptable  to the human  environment. 

There  is  a need  for  a  stronger  support  for  decision-takers,  which  would  be  able  to 
provide  them  with appropriate  information  and well-prepared  proposals. 

Inefficient  use of  available  resources 

(Sections 3.2,  3.5,  3.7  and 4.2.2  of the  Annex) 

16.-  The poor use of available resources  reflects  the approach  of  ATC authorities  which 
seek,  first  of  all, to  solve their particular  problems  on their  own.  This  can be seen 
at three  levels. 

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]  2 

The  most  obvious,  of  course,  is  the proliferation  of  types  of  particular  equipment, 
both  civil  and  military,  where  a joint  approach  would  have  allowed  more  rational 
siting  and  operation.  This  holds  true  especially  for  communication,  navigation  and 
surveillance  systems,  but  applies  also  to  control  centres  themselves  and  ATM 
subsystems.  One good example of what closer  cooperation can achieve  is the Initial 
Flightplan Processing  System (IFPS), set up to assist the establishment  of the Central 
Flow  Management  Unit  (CFMU). 

The  second  level  is  in  the  approach  taken  in  making  technological  choices. 
In 
particular,  the  ATM  sector  appears  to  be  denying  itself  access  to  techniques  -
particularly  in  the  case  of  telecommunications  and  data  transmission  applications  -
which have already proved their worth in other fields. This seems to be due to a lack 
of  systematic  evaluation  of and experimentation  with new technologies  which could 
be used  for  air  traffic  management. 

The  third  can  be  seen  in  the  procedures  for  drafting  specifications  and  common 
standards.  Today the ATM community acts as legislator,  standards-setter,  customer 
and  engineer.  This  complicates  and  slows  down  the  standardisation  process  and 
distances  it from  what is happening  in industry.  Instead,  the industry  could play its 
role  in this  sector  as  it does  in others.  Enlisting  the help of  standardisation  bodies 
would be a better means of sharing  the work to be done and, therefore,  enabling the 
legislative  bodies  to  concentrate  more  on  the  matters  for  which  they  are  specially 
responsible.  Establishment of a certification and labelling mechanism would also ease 
the  task  of  the  industry  and  customers  and  improve  the  functioning  of  the  internal 
market. 

There  is a need  for  a central  authority  to decide  on common options,  allocate tasks 
and  rationalise  investments. 

Lack  of  means of  following  up  decisions 

(Sections 3.2,  3.5,  3.7  and 4.3  of the Annex) 

17.-  The need for effective  decision-making mechamsms has already been discussed,  but 
experience  shows that,  if a decision is to be properly  applied in practice,  monitoring 
is needed to ensure that it is correctly understood by all concerned; that all the means 
needed  to  carry  it  out  are  available;  and  that  any  failure  to  comply  properly  is 
detected  and corrective  action  taken  in good  time. 

Paragraph  15 described  the  shortcomings  in the area  of decision-making  aids.  The 
lack  of 
same  shortcomings  - absence  of  adequate  performance 
transparency  and insufficient  resources  - are also hampering the establishment  of an 
objective,  independent  evaluation  mechanism. 

indicators, 

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1  3 

In  any  event,  the  institutional  arrangements  linking  the  parties  concerned  allow  no 
effective  corrective  measures  other  than  the  obligation  to  comply  with  the 
"EUROCONTROL  standards"  made  mandatory  in  the  Community  through  the 
mechanism  established  by  Directive 93/65. 

So long as regulatory  decisions  can be taken only  by consensus,  and therefore  only 
cover  action which would  have been undertaken  spontaneously  in any  case,  this is 
possibly  not  too  critical.  The  situation  would  be  very  different,  however,  were 
decisions  to be taken by majority  vote. 

is  especially  apparent  when  it  comes  to  monitoring 

This  shortcoming 
the 
implementation  of  the  Convergence  and  Implementation  Programme  (CIP),  where 
it is particularly  difficult  to know  whether  individual  countries  are  in fact  achieving 
in good  time the joint  objectives. 

Similar suspicions  persist  with regard  to application of the common procedures  and 
specifications,  particularly  for  non-Community  countries  where  no measures  seem 
to have been taken to  implement  the EUROCONTROL  standards. 

There  is  a  need  for  a  central  authority  able  to  ensure  that  decisions  are  applied 
effectively  and uniformly,  and to take any  necessary  remedial  steps  if they  are  not. 

Lack  of tools for  implementation  and  support 

(Sections 3.5  and 3.7  of  the Annex) 

18.-  Not all decisions can be absolutely mandatory,  particularly  when implementing them 
depends  on  such  imponderables  as  the  availability  of  capital  or  the  technical 
feasibility  of certain  projects.  This  is particularly  true  of  investment,  and  research 
and  technological  development.  It  is  then  necessary  for  the  decision-makers 
themselves  to  have  sufficient  resources  to  ensure  that  the  policies  they  decide  are 
carried  through. 

Apart from  some Community funds,  however,  there are no other collective  financial 
resources  available to the ATM community which can help certain members to attain 
the objectives  of the CIP,  although  such  resources  are  essential. 

Further,  the resources  available both to EUROCONTROL  and  individual  countries 
are  far  from  adequate to meet the research  and development  requirements  essential 
for  working up the ideas and techniques needed to satisfy  the demand foreseeable  in 

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1  4 

the  medium  to  long  term.  Moreover,  since  these  resources  come  from  en-route 
charges,  users  are  reluctant  to  see  that  money  allocated  to  long-term  research  and 
technological  development  activities  which,  they  consider,  should  come  under 
industrial  rather  than  transport  policy. 

There  is  a  need  for  a  central  authority,  with  the  ability  to  dispose  of  appropriate 
financial  resources  to  support  the  implementation  of agreed  ATM  policies. 

Inadequate  cost  control 

(Sections  4.2,  4.2.1,  4.2.3  and  4.4  of  the  Annex) 

19.-  Air traffic  control is, first  and foremost,  a safety  function provided mainly by public 
administrations  or  authorities  as  a  public  service.  Because,  up  to  now,  it  has 
generally not been treated as a commercial  service,  cost control has not been one of 
the foremost  concerns.  This tendency has been aggravated partly by the institutional 
framework  within  which  the  providers  of  the  service  operated;  and  partly  by  the 
methods  used  for  recovering  costs. 

On  the  first  of  these  points,  the  fact  that  the  services  are  provided  by  the  public 
sector  imposes administrative  constraints which mean they cannot take advantage of 
all the opportunities  available to private  sector business  managers  to motivate  their 
staff  and  fund  their  operations  at  the  lowest  possible  cost.  Although  changes  in 
various  countries  are helping  to reduce this handicap, there  is a need to establish a 
broad  economic  environment  more  condusive  to  managerial  efficiency.There  are 
various  possible  ways  of  achieving  this,  which  need  to be explored  further. 

As  for  the  second  point,  the  knowledge  that  all  one's  expenditure  will  always  be 
recovered through user charges to customers,  irrespective of their number,  together 
with  a non-profit-making  ethos, means that suppliers of ATM services lack a proper 
motivation  to pursue  cost-effectiveness. 

There  is  a  need  to  encourage  the  development  of  an  appropriate  organisational 
environment which would encourage the managerial responsibility of ATM providers 
and  stimulate  their  cost-consciousness. 

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IV.  DEFINING  A SOLUTION 

20.-  There  can be no question  that solving  the  shortcomings  identified  in the preceding 
paragraphs  will  require  a  major  restructuring  of  the  organisational  arrangements 
applicable  to Air  Traffic  Management  in Europe  today.  This  would,  in fact,  mean 
setting  up a single ATM  system,  since  it appears  clearly  from  the previous  chapter 
that  what  is  required  above  all  is  a  central  authority  with  a  specific  mandate, 
provided  with the appropriate  means  to fulfill  its tasks. 

(a)  The  need  to  separate  regulatory  and  operational  functions 

21.-  As  described  earlier  ATM  comprises  two  main  functions  which  require  two  very 
different  skills - one based on legal and administrative competence, and the other on 
extensive  technical  knowledge  and  management  proficiency. 

These  functions  are  so  different 
that  it  is  questionable  whether,  any  single 
organisation  could  perform  them  both  equally  well  :  such  an  organisation  would 
naturally  be  reluctant  to admit  its own  shortcomings  and  indeed  might be  tempted 
to use its regulatory powers to ward off the emergence of any alternative,  competing 
approaches  to air  traffic  management.  Separation  of  the two functions  would  also 
encourage  greater  efficiency  in  the  exercise  of,  and  greater  transparency  in  the 
allocation of responsibilities  to each  function. 

Although  the  current  shortcomings  affect  all  aspects  of  ATM  policy-making  and 
service-provision,  it seems  apparent  that  most  spring  from  weaknesses  in the area 
of  policy-making  at  the  most  strategic  level,  which  then  feed  through  to  affect 
service  provision  as  such. 

There is a strong case, therefore,  for concentrating efforts  on improving the present 
procedures  for  strategic  policy-making  by  creating  a  single  regulatory  authority, 
while leaving existing mechanisms for service provision very largely unchanged.This 
would  take  greater  account  of  both  the  reality  of  the  present  situation  and  the 
principle  of  subsidiarity  and proportionality  as  laid  down  in the Treaty,  according 
to  which  collective  action  should  be  limited  to  those  fields  in  which  it  is  more 
effective  than individual  action,  and  should  be  in proportion  to the  objective  to be 
achieved. 

In  any  organisational  reform  in  the  field  of  ATM  the  two  principle  functions  -
"regulatory"  and  "operational" - should be dissociated  as far as practicable, although 
there  is a need  for  an in-depth  analysis  of  how  this  could  best  be  achieved. 

(b)  The operational  function 

22.-  As far  as the operational  function  is concerned  - which can itself  be subdivided  into 
. a number of sub-functions  (the supply  of communications,  navigation,  surveillance, 
ATC,  air traffic  flow  management  and other  air  navigation  services)  - it has been 

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16 

argued  that setting up a single  operator  is the most  radical  way to create  the single 
system Europe needs. According to its proponents such an approach would not only 
ease  the  provision  of  consistent  ATC  services  throughout  Europe  regardless  of 
national  borders,  but  also  allow  for  economies  of  scale  by  rationalising  the 
investment  required  to provide  these services.  On the other  hand  setting up such a 
monopoly  at Community  or  ECAC  level  seems  hardly  realistic  given the  practical 
reality  of  air  traffic  management  in Europe  today.  Not only  does  it raise  issues of 
national  security  and  control  but  it  is  also  doubtful  whether  it  would  actually  cure 
some  of  the  system's  present  weaknesses,  particularly  as  regards  cost-cutting.  In 
addition it would inevitably hamper the development of competitive alternatives (see 
section  4.2.3  in  the  Annex).  Accordingly,  it  might  be  better  to  leave  individual 
countries  to  provide  - as  cost-effectively  as  possible,  through  public  or  private 
operators  in  accordance  with  their  own  practices  -  the  services  prescribed  by  the 
regulatory  function. 

At the same  time,  though,  it  is necessary  to encourage  the development  of a more 
stimulating environment by setting pricing policy on a more commercial footing than 
it  is  at  present  (see  section  4.4.  of  the  annex),  so  as  to  encourage  greater  cost-
consciousness. 

It  would  also  be up  to  the  operators  to  choose  ways  of  cooperating  or  competing 
with their opposite numbers in Europe according to their own strategy  and interests. 
Some countries  may choose  to provide  ATC  services  on a joint  basis,  as  happens 
now  with  the  Maastricht  Centre  operated  by  EUROCONTROL  providing  ATC 
services  for  Northern  Germany,  Belgium,  the  Netherlands  and  Luxembourg.  A 
similar joint control  centre  is planned  for  several  countries  in central  Europe.  The 
regulatory  authority  should be able to provide support,  on the lines described  to in 
paragraph  18,  to  encourage  such  joint  initiatives  aimed  at  improving  economic 
efficiency. 

If individual countries  opt for  "monopolistic"  solutions  - as seems inevitable at this 
point,  as  far  as  most  of  the  sub-functions  are  concerned  -  it  should  be  their 
responsibility  to set up the economic control mechanisms necessary  to protect users. 
It  could  also  be  for  the  regulatory  authority  to  define  and  set  common  economic 
targets  so as to ensure  a consistent  level  of  performance  throughout  Europe. 

As far  as Member States of the Community  are concerned,  they will of course need 
to  respect  the  requirements  of  the  air  transport  policy  and  the  provisions  of  the 
Treaty. 

23.-  There  is,  however,  one  sub-function  which  might justifiably  be  centralised  in any 
case:  traffic flow management. This has already been widely recognised,  and indeed 
a centralised  system is currently being set up under the aegis of EUROCONTROL. 

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17 

In  its  Communication  on  congestion  and  crisis16,  however,  the  Commission 
expressed  its  dissatisfaction  with  the  arrangement  under  which  the  CFMU  is 
operating.  In  addition  to  its  executive  role,  the  CFMU  should  be  given,  within a 
future  centralised  authority,  the powers which would make its decisions compulsory 
both  for  users  and  service  providers,  as  far  as flow planning,  ATC  slot  allocation 
and  targets  for  ATC  capacity  are concerned  (see  section  5 of the Annex). 

Moreover,  in  a  context  of  increased  competition  between  providers  of  services, 
particularly  in view  of changes  in the policy  of calculating  and redistributing  route 
charges,  decisions  taken  by  the  CFMU  leading  to a redistribution  of  traffic  might 
It  is 
have  an  important  effect  on  the  revenue  and  profitability  of  ATC  bodies. 
therefore  important  that the CFMU's  role  should  be more clearly  spelt  out  and  its 
relationships  with  its  "customers"  set  on  a  contractual  footing,  so  as  to  avoid 
continual  disputes  in the  future. 

This  same  structure  should  also take on a greater  responsibility  for  the  operational 
management  of  the  "flexible  use  of airspace"  concept  at  European  level,  since  the 
techniques  required  for  coordinating  civil  and  military  traffic  are  very  similar  to 
those used for managing and planning air traffic flows. Ideally its competence should 
even be expanded to include the management of the whole European airspace for all 
users,  civil  and military,  with the  same  delegated  authority,  as  suggested  earlier. 

(c).  The regulatory  function 

24.-  While  arrangements  for  the  provision  of  ATM  services  could  remain  the 
responsibility  of  individual  countries,  quite  different  arrangements  must  be 
considered  for  the  "regulatory  function".  This  function 
-  which  itself  may  be 
subdivided  into  sub-functions  (safety,  economic  performance,  investment,  human 
resources,  access  to  airspace,  Research  and  Development,  etc)  -  ought  to  be 
organised  in such a way that it can draw up a single, unified  regulatory  framework, 
compatible  with  international  standards  and  practices.  That  framework  should 
cover: 

the  level  of  safety  to  be  met  and  ways  of  monitoring  its  achievement.  This 
includes the definition  of operational  requirements  and certification  procedures 
applicable  to ATM  equipment  and  services; 

quantitative  and  qualitative  objectives  for  the  service  to  be  provided,  and 
timetables  for meeting those objectives.  This implies in particular  the setting of 
quantified  targets  for  the traffic  to be handled,  acceptable delays,  the capacity 
to be provided and, possibly,  the level of fees to be charged;  it ought to include 

16 

COM(95) 318 final,  5.7.1995 

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1  O 

also  some  kind  of  performance  audit  or  management  control  to  support  the 
achievement  of  these targets. 

joint procedures and specifications  to ensure interoperability  and interconnection 
between the various components of the system,  as well as methods for  checking 
that  these  procedures  and  specifications  are  complied  with; 

the collective management of certain scarce resources.  This applies in particular 
to  the  use  of  available  ATC  capacity  at  peak  periods  or  in times  of  crises,  as 
well  as to the  allocation  of  airspace  to  its  various  users,  civil  and  military; 

the preparation and implementation of a joint investment policy under which the 
cost/benefit  analyses necessary  for making rational choices would be carried out 
in common  and using,  as far  as possible,  an  "equipment  fund"  to help weaker 
partners  or to increase  capacity  in the most  critical  areas;  such  a policy  should 
take  into  account  the  potential  of  private  financing  and  public-private 
partnerships  to be  set up by  the  local  operators; 

a human resources  management policy which would help to develop a uniform 
level  of  services  provision  throughout  Europe,  and  to  facilitate  the  free 
movement  of  air  traffic  control  staff;  and 

a better  co-operation  in the field of  Research  and Technological  Development, 
to  ensure  that  new  concepts  come  forward,  are  selected  and  are  applied  in a 
timely manner,  while recognising that final decisions for RTD activities remain 
with  the competent  authorities. 

To achieve this  it is clear that the best way is to have a central regulatory  authority 
able  to  build  the  comprehensive  picture  required  and  enjoying  the  power  and 
resources  advocated  in paragraphs  13 to  18.17 

V.  OPTIONS  FOR THE SINGLE ATM  SYSTEM 

Option  1 : a  "European monolithic  structure" 

25.-  As already mentioned,  in paragraph  22, it has often been suggested  that establishing 
a more efficient  organisational framework  requires very centralised solutions, similar 

17 

The Commission is conscious that the delicate question of maintaining the appropriate balance between safety  and  efficiency, 
could justify  that operational  requirements and safety  aspects sould  be regulated  by a separate body,  which,  in view of the 
increasing  integration  of ground  and  on-board  equipment  into  a  global  ATM  system,  should  also  be  responsible  for  the 
safety  of  aviation  as  a  whole.  This  will  be  considered  in  the  work  being  done  separately  on  the  possible  setting  up  a 
"European  Aviation  Safety  Aurhority". 

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19 

to the role originally  envisioned  for EUROCONTROL,  which would bring both the 
policy-making and service-provision functions under one umbrella across all Europe. 
Although,  by  definition,  such  solutions  would  not  meet  the  criterion  that  the 
regulatory  and service-provision  functions  should be separated,  they are considered 
as  an option because  they  have been the  subject  of considerable  discussion. 

Establishing  such  a  "monolithic  structure"  would  involve  transferring  all  the 
necessary  powers  and  resources  to a single  entity,  set up by  a special  Treaty  with 
a  mandate  to  manage,  as  efficiently  as  possible,  the  airspace  for  which  it  was 
responsible;  and  to  provide,  within  that  airspace,  air  navigation  services  as  a 
universal public service. The procedures  for this would be set down in broad outline 
in  its  constitution  and  spelt  out  in  detail  by  a  management  body  representing  the 
various  interests  involved. 

The  proponents  of  a  "monolithic  structure"  argue  that  a  highly  centralised 
organisation  of  this  sort  would  bring  considerable  advantages  in  terms  of 
accelerating  the  standardisation  of  ATS  provision  across  Europe  by  giving 
responsibility  both for  service provision and future  policy-making to a single entity, 
as in the USA.  An organisation  of this nature would,  it is argued,  be able to be far 
more  authoritative  and  decisive  than the present  situation  allows. 

However,  while  a  "monolithic  structure"  might  be practicable  in  a  single  country 
already  equipped  with central decision-making  and monitoring structures,  it seems 
even  less  realistic  than  creating  a  single  operator  (see  paragraph  22)  insofar  as  it 
could exacerbate  the difficulties  raised.  And  indeed,  some countries  which  already 
have  such  centralised  structures  are  now  beginning  to  question  the  merits  of  a 
monolithic approach and are considering  a clearer distinction of the respective roles 
and  responsibilities,  as suggested  earlier  in this  paper. 

Option 2:  "a solution  limited  to the  Community" 

26.-  Using the powers and resources conferred  on it by the Treaty, the Community might 
be able to provide answers  to a number of the shortcomings  identified,  and provide 
for its Member States the single regulatory framework  referred  to above. This would 
be consistent  with the objective  of the Treaty  to favour  Community  solutions  when 
collective action would be - as in this case  - more efficient  than action by individual 
countries. 

This would also be a logical consequence of the existence of Community competence 
in air  traffic  management. 

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20 

Improvement  of  the  European  ATM  system  is  essential  for  the  completion  of  the 
single market  in air transport  and thus for  achieving those objectives  of the Treaty, 
particularly  with regard  to economic and social  cohesion and the free  movement of 
people.  Community  action  in  this  area  therefore  forms  an  integral  part  of 
the 
common  air  transport  policy  and the  Community  should  act  to  fulfil  its  legal  and 
political  obligations. 

Moreover,  paragraph  1 of  Article  75  of  the  Treaty  says  that  "the  Council...will 
establish... measures  to improve transport  safety...".  Since the purpose of air  traffic 
management  is,  above all,  to ensure  the safety  of air transport,  and the purpose of 
action  is  to  further  improve  this  safety  at  a  time  when  air  traffic  is  growing 
steadily,  there  can be  no doubt  as to the Community's  competence  in this field. 

27.-  The  Community  has  a number  of  legal powers  through  which  it could  take  action 
here  - Article  84(2)  for  matters  directly  linked  to  the  furtherance  of  the  common 
transport  policy;  Article  100A  for  harmonisation  measures;  Article  129 c  for  the 
interoperability  and  interconnection  of  national  air  traffic  control  systems;  and 
Article  130H  for  research  co-ordination. 

Using  these,  the  Community  might  be  able  to  produce  the comprehensive  picture 
needed  to  solve  the  problems,  and  develop  a  single  airspace  managed  as  a joint 
resource regardless  of national boundaries, by establishing  a body with  appropriate 
responsibilities.  Ideally  this  would  involve  treating  military  and  civil  use  of  this 
communal airspace  together  ; and if Member  States were concerned  that this could 
affect  their national security  interests, appropriate solutions and safeguards  could be 
found  and  applied,  if there were  sufficient  political  will to do so. 

As for  the actual provision of air navigation services  in such a scenario,  this would 
remain  the  responsibility  of  the  Member  States,  but  these  services  would  have  to 
comply  with specifications  drawn up by the Community  in accordance  with ICAO 
standards. 

28.-  The Community could use its organisational procedures - which have already proved 
useful  in  several  other  fields  -  in  the  field  of  ATM,  to  develop  the  necessary 
regulatory  framework  and to ensure that it is properly  implemented.  It has already 
done  so  with  the  adoption  of  Directive  93/65  on  the  mandatory  technical 
specifications  for  the procurement of ATM equipment and systems;  and it could do 
the  same  in  many  other  aspects  - some  of  which  are  already  being  pursued  by 
EUROCONTROL  and  ICAO -  so  long  as  the  provisions  adopted  are  compatible 
with  the  standards  and  practices  already  agreed  in these  competent  bodies.  These 
include matters  on which the Commission  may decide to bring  forward  proposals 

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21 

in  any  case:  the  use  of  airborne  collision  avoidance  systems;  the  adoption  of 
common  procedures;  the  use  of  VHF  frequencies;  the  reduction  of  vertical 
separation;  the  setting  of joint  objectives  on the  capacity  and  quality  of  service  to 
be  provided,  both  in  normal  circumstances  and  in  times  of  crisis;  and  the 
establishment of priority rules for making better use of the available capacity, as has 
already  been done  in relation  to airport  slots. 

The  Community  can  also  initiate  the  development  of  industrial  standards.  This 
ability  could be used  to alleviate the regulatory  workload,  allowing  a better use of 
the  industry's  expertise  and  a  better  functioning  of  the  internal  market.  Indeed 
Directive 83/189/EEC18 established  information  procedures  in the field  of technical 
regulations  and  standards,  whereby  the  Commission  can  give  a  standardisation 
mandate  to  specialist  bodies  to  undertake  the  development  of  technical  standards 
themselves;  and  can  contribute  financially  to  this  work.  This  would  require, 
however,  the establishment  of a body to evaluate and select the areas to be covered, 
bridging  the gap between  research  and development  and the  implemention  of  new 
technologies  once they  are  fully  established  (see  section  3.2  of  the Annex). 

29.-  The  Community  can  use  the  instruments  available  to  it  for  support  and 

implementation.  It has  already  done  so  in the  area  of ATM  wherever  possible. 

the 

to  adopt  appropriate  measures  for  ensuring 

Under Article  129 relating to trans-European  networks,  the Community  is able not 
only 
interoperability  and 
interconnection  of  the  national  systems  but  also  to  provide  significant  financial 
support  for  implementing  the ATM  improvement  strategies.  To pave the way  for 
this, the Commission has included ATM in its proposal for a Decision on guidelines 
for  the  development  of  the  Trans-European  Transport  Network  and,  with  the 
cooperation  of  experts,  is drawing up  a programme  of projects  to receive  support 
for  action  in  this  area  (see  Appendix  3).  In  December  1994,  at  their  meeting  in 
Essen,  the Heads of State and Government  underlined  the importance  of the ATM 
sector. 

Further,  the availability  of  funds  for  cooperation with the Community's  European 
neighbours,  PHARE19  and  TAOS20,  make  it possible  to extend  the  Community's 
support  to the  whole  of  the  area  ideally  to be  covered  by the  ATM  improvement 
strategies. 

18 

19 

20 

OJNoL109/8,  26.4.1983 

PHARE  =  Poland,  Hungary  Aid  for  the Restructuring  for  Technical  Assistance  to the  Economy. 

TAGS  =  Technical  Assisance  to the Commonwealth  of  Indépendant States 

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22 

To  be  truly  effective,  however,  these  instruments  should  be  used  in  a context  of 
stronger  cooperation,  enabling  comprehensive  assessments  to  be  made  of  the 
investment  required;  the  funding  capabilities  of 
individual  countries;  and  the 
progress  made  towards  achieving joint  objectives. 

Article  130H, and subsequent articles, enable cooperation to take place between the 
Community,  Member  States  and  international  organisations  to  assemble  and 
implement  a consistent  research  and  development  programme  so  that  the  best  use 
is made of available  resources  in air traffic  management.  Indeed,  the  Commission 
has taken the initiative of coordinating,  in close collaboration  with its partners,  the 
various ATM studies already included in the fourth  Framework Programme through 
ECARDA21.  It is essential  to develop this,  both to ensure  that work  is followed  up 
and  disseminated,  and  to  build  on  this  cooperation  for  still  more  ambitious 
programmes  in future  (see  section  3.7  of  the  Annex;  and  Appendix 4). 

In response  to the need for  greater  coordination  of RTD activities and policies,  the 
Commission  has also decided to set up Task  Forces  for  specific  subjects.  The Task 
Forces  should  also  provide  support 
scientific 
breakthroughs  and  technological  achievements  into  industrial  and  commercial 
successes.  The  activities  of  two  of  the  Task  Forces,  the  Task  Force  on  "New 
Generation Aircraft"  and the Task Force on "Transport  Intermodality",  are relevant 
to ATM  and  support  the objectives  of  this  White  Paper. 

transforming  European 

in 

30.  However,  Community  involvement  in  the  field  of  ATM  has  certain  limits,  in 
particular  because  the  preparation  and  monitoring  of  action  in  such  a  specialised 
field  require  particular  expertise  which,  effectively,  at present,  is only available to 
national  organisations  and  EUROCONTROL.  Therefore,  the  Community  would 
have  to  set  up  a  new  executive  body  to  prepare  the  decisions  to  be  taken  and  to 
follow  up  subsequent  developments. 

Such an operation,  however,  would not be  easy  to justify  given the fact  that  other 
organisations  are already  working  in the ATM  field,  and that the tasks  of the new 
body  would,  to  a  large  extent,  coincide  with  those  which  are  currently  the 
responsibility  of  EUROCONTROL. 

A solution could be to transform  the EUROCONTROL  Agency  into a Community 
agency,  but  this could  imply dismantling  the organisation  as such  in order  to keep 
only  its  means  and  resources  for  regulatory  tasks. 

Moreover,  although  such  a  Community  approach  would  make  it  possible  to  deal 
with  some  of  the  problems  facing  the  15 Member  States,  it  would  not  give  the 
complete European dimension to the action required.  The efficiency  of Community 
air 

21 

ECARDA  =  European  Coherent  Approach  for  RTD  in ATM 

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23 

transport  depends  also  on  the  quality  of  ATC  services  in  non-Member  States, 
because  they  have  to be  overflown,  or  because  their  airspace  could  be  needed  to 
absorb  some  traffic  at peak times. 

The  Community  could,  certainly,  use  its  powers  under  the  Treaty  to  conclude 
agreements  with  its  neighbours,  but  it  is  not  at  all  clear  if  they  would  want  this 
because such agreements could not necessarily  guarantee them the participative role 
to  which  they  have  become  accustomed  in  the  organisations  currently  active  in 
ATM. 

Option 3: a broader  European  solution 

31.-  Considering  the limitations  of the previous  option it seems preferable  to look for a 
wider European framework  than just the geographical  area covered  by the Member 
States of the Community.  Working  on the basis  of such  a broader  coverage  would 
be  a  far  better  way  of  improving  the  efficiency  of  European  ATM  -  provided 
always  that this  approach  does not have the effect  of weakening  the  structures  and 
mechanisms  needed  to  achieve  that  objective.  This  would  also  provide  for  more 
flexibility,  increasing  the scope for  subregional  groupings  to further  integrate  their 
airspace  should  they choose to do so. 

Another major  advantage of building the single ATM system on a wider multilateral 
organisation  is that national governments  might  well find it easier  to allow such an 
organisation  to play  a  role  in  the  military  use  of  airspace22,  provided  appropriate 
safeguards  were foreseen  and allow the States to retain in these cases the control of 
this use. 

Given  the  existence  of  EUROCONTROL,  it  is  obviously  more  sensible  if  that 
organisation  were  to  take  on  part  of  the  necessary  regulatory  role  in  Europe, 
becoming  primarily 
technical 
specifications. 

for  airspace  management  and 

responsible 

This  option would  certainly  require  "reinventing"  EUROCONTROL  so as to give 
it  greater  political  legitimacy,  and  invest  it  with  powers  as  well  as  the  necessary 
decision-taking,  monitoring  and  support  mechanisms  to  enable  it  to  carry  out  its 
tasks properly.  To do so calls for a careful  examination23 of a range of organisation 
models, covering the sub-functions  listed  in paragraph  24 to different  degrees,  and 
envisaging  a range  of  possible  decision-taking  processes  and control  system.  This 
exercise  should  identify  new  structures  capable  of  meeting  fully  the  requirements 
described  earlier  in this 

22 

23 

Bearing  in mind  that there  is no Community  competence  in this  field. 

Such  an  exercise  is being  carried  out  by the  INSTAR  Study,  in  close  co-operation  with  the Commission 

Version  of 5.3.96  - 055.96/EN 

24 

paper; and of carrying out themselves, or supervising effectively  the undertaking by 
others,  all  the  various  tasks  discussed  in  the  Annex.  The  EUROCONTROL 
Convention  would  then  need  to  be  revised  accordingly  to  accomodate  the  model 
selected.24 

32.  The Community will itself have to take a position on the structure  it prefers,  so that 

it can present  its own proposals  in due course. 

Obviously, it is the view of the Commission,  that any solution will have to conform 
to  the  principal  conclusions  of  this  White  Paper.  In  particular,  there  has  to  be  a 
clear separation between the exercise of the regulatory and the operational  functions, 
except  for  the  operational  aspects  of  Air  Traffic  Flow  Management  - and,  if 
possible,  of  Air  Space  Management  -  which  need  to  be  performed  centrally  and 
should  be  regarded  as part  of  the regulatory  role  of  allocating  available  resources 
between their  various  users  on a compulsory  basis. 

Although other operational  tasks should  remain decentralised  at national level,  this 
does  not  preclude  joint  ventures  to  perform  them,  where  this  is  practicable  and 
compatible  with competition rules. 

A central authority must be established to cover all the tasks except for the first one 
described  in  paragraph  24.  This  "new  EUROCONTROL"  should  be  given  the 
powers  and  resources  necessary  to  overcome  the  shortcomings  described  in 
paragraphs  13 to  18. 

33.  Moreover,  since the Community  already  has competence  in many  of the fields for 
which  the  "new  EUROCONTROL"  would  be  responsible  - see  paragraphs  26  to 
29 - and because the further  development of Community competence would facilitate 
building  a  single  ATM  system,  the  Commission  considers  it  essential  that  the 
Community  becomes  a  full  member  of  this  organisation.  This  will  allow  the 
Community  to exercise  its  competence  and  ensure  that decisions  were  compatible 
with the policies of the Treaty and were taken in a more transparent  and democratic 
way.  The Community  should,  therefore,  speak  on all matters  which  fall  within its 
sphere  of  competence,  with  sufficient  voting  weight  to  oppose  any  decision  that 
would  be  contrary  to  its  own  interests.  To  do  so,  the  positions  taken  by  the 
Community  will have been worked  out beforehand  in accordance with  Community 
procedures  so  that  all  institutions  can  play  their  proper  roles,  and  that  the 
commitments regarding the consultation of interested parties, in particular the social 
partners,  are  met  appropriately.  Similarly,  the  positions  of  the  Member  States  in 
matters  where  they  are  competent  should  be co-ordinated  according  to  procedures 

24 

EUROCONTROL  itself  is considering  a draft  new convention  which  would  strenghten  its organisational  arrangements.  In 
December  1995, however, the EUROCONTROL  Standing Commission decided to postpone further consideration of this until 
this  White  Paper  had  been  issued  and  debated. 

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25 

which  ensure  close  co-operation  and  the  unity  of  the  Community  position  in 
international fora. Finally, the Community would use the enforcement and incentive 
tools  available  to  it  in  order  to  ensure  that  decisions  are  followed  up  and 
implemented  in the territories  of  its Member States. 

On  this  basis,  and  in  the  light  of  the  work  being  done  on  the  institutional 
arrangements,  the  Commission  will  develop  a  recommendation  for  negotiating 
to 
directives 
EUROCONTROL  :  obviously,  this  implies  that  the  conditions  described  in 
paragraphs  31 to 33 are fully met. 

to  become  a  party 

the  Community 

in  order 

to  allow 

VI.  CONCLUSIONS 

34.-  Despite the notable achievements of the aeronautical community,  and the quality of 
the  strategies  and  programmes  put  forward,  the  present  situation  still  does  not 
guarantee  that  the  Community  will  have  the  air  traffic  management, system  that 
would both meet the needs of users  and satisfy  its own policy  objectives. 

The Commission considers that, to attain those objectives,  it is necessary  to set up 
a system  of  air traffic  management separating  the regulatory  from  the operational 
functions and established at the widest possible European level,  which is able to cut 
across national boundaries. Such a system must be based on the centralised exercise 
of  regulatory  functions  together with certain  operational  tasks  in the fields of  Air 
Traffic  Flow  Management  and  Air  Space  Management,  with  the  undertaking  of 
other operational  tasks remaining the responsibility  of individual countries. 

With the aim of making a positive contribution to the debate, and without prejudice 
to the exercise  and development of  Community  competence  required  in this area, 
the  Commission  considers  the  third  option  developed  in  this  White  Paper  as  a 
pragmatic  one,  aimed  at  "re-inventing"  EUROCONTROL  which  implies  that the 
organisation  must  have  the  powers  and  mechanisms  for  decision-taking  and 
monitoring  needed  to carry  out  its role  with proper  authority.  The Community 
must become a member of the new  EUROCONTROL with the weight it deserves 
and on terms which enable it to exercise its competence and allow its Institutions to 
perform  the roles  allocated to them by the  Treaty.  Accordingly,  the  Commission 
will make recommendations,  in order to allow the Community to become a party to 
EUROCONTROL  and ensure that the conditions  for this option are fully met. 

Version  of  5.3.96  - 055.96/EN 

26 

A N N EX 

BUILDING  A  UNIFIED  AIR  TRAFFIC  MANAGEMENT  SYSTEM 

Working  towards  unified  Air  Traffic  Management  System  is a complex operation  calling 
for  continuous  development  simultaneously  in  several  very  different  fields  in  order  to 
achieve  and  maintain  the following  essential  goals  : 

the protection  of  the  environment; 

-  a high  level  of  safety; 
- 
-  an  increase  in ATC  capacity; 
-  effective  control  of costs; 
- 

the most  efficient  use  of  available  ATC  capacity. 

This Annex aims to analyse each of these goals, describe what is required  in each case, and 
explain  what  needs  to be done.  In doing  so,  and  without  attempting  to prejudge  how  the 
present  institutional  arrangements  might be improved,  the Annex pays particular  attention 
to  instances  where  they  appear  to be causing  problems  which hinder  development. 

1.  A  high level of safety 

The  main  purpose  of  air  traffic  management  systems  is  to  ensure  that  aircraft  can  move 
about  in  safety,  since  it  is established  that,  without  air  traffic  control,  the  risk  of  mid-air 
collision  would  be  intolerably  high  (see Appendix  1). 

On  the  basis  of  the  available  indicators,  it  seems  fair  to  say  that  this  objective  has  been 
achieved  in  Europe:  since  the  Zagreb  collision  in  September  1976,  there  have  been  no 
further  collisions  between  two  airliners  in  controlled  airspace  over  the  continent. 
Furthermore,  the total number of air misses has remained relatively  stable since the 1980s 
in spite  of  the considerable  increase  in air  traffic  (see  Appendix 2). 

Nevertheless,  given the expected  growth  in traffic,  with a higher  density  of  aircraft  in an 
increasingly  large  proportion  of  Europe's  airspace,  even greater  efforts  must  be  made to 
maintain  and,  if  possible,  improve  the efficiency  of  the  European  air  traffic  management 
system. 

However,  safety  activities in the field of air traffic  management will have to be carried  out 
taking  into account that they have to be integrated  with the other  areas of the civil  aviation 
industry. 

Accordingly,  several  measures  must be considered  without  further  delay. 

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1.1. 

The use of  airborne  collision  avoidance  systems  (ACAS) 

Aircraft  must be equipped with a device which enables them to react in the event of loss of 
separation  from  other aircraft.  The use of such equipment has been made obligatory  in the 
United  States  in  the  wake  of  mid-air  collisions  which  aroused  great  concern  among  the 
American  public.  Such  a radical  decision  is  being  resisted  in  Europe,  where  controllers 
seem to fear  that it would lead aircrews to take sudden avoidance action which might create 
even more dangerous  situations.  Nevertheless,  all the experimental  data show that the use 
of  such  equipment  would  improve  safety  in 95 % of  cases  and  create  an additional  risk  in 
only  3% of cases.  In the light of such clear evidence,  the aviation community  has decided 
to move swiftly  to develop procedures  whereby these additional risks can be eliminated and 
the use  of anti-collision  equipment  can be made obligatory  from  January  2000.  Some still 
consider that not enough simulation and tests have been carried  out to validate this decision 
while  others  still  consider  the  implementation  date  should  be brought  forward. 

Comment : 

The difficulty to arbitrate between various points  of  view demonstrates that 
the present arrangements lack of proper decision-making aids and of efficient 
decision-making mechanisms. 

1.2. 

The use  of  Short-Term  Conflict  Alert  (STCA). 

Appendix  1 describes  how  air  traffic  control  is  provided  and  specifies  that  the  use  of 
modern  software  allows,  by  integrating  flight  and radar  datas,  the calculation of predicted 
trajectories  of aircraft  and thus  the anticipation of possible  conflicts.  Such systems,  called 
Short-Term  Conflict  Alert  (STCA),  constitute  a  safeguard  mechanism,  which  is  rapidly 
becoming indispensable in areas of dense traffic,  it has therefore  been decided to implement 
them  in all centres  of the  "core  area"  before  the  and  of  1998. 

This  target  date  seems  very  distant,  and  might  possibly  be  capable  of  being  brought 
forward. 

Comment : 

In this case also, more far-reaching and determinate decisions would require 
proper  decision-making aids and efficient decision-making mechanisms. 

1.3. 

Developing  a safety  policy 

In  view  of  their  priority  tasks,  air  traffic  control  organisations  believe  they  have  a 
responsibility  to ensure  that their  services  provide  the highest possible  level  of  safety.  All 
down  the  line,  each  individual  assumes  complete  responsibility  for  his  or  her  role  in this 
regard.  "Quality control"  in this context means examining how air misses are handled and 
action  is taken when automatic  alarm  systems  are  triggered  (see  Appendix  1). 

Since  the  air  traffic  controller's  work  involves  constant  trade-offs  between  safety  and 
efficiency,  to say nothing  of customer  satisfaction,  a number  of ATC bodies  have realised 
that  it  is  increasingly  risky  to  allow  such  decisions  to  be  made  purely  at  the  operational 
level,  particularly  in  an  environment  where  there  is  growing  pressure  from  users  on 
puncmality.  They  have concluded  that what is needed  is a genuine safety  policy  aimed  at 
preventing  incidents  and  accidents  based  on clear  objectives  and  continuous  surveillance  -

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*? 

such  as  was  drawn  up by  the  industry  long  ago for  the purposes  of  quality  control.  This 
implies  also  setting  up  in each  operational  centre  a  specialised,  independent  unit  with  its 
own resources  and the ability to gather  information  using not only traditional  methods  but 
also  the  incident  processing  and  confidential  reporting  systems  on which  the  Commission 
is currently  working. 

Comment : 

the development of a comprehensive safety policy would require both a truly 
global  vision  and  a  clearer  distinction  between  regulatory  and  service 
provision functions. 

1.4. 

Other  actions  in the field of  safety 

To  deal  with  the  ever-growing  number  of  flights,  new  and  more  fully-automated 
technologies  must  be used  operationally.  The  introduction  of these  new  technologies  will 
appreciably  alter  the  human  role  in  the  actual  control  of  movements  in  the  air. 
It  is 
important  that  sufficiently  powerful  tools  be  available  to  detect  the  new  problems  which 
human beings will have to face;  to  improve  the recogmtion  of  the human factors  involved 
in ATM;  and  to ensure  that techniques  similar  to those  already  used  for  pilot training  are 
integrated  into the training  of controllers. 

Comment : 

the  definition and  implementation of  an  ambitious work programme  in the 
field  of  human factors  will  require reinforced co-operation in  the research 
and  technological development  activities  of  all  the  parties  involved  and 
additional financial resources. 

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?  <? 

2.  The Protection of  the  environment 

Environmentalists  do  not  have  a very  positive  image  of  aviation,  and  congestion  and  the 
resulting  delays  are  regarded  as  further  causes  of  pollution  and  nuisance.  In  fact,  the 
situation  is  otherwise:  for  obvious  safety  reasons,  the  entire  system  of  air  traffic 
management,  and  in particular  flow  management,  aims  at  keeping  aircraft  waiting  on the 
ground  with  their  engines  stopped  rather  than  waisting  time  in  the  air.  Under  these 
conditions,  improving  the  flow  of  air  traffic  would  have  no  direct  effect  upon  the 
environment. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  generally  accepted  (see  Appendixes  1 and  2)  that  the  network  of  air 
routes in Europe adds  10% to the distances travelled  and could be improved  so as to reduce 
this  excess  by  half,  thus  reducing  proportionately  the  amount  of  fuel  consumed  and 
pollutants  emitted. 

Similarly,  the improved  use  of  airspace  resulting  from  a reduction  in  vertical  separations 
would  make  for  optimum  flight  profiles,  thus  reducing  consumption. 

Accordingly  the  implementation  of  a Community  strategy  for  improving  the efficiency  of 
air traffic  management  in Europe,  in particular  by making better use of airspace,  reducing 
route  lengths  and  avoiding  unnecessary  airborne  holdings  would  make  a  significant 
contribution  to sustainable  mobility,  beneficial  also  from  an environmental  point  of  view. 

Comment : 

the  development  of  a  consistent ATM  policy  requires,  a  broader  view  to 
ensure consistency  with policy  aims in other fields. 

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3^ 

3.  Increasing A TC capacity 

As is emphasized  by all airspace users,  after  meeting safety  requirements,  the first  priority 
must  be  to  increase  the capacity  of  Europe's  air  traffic  control  system. 

This  is  the  simplest  way  to  meet  all  the  needs  and  to  give  everybody  the  freedom  of 
movement  and  freedom  of choice  which  are  the  foundations  of  any  democratic  society,  if 
complex  and  controversial  regulation  for  market  access  and  access  to  airspace  are  to  be 
avoided. 

Moreover,  within  an  air  transport  system  based  on  a  market  economy  and  free  market 
access,  it is important  to allow all operators  to plan and operate their flights in accordance 
with  their  perception  of  demand. 

To achieve these objectives,  the aviation community acting within the framework  of ECAC 
has  adopted  a  harmonisation  and  integration  strategy  which  aims  to  set  up  a unified  air 
traffic  management  system.  This  is  supported  by  the  Commission  to  a  significant  extent 
and,  indeed,  by  all  the  other  interested  parties,  who have  frequently  stated  their  approval 
of the contribution  of the EATCHIP  and APATSI programmes  towards  implementing that 
strategy. 

This  chapter,  therefore,  considers  what  should  be done to ensure  the timely  and  effective 
implementation  of these  programmes. 

3.1 

Common  objectives 

Any  programme  for  increasing  capacity  must  be based  on common  operational  objectives 
and  a  common  implementation  timetable  to  ensure  that  supply  matches  demand  and  to 
coordinate  the  expenditure  involved. 
It  would  be  an  inefficient  use  of  resources  if  the 
equipment  introduced  by  a  control  organisation  could  not  be  used  to  maximum  capacity 
because  neighbouring  organisations  were  working  to  a  different  timetable  or  had  not 
matched  their  equipment  to the needs  of  the  system. 

Although, the relevant work is indeed being done within the EATCHIP and CIP  framework, 
a question mark hangs over these objectives  since, at present,  they constitute only voluntary 
commitments  on the part  of the ECAC  States. 

Up to now,  goodwill and a commonality of interest have been sufficient  to ensure that these 
commitments  are  honoured,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  progress  made  in  implementing  the 
CIP.  Consequently,  there  would  seem to be no reason  why these  commitments  should be 
made  formal  and  mandatory:  it  is,  moreover,  difficult  to  oblige  States  to  comply  with 
objectives  when their ability to do so depends on the availability  of financial  resources  over 
which  they  do not  have complete  control. 

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Nevertheless,  it  would  be  useful  to  give  these  objectives  a  more  formal  status  so  as  to 
enable  the  development  of  an  investment  policy  stimulated  by  financial  incentives  from 
Community  funds  (networks,  cohesion,  cooperation)  or  any other  available  fund. 

In  this  spirit,  it  might  be  necessary  as  well  to  consider  setting  up  of  a  specialised  fund, 
financed  by  ATC  fees  and  managed  by  a central  ATM  authority. 

Comment : 

the present situation shows that decisions taken are insufficiently binding, are 
not followed  up adequately, and cannot be adequately supported financially 
to ensure their proper implementation. 

3.2 

Common  procedures  and  specifications 

One  of  the major  reasons  for  the  inefficiency  of  the present  European  ATC  system  is the 
difference  in technical  and operational  specifications  between the various  ATC  systems  in 
use in Europe.  This has led to the coexistence of mutually incompatible technical equipment 
with different  levels of performance.  The result is a major  loss in overall ATC capacity and, 
probably,  safety  levels  which differ  from  one  system  to  another. 

The EATCHIP  programme  has therefore  tackled this problem,  and EUROCONTROL  has 
been asked to draw up the necessary  common procedures  and specifications,  some of which 
will  be given  a mandatory  character  and known  as  "EUROCONTROL  standards"1. 

The development  of common procedures  and technical  specifications  is  indeed  a sine qua 
non  for  providing  Europe  with  a unified  air  traffic  management  system.  In  addition,  the 
single  market  in  ATM  equipment  and  services  cannot  become  a reality  without  common 
technical  specifications.  The  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  have,  on  a number  of 
occasions, drawn attention to the importance of such procedures and specifications  and have 
asked  the  Commission  to do  everything  possible  to  facilitate  the  technical  harmomsation 
work  needed  for  this  purpose. 
Accordingly,  on  19 July  1993,  the  Community  adopted  Directive  93/65/EEC  on  the 
definition  and use of compatible technical  specifications  for  the procurement  of equipment 
and  systems  for  air  traffic  management.  This  Directive  makes  "EUROCONTROL 
standards"  mandatory  at Community  level. 

But  the  work  required  to  make  this  harmomsation  and  develop  common  procedures  and 
requirements  is  heavy  and  costly.  EUROCONTROL  estimates  its  cost  at  68 MECU  for 
1994 alone,  and that figure  will have to  increase  in coming  years  if the input  required  for 
the  achievement  of  the  Convergence  and  Implementation  Programme  (CIP)  are  to  be 
available in due time. It is therefore  necessary  to make additional resources  available to give 
this  work  a new  impetus  and  allow the  involvement  of  more  stakeholders. 

"EUROCONTROL  standard",  which  are  mandatory  technical  specifications,  are  not to be confused  with  European  standards. 
The latter are  drawn up by European  standardisation  bodies,  initially  as voluntary  technical  specifications  which may  become 
mandatory  in certain  cases  and  are  therefore  processed  through  the  Community  legislative  machinery. 

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Comment : 

there  is  clearly  a  need  for  more  financial  support  to  implement  and 
accelerate the standardisation  work programme. 

Such financial  support must,  however,  go hand  in hand with a number  of organisational  or 
institutional  reforms  to make the action more  effective. 

One  of  the  major  weaknesses  in  the  present  process  lies  in  the  decision-making  process 
which requires  unanimity.  Other more flexible procedures  must therefore  be considered. 

Nor does the present  decision-making process  sufficiently  involve the member  countries of 
ECAC which are not members of EUROCONTROL and which therefore  have only a moral 
commitment  to the EATCHIP  programme.  Ways  must therefore  be found  of enabling all 
the participating  States  to become genuinely  committed  to this  programme. 

Comment : 

there appears to be a lack of effective decision-making mechanisms involving 
all ECAC partners. 

While recognising  the value and the important  contribution  of the work  undertaken  within 
the  EATCHIP  framework, 
it  is  generally  admitted  that  procedures  and  technical 
specifications  are  not  being  produced  as  rapidly  as  they  should  be.  Apart  from  the 
decision-making  aspects  which  hamper  the  process,  other  organisational  difficulties  also 
slow  it down  significantly. 

The  first  difficulty  is  the  length  of  time taken  to  identify  common  specifications,  notably 
"EUROCONTROL  standards",  which  are  needed.  Work  on  producing  these  common 
technical  specifications  and  standards  must  get  under  way  in  good  time  so  that  the 
organisations  concerned  can have them when they need them.  This applies not only to the 
results of research and development but also to the application of conventional technologies. 

As  regards  equipment  using  conventional  technology,  which  EUROCONTROL's  current 
standardisation  programme  is largely  concerned  with,  a structure  must be set up to enable 
identification  of  technical  matters  which  ought  become  the  subject  of 
the  early 
"EUROCONTROL  standards". 

Since new technologies are of major importance for the system of the future because without 
them, it will be impossible to achieve a sufficient  increase in the system's capacity,  stronger 
links  must  be  forged  between  R&D  and  the  production  of  common  specifications.  This 
presupposes  efficient  decision-making  procedures  whereby  the techniques  and concepts  to 
be introduced can be selected.  Standardisation work would thus get under way in good time 
so that the necessary  standards  or specifications  are available when the equipment  is ready 
to be placed on the market. Having in mind the increasing integration between on-board and 
ground systems, any review of this area must now cover these two aspects in the perspective 
of  a global  system. 

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The second difficulty  lies in the indiscriminate nature of standardisation work as done today. 
The  real  added  value  of  EATCHIP  is  its  ability  to  produce  the  common  operational 
requirements,  functional  specifications  and  specifications  for  interoperability  which  are 
needed  to  ensure  the  harmonization  and  integration  of  Europe's  ATC  systems.  These 
specifications,  therefore,  need  contain  only  a  limited  amount  of  detail,  leaving  scope  for 
additional equipment specifications  to be drawn up by industry  within the framework  of the 
"new  approach"  for  standardisation.  Consequently,  there  must  be  closer  cooperation 
between  the  various  bodies  involved  in  standardisation  on  the  basis  of  their  respective 
spheres  of  competence.  For  instance,  in the case  of  questions  relating  to data  processing 
or telecommunication systems, where existing standards can be reused or modified  it might 
be more  efficient  to delegate most  of the work  to the  European  standardisation  bodies. 

The  third  difficulty  arises  from  the  fact  that  industry  is  not  sufficiently  involved. 
Its 
participation  in the harmomsation  work upstream  of  its normal  activities  would enable the 
other participants to benefit from its experience and thus develop practical solutions at lower 
cost.  Moreover,  since operational requirements have a significant  influence  on the market, 
it is  only  sensible  that industry  should  be given an opportunity  to express  its opinion on a 
particular technology so that the maximum cost/benefit can be achieved.  Suitable equipment 
could  thus  be  made  available  more  rapidly,  and  European  industry  would  be  in  a  better 
position  to  compete  on  the  world  market.  From  this  viewpoint,  European  industry  must 
organise  itself  so  as  to  play  its  proper  role  in  the  technical  harmonization  process.  The 
EUROCAE  experience  suggests  that  a pre-standardisation  organisation  should  be  set up, 
bringing  together  all the industries  concerned. 

The  last  difficulty  arises  from  the  fact  that  there  are  no  means  of  ensuring  that  common 
specifications  are complied with. There  is little point in making them mandatory  if there is 
no way  of  ensuring  that they  are  actually  applied.  An efficient  way  of  doing  so might be 
to certify  ATC equipment and systems.  Although the interoperability  of the these systems 
must be a top priority,  other considerations  such as the safety  level of the service provided 
or  its  standard  of performance  might be treated  in the same  way. 

Comment : 

there  appears to  be  an  inefficient use  of  available  resources suggesting a 
need for  appropriate procedures and decision-making mechanisms to identify 
candidate subjects for  standardisation; to  allocate tasks among  the various 
players  according  to  their  know-how;  to  prepare  the  corresponding 
standardisation mandate for  specialised European  standardisation bodies; 
and  to  ensure the  effective  implmentation of  specifications  and satndards 
through certification or labelling, as  the case may be, for  ATM equipments 
and systems. 

3.3. 

VHF  frequencies 

Air traffic  control tasks cannot be carried  out without radiotelephony  (RT) communications 
between  aircraft  and  control  centres.  In  Europe,  these  communications  use  VHF  (Very 
High  Frequency)  wavebands,  with  each  controller  and  each  sector  being  assigned  a 
particular  frequency  with,  sometimes,  additional  contingency  frequencies. 

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Increasing  air  traffic  control  capacity  while  using  the  technology  currently  available  (see 
Appendix  1)  means  increasing  the  number  of  sectors,  and  this  in  turn  means  making 
available a greater number of frequencies,  since any given frequency  can be assigned to two 
different  sectors  only  if they are sufficiently  far  apart  for  there  to be no possible  confusion 
or  mutual  interference. 

Given the performance  of the equipment used,  the transmission  of a radio message  requires 
a  certain  bandwidth,  so  that  the  VHF  spectrum  assigned  to  aviation  by  the  International 
Telecommunication Union (ITU) is divided up into a limited number of usable  frequencies. 
(This bandwidth is currently 25 kHz  : ICAO is working to reduce it to 8.33  kHz, but it will 
be the end  of  the century  before  all  airliners  can be  fitted  with  the necessary  equipment.) 

Any  plans  for  a better  use  of  airspace  and  any  changes  to its  sectoral  division  mean  that, 
at  the  same  time,  steps  must  be  taken  to  reallocate  frequencies.  However,  those  States 
which  have been  allocated  frequencies  by  the ITU  tend  to regard  them  as  theirs  by  right, 
and  thus  resist  any  attempts  at  reallocation. 

To deal with this problem,  EUROCONTROL  has  set up an advisory  committee,  regarded 
as neutral  and  independent,  to give  its opinion  on any  reallocations.  However  because,  as 
the committee's  name indicates,  its opinions  are  in no way binding,  it would be necessary 
to give  it real  authority  to make  its decisions  enforceable. 

Comment : 

there is clearly a lack of effective decision-making mechanisms with adequate 
enforcement authority to  ensure the  most  efficient use of scarce resources, 
such as  VHF frequencies.. 

3.4 

The use  of  airspace 

Increasing  the  capacity  of  the  air  traffic  control  system  means  increasing  the  amount  of 
airspace  which may be used by non-military  aircraft;  and putting more aircraft  into a given 
volume of airspace.  In the following paragraphs,  therefore,  we shall consider how this can 
be done with the ATC techniques  currently  in use,  given the performance  of the available 
equipment  (see Appendixes  1 and 2). 

3.4.1 

The use  of military  airspace 

The  simplest  way to make available more airspace  for  civil aviation is to take  some of the 
airspace  reserved  for  the  armed  forces  and  convert  it  into  non-military  or  mixed 
civil/military  airspace  -  on  the  understanding  that  the  military  users  of  airspace  must 
nevertheless  be enabled  to carry  out their  missions  under  acceptable  conditions. 

Accordingly,  EUROCONTROL,  within the framework  of the EATCHIP  programme,  has 
developed  the  "flexible  use  of  airspace"  (FUA)  concept  which  was  adopted  by  ECAC 
Ministers  at their  meeting  in Copenhagen  in June  1994. 

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The  idea  is  that  non-military  aircraft  would  be  able  to use  some  of  the  airspace  hitherto 
reserved  for  the  armed  forces  if  the  use  of  this  airspace  were  subject  to joint  planning, 
taking  account  of both civilian  and military  needs.  As  with the management  of  air  traffic 
flows  (see  COM(95)318  final),  this  concept  will  be  implemented  in  three  stages  : 
(i)  strategic planning, to ensure that civil aviation requirements are, as far as possible, taken 
into account  in the planning of military  activities,  and that users  are given sufficient  notice 
of the additional routes  to be made available and of the conditions under which they can be 
used;  (ii)  a pre-tactical phase,  whereby  these availabilities  and conditions  are confirmed  or 
modified 24 hours in advance; and (iii)  a tactical phase on the acmal day of operation,  when 
the  objective  is  to  maintain  compatibility  between  the  two  activities  and  to  take  all 
appropriate  measures  to  ensure  sufficient  flexibility  to  satisfy  both  civil  and  military 
requirements. 

This  concept  is  being  implemented  at  national  level,  which  means  that  where  it  proves 
impossible to satisfy  each party's needs under acceptable conditions, arbitration  is provided 
by  each  individual  country,  regardless  of  the  difficulties  that  might  be  created  for  its 
neighbours. 

It  might  therefore  be  questioned  whether  it  would  not  be  more  efficient  and  equitable  to 
envisage  a collective system for managing the whole European airspace,  taking account of 
the needs of all users, whether civilian or military,  commercial or recreational, just as it has 
been possible  to centralise  the management  of  air  traffic  flows. 

This  could  be  done  without  affecting  the  sovereignty  of  individual  countries  as  far  as 
national  security  is  concerned.  The  armed  forces'  need  for  airspace -must  indeed  not  be 
confused  with  the requirements  of national  defence  : in the former  case,  what  is  required 
is a system  which would provide sufficient  access to airspace to enable the armed forces  to 
carry  out training or combat missions  on a pre-set  priority  basis,  whereas  in the latter case 
it is sufficient  to ensure that individual countries have all the information they need to object 
to  any  violation  of  their  airspace,  and  that  they  have  the  right  to  re-establish  complete 
sovereignty  whenever  necessary  in serious  crisis  or  conflict  situations. 

Comment : 

the fact  that allocation of airspace between military and civil use is effectively 
made  at  a  national  rather  than  international  level  shows  a  lack  of  a 
comprehensive  view  of  Europe's  airspace  needs.  It  would  be  more 
satisfactory  and  efficient  to  manage  the  military/civil  uses  of  Europe's 
airspace on  a  collective basis  (taking as  a  model  the  management of  air 
traffic flows), based on legal commitments which guarantee both an equitable 
access  to  the  airspace for  military  needs  and  the  safeguarding  of  the 
national defense requirements of individual countries. 

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3.4.2 

Reorganisation  of  routes  and  sectors 

The  routes  network  and  the  sectoral  division  of  controlled  airspace  are  among  the 
recognised  weak  points  of  Europe's  air  traffic  control  system,  especially  when  compared 
to the situation in the United States.  It would appear  that,  in spite of all the planning work 
put  in  by  EUROCONTROL  and  the  ICAO,  national  frontiers  and  constraints  both 
geopolitical  and  geoeconomic  have  had  too  great  an  influence  on  the  organisation  of  air 
traffic  control  to enable the optimisation of the route network and the division of European 
airspace  into control  sectors. 

Experts  are calling for  a wholesale review of these two aspects, taking into account the fact 
that,  if  the  control  system  were  operating  at  optimum  efficiency,  capacity  in  certain 
particularly  crowded  areas  of Europe's  airspace could be increased  by anything  from  20% 
to 40%. 

Before  this can be brought  about,  however,  major  studies  and long  and costly  simulations 
must first be undertaken  : accordingly, additional finance needs to be provided for the teams 
who  are  working  on  this problem.  Such a  scheme  fits  logically  into  the  development  of 
Trans-European  Networks,  and could be given significant  assistance  from  the  Community 
funds. 

Finding appropriate  solutions will, no doubt,  mean having to adjudicate  between divergent 
interests.  Instimtional arrangements  should therefore  be introduced  not only to provide an 
overview of the optimisation process but also to enable the necessary judgements to be made 
at the right time and binding  decisions  to be taken. 

Comment  : 

a  comprehensive  restructuring  of  the  European airspace,  on  the  basis of 
operational efficiency regardless of national boundaries,  requires additional 
means and resources, objective assessment of the chosen solutions, and an 
effective decision-taking structure. 

3A.3>  Vertical  separations 

Above flight  level 290,  vertical  separations  are  of 2,000  feet,  although modern  altimeters 
and the adoption of appropriate procedures would make it possible to reduce this separation 
to  1,000  feet,  as  is the case  in the lower  airspace. 

Experts  estimate that this would increase capacity by between  10% and 40%, depending on 
the region  concerned  and  the complexity  of the airspace  involved. 

However,  before  such  a  decision  can  be  implemented,  a  number  of  prior  steps  must  be 
taken  :  aircraft  must  be  suitably  equipped,  and  operational  procedures  must  be  altered. 
Moreover,  if  this  measure  is to have  its  maximum  effect,  there  must  be  a new  and  more 
suitable  division  of  the  airspace  into  sectors  -  one  that  is  compatible  with  controllers' 
workloads  - and  the number  of controllers  will  probably  have to be  increased. 

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At present,  the aviation community is divided as to the merits of such a change, and on how 
soon it should take place. The airspace users want it implemented as soon as possible since 
initial cost/benefit  analyses indicate that it would lead to a considerable  improvement  in the 
service  provided  and  have  persuaded  ECAC  to  adopt  a  target  date  of  2001  for 
implementation.  On their side, airline pilots and air traffic  controllers  hold that  insufficient 
tests  and  validation have taken place up to now to enable decision  to be taken on reducing 
vertical  separation.  They  stress  that such a decision must be taken for  the whole of Europe 
at once  and must  take due account  of  human factors  effects. 

Comment : 

this case illustrates again a lack of proper decision-making aids and efficient 
decision-making mechanisms. 

3.4.4 

Free flight 

Another  way of  increasing  capacity  would  be to use  all  the  space  available  rather  than to 
concentrate  traffic  within  pre-set  routes.  This,  moreover,  would  give  users  extreme 
flexibility.  That  is  why  the  US  authorities  have  recently  set  themselves  the  objective  of 
making  free  flight  possible. 

Nevertheless,  the  ATC  techniques used  today  (see  Appendix  1) require  aircraft  to  follow 
pre-set  routes  so  that  controllers  know  where  their  traffic  is;  consequently,  free  flight 
appears,  at this stage, to be a particularly  ambitious  objective,  and one difficult  to achieve 
in the short term.  As the work carried  out in the United  States seems to suggest,  it would 
probably mean shifting  some responsibility  from  the controller to the pilot,  the latter being 
responsible  for  deciding  on  the  simplest  collision  avoidance  manoeuvres  to  take.  More 
detailed  thought will also have to be given to the development  of traffic  flow  management 
techniques  and their  integration  into air traffic  control.  It  is thus probable  that  free flight 
will take some time to develop, and might even not be achievable in the core area of Europe 
if  it  is to be truly  "free". 

In the shorter  term,  however,  there is nothing to prevent  additional routes being created to 
offer  users  more direct  itineraries;  and to  "dilute" the traffic  by putting more  aircraft  into 
a  given  volume  of  airspace.  Paradoxically,  although  the  controller's  task  is,  in  some 
respects,  facilitated  by channelling  traffic  along air routes,  it also makes  it more  complex, 
particularly  where  these  routes  intersect. 

If the number  of routes  is to be increased  they must  become independent  of  ground-based 
navigational aids (navaids). Alternatively,  there must be smaller lateral separations between 
airways  than those  in force  today. 

Although modern navigational equipment using conventional ground  navaids enables pilots 
to follow  any route they choose between reporting  points  without co-located  navaids,  they 
do  not yet  allow lateral  separations  to be reduced.  The  navigational  precision  required  to 
achieve this objective (2 km) will become possible only if there is a denser network of DME 
stations  or  if  satellite  navigation  systems  come  to  be  used  as  the  principal  means  of 
navigation. 

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These  considerations  have given rise  to the development  of the concept  of  area  navigation 
(RNAV),  which  is more  realistic  in the  short  term  than the  objective  of  free  flight  and  is 
particularly  advantageous  for  terminal  areas  where  the  dilution  of  traffic  by  multiple 
approach  and  departure  patterns  would  compensate  for  the  concentration  of  traffic  which 
results  from  converging  arrivals  and departures. 

It  has  already  been  decided  that  the  first  stage  of  implementing  this  concept  - Basic  Area 
Navigation  (BRNAV)  -,  enabling  new routes  to be created,  will begin on  1 January  1998. 
Not until  the second  stage,  however,  - Precision  Area  Navigation  (PRNAV)  - planned  for 
2005 will the most significant  improvements take place, with a reduction in the longitudinal 
separations  between  routes  or  approach  and  departure  tracks.  Its  implementation  largely 
depends on the production and certification  of more accurate navigation systems  such as the 
GNSS. 

Comment : 

There  is  also  a  need for  additional  financial  resources  to  speed  up  the 
standardisation work on precision area navigation (PRNAV)  and to produce 
a European component of the future  GNSS which can be used as a primary 
means of navigation. 

3.5 

Developing  the basic  infrastructure 

Developing  ATC  capacities  means  considerable  expenditure  within  the  framework  of  the 
national  CIPs.  According  to the figures made available  for  the fourth  ministerial  meeting 
of  ECAC  in  June  1994,  an  average  of  1 200 MECU  have  been  spent  each  year  by  the 
ECAC States since  1990 to improve their ATM  infrastructures  and it is generally  admitted 
that the same amount of money needs to be invested  each year  at least up to  1998 in order 
to  achieve  the objectives  of the ECAC  en-route  strategy. 

While  it is clearly  a responsibility  for  the ECAC countries  and in particular  for  their ATC 
service provides,  to make the necessary  investment,  various Community  funds  can be used 
to help implement them, and a large number of applications for such assistance have already 
been  submitted  by  the Member  States  and associate  States. 

To  enable these  funds  to be used  as efficiently  as possible,  it has been found  necessary  to 
draw  up  a  strategy  in terms  of  investment  priorities  at  European  level  over  the  next five 
years,  in  order  to  make  sure  that  they  will  be  allocated  to  support  these  projects  which 
would  yield  the best  results  in terms  of  improving  capacity  and  safety. 

Accordingly,  the  Commission  and  EUROCONTROL  have  launched  a  smdy  aimed  at 
identifying,  the most  beneficial  technical  changes  which concluded  that priority  should  be 
given  to projects  which  improve  : 

- 
- 
- 

the  continuity  and  quality  of  surveillance  in Europe; 
the coverage  and  quality  of the communication  system; 
the  interoperability  of  ATC  systems  and  the  automation  of  operational  coordination. 

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In addition,  steps must  be taken to create a European  component  for  the global  navigation 
satellite  system  which,  in  January  1994,  the  Community  decided  to  make  one  of  its 
priorities.2 

Detailed technical descriptions  of the guidelines for  such projects  are given in Appendix  3. 

In the course of  1995, the Commission has held a series  of meetings with experts from  the 
Member States to confirm  and flesh out this strategy.  It has invited industry  representatives 
to  attend  these  meetings  so  as to  stimulate  public/private  sector  partnership  initiatives,  as 
requested  by the European  Council. 

Nevertheless,  at this  stage  projects  remain  too  "national"  and  it  has  not  been  possible  to 
stimulate multinational co-operation for developing implementation projects. Even more, the 
lack  of  a comprehensive  picture  makes  it difficult  to evaluate  the benefits  in terms  of  the 
overall effect  of implementing these various national projects,  or the need for  the  financial 
aid  requested.  It  is therefore  not possible  at this  stage  to evaluate  if the requested  funding 
is really necessary  to increase capacity in areas where the local ATC service provider would 
not have the necessary  resources  to meet the targets  agreed  collectively. 

Even  if  the  outlook  for  feasability  studies  and  large  scale  demonstration  projects  is  more 
satisfactory,  thanks  in  particular  to  the  work  carried  out  by  EUROCONTROL  in  the 
framework  of  its  STAR programme,  there  is  a risk  that  the  same  shortcomings  will  arise 
at the  implementation  stage. 

This  situation  confirms  largely  the statements  in previous  Section  3.1. about  not only  the 
need  for  more  stringent  common  objectives,  but  also  of  financial  tools  to  stimulate  their 
achievement. 

It appears  also that as far  as implementation of infrastructure  is concerned,  co-operation  is 
not spontaneous.  Since joint action can hardly be dictated,  it should be encouraged  thjough 
financial  tools,  whenever joint  action  would prove  more  cost-effective  for  the  collectivity 
at  large. 

Comment :  While recognising that the provision  of  infrastructure is primarily  a matter 
for  individual  countries,  there  is  a  need  to  reinforce  consistency  and 
co-operation between them. As far  as  this  is  concerned, there  is a  lack of 
decision-taking structures, and financial tools to  support a  real investment 
policy  and stimulate co-operative action. 

2 

COM(94) 238  final,  14.6.1994. 

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14 

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3.6. 

Human  resources 

The  ECAC Ministers,  at their meeting  in London  in March  1992, asked  for  a report  to be 
drawn  up on the manpower  requirements  necessary  to  implement  the remaining  phases of 
the current ECAC strategy.  Such an exercise is vital if common objectives are to be attained 
and consistency  is to be achieved between different  systems.  Shortage of trained  manpower 
in  one  area  should  not  be  allowed  to  affect  the  effectiveness  in  other  areas,  and  thereby 
jeopardise  the overall  efficiency  of  the  system. 

3.6.1.  Manpower  planning 

In response  to the Ministers'  request,  EUROCONTROL  formed  a working group to smdy 
personnel  issues,  with a mandate to examine the availability, deployment and motivation of 
air traffic  controllers.  This group presented  its first report  in July  1993, according to which 
there  will  be  a shortage  of controllers  in the  ECAC  area  up until  at  least  1997.  This  will 
obviously  have a direct  impact  on the capacity  offered. 

In the light of these findings the EATCHIP Project  Board  set up a Human Resource Team, 
which  at  its  first  meeting  in  March  1994  drew  up  a programme  to promote  work  in  the 
Human  Resources  field.  The  EATCHIP  Human  Resources  Programme  includes  the 
harmomsation of national initiatives to ensure that there is, across the ECAC area,  sufficient 
highly trained and motivated manpower.  But if this co-operative and co-ordinated  approach 
seems  appropriate  to overcome  the shortage  of qualified  operational personnel,  the lack of 
transparency  in terms  of the availability  of accurate  and up to date figures remain a major 
obstacle to progress in this field. Successful manpower planning depends on precise analyses 
of  current  resources  and  anticipated  needs;  and  to  this  end  ECAC  partners  should  work 
closely  together  to make the necessary  information  available. 

Comment : 

It  would also be advisable to  set  up appropriate procedures  to  ensure that 
common objectives are adopted and applied in the field of human resources. 
To  do  so  there  is  a  lack  of  decision-making  aids  and  of  efficient 
decision-making mechanisms. 

3.6.2. 

Training 

Achieving  a  "seamless"  ATM  system  in  Europe  requires  a  closer  alignment  of  existing 
systems, and as such will have major  implications for the recruitment, training, organisation 
and management  of human resources.  A smdy undertaken on behalf  of the Commission  in 
1992 into  'Standards  in ATC  Schools of the EEC  States'3 highlights  the major  differences 
which currently exist between the recruitment and training procedures in the Member States. 

Study  of  standards  in the ATC  schools of  EEC  States.  Dr.  R.  Baldwin  - 31.12.1992. 

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The  study  concludes  : 

States have widely different  forms of training programmes,  of varying duration.  Within 
the  training  programmes  there  are  formal  courses  at  the  training  centres:  these  also 
differ  widely  in terms  of  specific  courses,  and  the  order  and  way  in  which  they  are 
combined  to meet  local needs. 

many  ATC  training  staff  lack recent  operational  experience  which lowers  the  level of 
tuition; 

there  is a great  diversity  in present  educational  entry  requirements  for  trainees  (school 
leaving  age /  post-university  studies); 

few  training  centres  are  inspected  by an outside  body. 

Harmomsation of recruitment and training procedures  is therefore necessary to maintain and 
enhance the quality of performance  and the level of safety.  These objectives could probably 
be  best  obtained  by  establishing  standards  for  common  core  training  and  a  system  of 
personnel  licensing. Recourse to the latter would not only ensure high quality standards but 
also provide  a highly  trained  mobile  workforce. 

Furthemore,  the introduction  of such provisions  will require regular  inspection and control 
by  an independent  outside  body  to ensure  that  standards  are  maintained. 

Comment  : 

there  is  a  lack  of  decision-making  aids  and  of  efficient  decision-making 
structures to examine the possibility  of developing systems for  recruiting and 
licensing  air  traffic  controllers,  and  for  establishing  procedures  for 
harmonising training programmes and certifying training facilities. 

3.7. 

Development  of new concepts  and use  of  higher-performance  technologies. 

The forecast  traffic  growth over the next 15 years shows that long term solutions to current 
ATM problems require a huge increase of ATC capacity. Consequently,  the RTD activities 
shall be targeted at enabling an Air Traffic  Management System to be put into service  from 
2005 onwards  with the capacity to meet projected  demand well into  the next century.  This 
system would rely heavily on technology development to provide communication, navigation 
and surveillance functions  with the required  accuracy,  reliability,  availability and integrity, 
together  with a significant  level of automation  of the air traffic  control  functions  to enable 
controllers  to handle the necessary  volume of traffic  safely.  Such a system  should provide 
an integrated approach to Air Traffic  Management,  including ATM at the airport,  from pre-
departure  planning  (strategic  and  tactical)  through  all  flight  and  ground  control  phases  to 
passenger  disembarkation  at the final destination. 

A description  of the views of the Commission  on building the future  European  Air  Traffic 
Management  is given  in Appendix  4. 

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A  first  limited  (8 MECU)  initiative  of  the Commission  in this  area  was carried  out  in the 
context of the Transport  Programme  (Euret) of the 2nd Framework Programme  (1987-91), 
with  research  into on ATM  scenarios,  Aeronautical  Telecommunication  Networks  (ATN) 
In  the  4th  Framework  Programme  (1994-98),  and 
and  Controller  Working  Positions. 
through  the  Preparatory  actions  (APAS  '94),  considerably  more  resources 
(around  110 
MECU)  are  being  dedicated  to  ATM  through  the  Transport,  Industrial  and  Materials 
Technologies  and  Telematics  Programmes,  constituting  a comprehensive  approach  to  the 
development of the future  system, which will be pursued in the 5th Framework Programme. 
The  ATM  and airport  activities  of the  individual  programmes  have been developed  within 
the framework  of ECARDA  4 (European  Coherent Approach to Research and Development 
in  ATM),  which  in  turn  is  designed  to  integrate  with  the  activities  of  Eurocontrol,  the 
European  Space Agency  (ESA)  and the Member  States. 

For its part EUROCONTROL  is managing huge programmes  for testing and validating new 
concepts  and tools,  the STAR5 and PHARE6 Programmes,  which amount to an average of 
60 MECU  per year.  Being  financed  through  ATC user  charges,  and users  being  reluctant 
to pay  for  long  term  research,  this  Programme  is  aiming  primarely  at  short  and  medium 
term  applied  research.  The  work  is  largely  done  by  the  EUROCONTROL  Experimental 
Center. 

Finally several European countries have their own RTD activities, but, despite the attempts 
made in the framework  of ECARDA,  there  is little knowledge on their precise content and 
cost.  There  seems  also  to be very  little dissemination  of their  results. 

All  these  efforts  in progress  should  be  improved  by  means  of  a continuous  co-ordination 
process  involving  all interested  parties;  and enabling  to advise,  plan and monitor  the RTD 
activities. This has been largely recognised by various studies sponsored by the Commission 
or  EUROCONTROL  (PRAISE)7 to examine how to manage efficiently  the RTD  activities 
in Europe  and  facilitate  the transition  from  research  towards  implementation 

This  should result in proposals for  further  RTD actions  ; and in selection of the appropriate 
components  and  technologies  to  be  put  into  operation,  starting  from  the  process  of  their 
validation through  demonstrations,  to their  development  by  standardisation  activities  until 
their  implementation  as  infrastructure  projects. 

Suggestion  of  themes,  where  further  RTD  activities  are  needed,  should  help  building 
workprogrammes  for  all RTD  actions,  funded  by  the Community,  European  countries  or 
any  existing  or  future  specialist  organisation. 

is  considered  sufficiently  mature  to  start  its 
Where  a  component  or  technology 
implementation,  further  initiatives should be taken to ensure that the previous RTD  actions 
result  in  follow-up  projects  (see  section  3.5  and  appendix  3).  The  operational  and  pre-

SEC  (94)  1475 of  13.09.94 

STAR  : Studies,  Test  and  Applied  Research 

6 

7 

PHARE  : Programme  for  Harmonised  ATM  Research  in  EUROCONTROL 

PRAISE  : Preparation  of  an RTD programme  in support  of  EATMS. 

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operational  environment,  which  has  been  simulated  in  RTD  activities,  should  be 
experimented  in a full  scale. 

RTD  activities  could  suggest  a degree  of  technical  development,  requiring  the drafting  of 
standards  before  implementing  the  component  or  technology.  The  whole  standardisation 
process  starts,  in most cases,  from  draft  specifications  resulting  from  a RTD activity. This 
is the third area where the co-ordination process should provide a consolidated view of those 
RTD  activities  which  shall  produce  draft  standards  eligible  for  being  proposed  as 
contributions  to the European  and  worldwide  standardisation  process. 

Even  so,  in order  to produce  the benefits  of  this  consolidated  view  in due  time,  Research 
and Technical Development activities need to be further  increased and focused  appropriately 
so that scarce financial  and human resources  are used as efficiently  as possible. This implies 
that  a real  research  policy  is developed  and  that  appropriate  structures  are  put  in place in 
order  to select  the most promising  options,  co-ordinate  actions  by the various  participants 
and advise on timely standardisation and implementation so that benefits of new technologies 
can be reaped  at the most  appropriate  time. 

Comments  :  while  recognising  that  the  final  decision  in  RTD  activities  remains  the 
responsibility  of  individual  countries,  the  European  Community,  and  any  specialist 
organisation,  there is a need to reinforce consistency and co-operation between them. 

4. 

Controlling the costs 

While  increased  ATC  capacity  in  Europe  must  produce  improvements  in  the  service 
provided  and hence, by reducing  delays,  cost  savings  benefitting  the public at large,  there 
is  also  a price  to  be paid  which  is  beginning  to  cause  concern  to  air  space users  who,  in 
Europe  at least,  have to foot  the entire bill for  the service provided,  through  user charges. 

Taking  into  account  the  increasing  importance  of  air  transport  in modern  economies,  it is 
essential  that  everything  possible  be  done  to  keep  these  costs  to  a minimum,  in  order  to 
enhance  the competitiveness  of the European  States. 

This presupposes  a need both to review existing cost structures,  and ways of reducing costs, 
but  also  to  look  at  the  scope  for  a  more  rational  approach  to  technological  choices  and 
investment through the development of analytical cost-benefit  tools adapted to the air  traffic 
management  sector. 

It is in this spirit that this chapter  looks at the various  areas where action could  favourably 
influence  changes  in the pattern  of  costs  which  are  ultimately  borne  by  the user. 

4.1. 

The  route  network 

Due to the controlling  strategies used so far  (see Appendix  1) aircraft  are obliged to follow 
predetermined  routes  which  make up  the overall  air  route  network. 

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A  number  of  objective  or  subjective  constraints  (location  of  navaids,  interconnection  of 
arrival/departure  trajectories,  simplification  of  control  tasks,  bypassing  of  military  areas, 
frontier  mapping,  etc)  have  brought  about  a  situation  where  the  experts  believe  that,  on 
average,  aircraft  cover  a  distance  10%  greater  than  the  length  of  the  most  direct  flight 
routes.  This  entails  significant  extra  costs,  estimated  at  1 500 million  ecus  per  year  for 
Europe  as a whole. 

By contrast,  however,  the effects  on costs  of ATC  constraints  on flight  profiles,  whereby 
aircraft  are obliged to observe flight  levels Which differ  from  the optimum profile,  are only 
negligible. 

Taking  into account the necessary  compromises  associated  with the reduction  of  distances 
travelled  and the objective constraints  referred  to above, in particular  the need to maximise 
the  total  capacity  of  the airspace,  the experts  consider  that  it would  be possible  to reduce 
by 4%  the distances travelled  in Europe,  resulting  in an annual saving of 600 million  ECU 
(INSTAR  smdy). 

This  is a further  reason  for  revising  the route network  and introducing  the concept of area 
navigation  without  delay  (PRNAV). 

Such  a  revision  may  nevertheless  have  significant  implications  for  traffic  orientation 
schemes,  and hence  an impact  on the  income  of  ATC  service  providers  which  should  not 
be ignored.  Accordingly  any decision in this field will require  difficult  arbitration  between 
many  conflicting  interests. 

Comment : 

a  comprehensive  restructuring  of  European  airspace,  on  the  basis  of 
cost-efficiency, regardless of national boundaries, requires additional means 
and  resources,  an  objective  assessment  of  the  chosen  solutions;  and  an 
effective decision-taking structure. 

4.2. 

Service production  costs. 

Until very recently,  air navigation services were provided by national administrations  or by 
organisations  of  comparable  status  in  the  form  of  a  public  service,  for  which  the  first 
priority  was  to  meet  safety  objectives.  This  has  not  always  resulted  in  optimum  cost 
efficiency,  especially  since,  even  when  the  service  is  charged  to  the  users,  charges  are 
calculated  so as to cover  all the expenditures  regardless  of their  amount. 

Changes  in  thinking  and  pressure  from  users  are  beginning  to  call  this  situation  into 
question,  and  it  would  be  useful  to  examine  whether  there  are  ways  of  supporting  and 
encouraging  this  new  tendency.  According  to  assessments  made  in  the  course  of  the 
INSTAR smdy, improved cost efficiency  in the production of control services would enable 
savings to be made to the tune of 600 million ecus per year in Europe  - that is, between 20 
and  25%  of  the total costs. 

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4.2.1. 

Operation 

Since  80%  of  costs  are  operating  costs  -  58%  for  staff  expenditure  and  22%  for 
miscellaneous  operating  expenditure  -  it  follows  that  the  most  significant  improvements 
should  be  sought  in the area  of  day-to-day  management. 

Against  this  background,  certain people  criticise  the  number  of  control  centres  in  Europe 
and advocate regrouping them in a reduced number of larger centres so as to take advantage 
of economies of scale.  At the same time, others argue that reducing the size of centres will 
contribute to improvements  in the quality of human relations  and the working  environment, 
and  hence  productivity,  which  would  cancel  out  any  economies  of  scale  of  fewer,  larger 
centres. 

However that may be, comparisons carried  out so far  between centres do not show any link 
between costs  and the size  of centres. 

It seems better,  therefore,  to rely  on the ability  of  the executives  and managers  to achieve 
the best possible  cost efficiency,  taking  into account  their political  and  social  environment 
and traditions.  As mentioned  in the INSTAR  study,  this  should  aim primarily  at  reducing 
the  cost  of  support  personnel  and  miscellaneous  operating  expenditure,  as  well  as 
controllers'  productivity. 

Comment : 

the present situation is caracterised by the lack of adequate cost control and 
the  need  to  set  up  the  appropriate  institutional framework  in  which  ATC 
providers  would be encouraged to  improve their efficiency and managerial 
skills. 

4.2.2. 

Investment 

Accounting as it does for  20% of total costs,  investment  is also an area which merits more 
detailed  examination,  all  the  more  so  as  more  than  a  third  is  accounted  for  by  interest 
payments  on loans. 

Public  contracts  for  the  purchase  of  supplies  and  services  for  the  production  of  air 
navigation  services  are  covered  in  the  Community  by  Directives  93/36/EEC  and 
93/50/EEC,  respectively,  when the  contracting  party  is  the  State; "or by  Directive  93/38 
In  all  cases,  the  technical 
when  it  is  an  agency  enjoying  exclusive  or  special  rights. 
specifications  applicable  to  the  contracts  must  comply  with  those 
laid  down  in 
Directive  93/65/EEC. 

All  in  all,  a  suitable  legal  framework  for  ensuring  transparency  and  normal  competitive 
functioning 
in  the  award  of  contracts  already  seems  to  exist  throughout  Europe. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  evidence  of  de facto  partitioning  of  certain  markets  which  is 
attributable,  it would appear,  to insufficient  efforts  to achieve standardisation  in this sector. 

Comment : 

there  is  clearly  a  lack  of  standardisation  in  this  area,  which  hinders  the 
development of a free  market for  ATM  equipment and services. 

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While investors in the sector do not experience any major difficulties  in obtaining  financing, 
given  the  guarantees  they  are  able  to  offer  and  the procedures  for  recovering  costs,  such 
financing  is nevertheless  expensive. 

In point of fact,  the interest burden  included  in the costs appears particularly  heavy,  which 
would  seem to point to excessive borrowing  for  the financing  of infrastructures,  and hence 
insufficient  own  funds  and  insufficient  reliance  on  self-financing. 

Joint-venture  partnerships  between  the  public  and  private  sectors  should  therefore  be 
encouraged  with a view to creating a more rational financial environment  for  the provision 
of  air  navigation  services. 

4.2.3. 

Cooperation/competition 

Up to  now  the position  has been that the provision  of  air  navigation  services  constitutes  a 
natural monopoly because, first,  given the methods employed it is not possible for the same 
air  space  to  be  controlled  by  two  different  controllers;  and,  secondly,  the  related 
communication,  navigation and surveillance services are also, by and large, provided by the 
same  control  service  providers. 

Against this background,  the search for  optimum economic efficiency  should rely  in a first 
instance on the promotion of international cooperation in order to gain advantage from every 
possible  economy  of scale: joint use of equipment  (notably  in the case" of communications, 
navigation  and  surveillance);  awarding  combined  contracts  for  supplies  and  services; 
establishing joint  control  centres,  etc.  To  this end,  the development  of  initiatives  such  as 
CEATS  -  the  Nordic  initiative  -  and  numerous  bilateral  or  multilateral  cooperation 
agreements  are particularly  welcome  and  should  be  encouraged. 

Nevertheless,  in the longer  run the quest  for  economic efficiency  should  also focus  on the 
possibility  of creating  a more competitive environment  which could stimulate  still  further 
cost  reductions. 

Indeed,  the  development  of  modern  communication  and  navigation  technologies,  notably 
through  the use of satellites,  opens up the prospect  of the emergence of a certain degree of 
competition  in the provision  of  communication,  navigation  and  surveillance  services. 

Private communications networks, which already enable passengers on board aircraft  to call 
up people on the ground, could thus provide an alternative to the aeronautical mobile service 
provided  they  can comply  with the levels  of  safety,  reliability,  availability  and  efficiency 
required  for  ATM.  These  same  networks,  linked  to  sufficiently  accurate  navigation 
facilities,  could  also  offer  an alternative  (ADS8)  to radar  surveillance. 

Automated  Dependant  Surveillance 

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As  for  navigation  facilities,  both  today's  inertial  navigation  systems  and  the  satellite 
navigation  techniques  of  the  near  future  also  offer  competitive  alternatives  to  the 
navigational  aids  networks  owned by the control  service  providers,  if they can be  certified 
as  sole  means  navigational  aids. 

Apart from  adequate economic viability, the development of these technical alternatives into 
competitive  services  also presupposes  the opening-up of the market  in terms  of developing 
a  set  of  neutral  standards  and  certification  procedures  to  enable  potential  new  service 
providers  to develop  and  market  alternative  services. 

Comment : 

separating  regulatory/certification  functions  from  operational  ones would 
certainly facilitate  new service providers  to enter the market. 

As for  the ATC  services  themselves  as well as any other  service  which should  continue to 
be provided  on a monopoly  bais,  it would  appear  legitimate  to apply  to these  services  the 
rules  normally  used  to  control  monopolies  and  to  avoid  abuses  of  dominant  position.  In 
accordance  with  the  Treaty,  it  is  a  matter  for  the  States  concerned,  under  Community 
control,  to fulfil  this economic regulatory  role in the framework  of their traditions and their 
policies on the provision of public utility services.  This could result in certain States opting 

for  fixed-term  concession  formulas,  thus  developing  another  form  of  competition  among 
different  service providers,  whether public or private,  as is already  the case with regard  to 
the provision  of control  services  at certain  UK  airports. 

4.3. 

Development  of  methods  of  economic  analysis 

As seen earlier,  there is a price to be paid for the development of capacity and the reduction 
of  inefficiencies,  and  the  economic  viability  of  certain  technical  options  cannot  be 
guaranteed  in advance. 

As seems to be the case with most current equipment plans and investment decisions  in the 
field of ATM,  the CIP is based on purely operational considerations.  Little is known of the 
costs  of  implementing  it;  and the  improvements  that  may be expected  as a result  have not 
been  quantified. 

There  is  a  risk  that  this  shortcoming  will  have  even  more  serious  consequences  when  it 
comes  to choosing  new concepts  or  deciding  on the  implementation  of  new  technologies. 

This has led the aeronautical community, under pressure  from  the users,  to consider setting 
up  economic  indicators  and cost-benefit  analysis  tools  designed  to rationalize  the options. 

This  is  a  difficult  exercise,  and  the  degree  of  complexity  involved  depends  on  the 
geographical  scale  on which  it is conducted  as  well  as  the technical  nature  of  the  projects 
under consideration.  The same factors  also affect  the validity of the exercise,  because of the 
interdependence  of  the  various  service  providers,  and  the  significant  degree  of  interplay 
between  the various  elements  making up the  air  traffic  control  system. 

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While analysis  at local or national  level can be envisaged  in the case of projects  of  limited 
scope  (notably with a view to assessing  their financial  viability),  the correct  determination 
of the economic  viability  of the majority  of projects  covered by the CIP calls for  analysis 
on  a European  scale. 

Moreover,  simply  carrying  out  such an analysis  requires  an ability  to assess  correctly  the 
costs  and  benefits,  and  this  is  no  simple  matter  in  the  case  of  a  "product"  that  does  not 
correspond  to goods  or  services  offered  for  sale  at a specific  price. 

As  far  as costs  are  concerned,  it will  therefore  be  necessary  to pay particular  attention  to 
defining  the effects  on the level of charges of the measures and investment planned,  in order 
to quantify  their  impact. 

In the case of benefits,  while conventional  methods can be used  to assess  the results  as  far 
as  the  community  is  concerned,  especially  in  the  area  of  safety,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
develop new  indicators  that  are relevant  to this  particular  sector.  Since the essential  gains 
from  any action must  involve the reduction  of delays and the satisfaction  of demand,  these 
indicators must be capable of quantifying,  in a neutral  and objective  way, changes  in ATC 
capacity,  demand  and delays. 

As  regards  this  last  indicator,  there  is  a well-known  further  problem  due  to the  difficulty 
of  isolating  the  causes  of  delays  actually  recorded  in  such  a way  as  to separate  those  that 
are attributable to ATM from  those linked to airport congestion or other operational causes. 
In order  to tackle this question more effectively,  the creation of a Central  Office  for  Delay 
Analysis  (CODA),  as  envisaged  by  EUROCONTROL  and  ECAC,  is  a  necessary 
development. 

Comment : 

In this area there is a clear lack of decision-making aids. In particular, there 
is a need to : 

-  develop  mathematical  models for  quantifying  the  impact  of  measures 
contained in  the  CIP  in  order  to  verify  how far  they  will  ensure user 
satisfaction in terms of capacity and quality of service to be provided; and 

-  conduct  appropriate  cost-benefit  analyses for  the  optimisation  of  the 
choices of concept, technology or equipment, on the basis of a method of 
assessment suitably adapted to the ATM  sector.  This presupposes closer 
cooperation in the exchange of economic and technical data on projects 
as well as operating and processing  costs and delay analysis. 

4.4. 

Cost  recovery 

Today,  most  European  States  recover  their  costs  through  charges. 

These  charges  are  in  line  with ICAO  recommendations,  in that  they  seek  to  recover  only 
the costs incurred  for the provision of air navigation services  as such, excluding any  profits 
or returns  on the capital invested,  except where  loans are involved.  Furthermore,  they are 
calculated in terms of the distance travelled  (i.e. the extent of the service actually provided) 
and  the  aircraft  mass  (i.e.  its  taxable  capacity).  In  the  area  covered  by  the  Multilateral 

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Agreement relating to Route Charges,  which is operated by the EUROCONTROL Central 
Route  Charges  Office  (CRCO)  on behalf  of  the Contracting  States,  the distance  flown  is 
based  on  a  standard  route - the  Most  Frequently  Flown  Route  (MFUR)  between  two 
airports.  These  routes  are updated annually.  Lastly,  the charges  are imposed  on all users 
uniformly without discrimination or variation (although, in certain States, domestic services 
are not charged at the same rate as international  services). 

While this pricing policy has been well received and accepted by most users,  it nevertheless 
produces  many adverse  effects  : 

as seen  in paragraph 4.2.2.,  it leads to an unfavourable  cost  structure by encouraging 
borrowing  instead of the use of providers'  own funds; 

it  is  not  conducive  to  the promotion  of  public/private  partnerships,  since  there  is no 
return on the capital invested; 

- 

it is hardly conducive to better cost efficiency,  since costs will  always be covered; 

it is not conducive to a commercial approach to the provision of air navigation services, 
since  the user  must pay  for  the cost  of  the  service  whatever  its  quality,  over which, 
moreover,  he has no control.  This defect is further exacerbated by the MFUR method 
of  calculating  and redistributing  the charge,  since  a State can receive  a fee  for  flights 
which would have deliberately  avoided  its airspace,  whereas  the State which actually 
provided  the service  will  receive nothing; 

it does  not allow the pricing policy to be used as a tool for ensuring  that better use  is 
made of the available ATC capacity. 

In order  to alleviate  these disadvantages,it  should  be considered  whether,  without calling 
into question the basic principles which underlie cost recovery - notably payment by the user 
of the service provided and non-discrimination - more flexibility  could be introduced in the 
methods of  calculating  and redistributing  charges. 

Comment  :  The  cost recovery policy  should be reformed so that : 

-  only the service actually provided is paid for  (i. e. abandoning the  flat-rate 

- 

method); 
the fees  are fixed  in such a  way as  to  include a  certain margin of  risk, 
whether in losses or profits.  This will require safeguards to  ensure  that 
deficits from one year cannot be carried over for  inclusion in the costs of 
subsequent  years;  and  that  increases in fees  are  subject  to economic 
controls. 

Thought should also be given to the possible effects  on demand of appropriate variation to 
the fees.  Consideration  of this aspect must,  it would appear,  form part and parcel of the 
other  considerations  suggested  above  with  a view  to  achieving  a better  balance  between 
supply  and demand. 

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5. 

Optimising the use of available ATC capacity 

As early as the  1970s the aeronautical  community  had recognised  the need to manage air 
traffic  demand in order to avoid overloads incompatible with the maintenance of ATC safety 
standards.  The  objective  was  essentially  to  keep  on  the  ground  aircraft  which  would 
otherwise have been in airspace where it would have been impossible to handle them  safely 
at  the  time.  A  number  of  national  Air  Traffic  Flow  Management  (ATFM)  Units  were 
created  to manage  this process. 

The  crisis  at the  end  of  the  1980s  highlighted  the  strategic  importance  of  ATFM  and  the 
need  to  carry  it  out  on  a  European  scale  in  order  to benefit  from  an  overall  view  and 
make  efficient  use  of  ATC  capacity.  This  resulted  in  the agreement  to  create  the  Central 
Flow  Management  Unit  (CFMU)  managed  by  EUROCONTROL  and  operating  on behalf 
of  all  33 States  of  ECAC  - that  is,  most  countries  in Europe. 

ATFM  has become  an essential  aspect of  ATM  because  it  is economically  unjustifiable  to 
provide  ATC  capacity  at  a  level  to  cope  with  the  highest  traffic  peaks.  It  is  therefore 
necessary  to  live with  an  acceptable  level  of  undercapacity.  The  ATFM  mechamsms  are 
also needed to deal with crisis  situations when capacity  is reduced  for  unplanned  reasons 
such  as  strikes,  equipment  failures,  airspace  closure,  etc. 

In its Communication on Congestion and Crises  in ATM,  the Commission has described  in 
detail  the mechamsms  used  to manage  air  traffic  flows  in Europe. 

These  mechamsms  depend  mainly  on  voluntary  action  and  the  goodwill  of 
those 
involved.  The  latter  consider  that  the  mechamsms  are,  in  general,  satisfactory;  and  have 
great  hopes  that  the  full  implementation  of  the  CFMU  will  improve  their  operation  and 
efficiency. 

The  Commission  has  nevertheless  concluded  that  it  would  be useful  to  consider  whether 
introducing  a  minimum  degree  of  obligation,  or  indeed  incentive,  to  promote  further 
co-operation depending on the situation,  could strengthen and accelerate that  improvement; 
and  suggested  the following  areas  for  further  action. 

5.1. 

Planning 

lack  of 
The  main  weakness  of  the  existing  planning  mechamsms  for  ATFM  is 
certainty.  Whilst goodwill is not in question, the  insistence of each participant on retaining 
as much flexibility  as  possible hinders serious advance planning. The  result  is uncertainty 
and  increased  real-time  activity as operators  try  to negotiate  improved  slots  or  alternative 
routes. 

the 

Changing  this situation would involve all participants,  and would require  great  efforts  to 
improved  co-operative 
better  evaluate  and  balance  demand  and  capacity 
mechanisms. 

through 

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5.2. 

Capacity 

It would be desirable  to develop a standard  method and analysis tools for determining ATC 
sector  capacity,  and to establish  procedures  for  common capacity planning.  The results  of 
such planning should be binding - except in conditions of force majeur  - and  should be used 
by  airspace  users  and  airports  to better  plan  and  organise  their  own activities. 

This  work  should  be co-ordinated  by  the CFMU,  which could  indeed  be given  sufficient 
authority  to take decisive  actions. 

5.3. 

Demand 

it 

is  recognised  that  aircraft  operators  must  have 

If 
to  meet  market 
requirements,  it is  also  accepted that  a  minimum  of  realism  and  self  control  should 
be introduced  in the planning of their activities if  passengers  are to receive the service that 
they  deserve. 

the  flexibility 

To  achieve  this  goal,  planning  by  both  airspace  users  and  airports  should  give  more 
consideration to ATC restrictions.  This would require that they are allowed, consistent with 
anti-trust  law, to meet and co-ordinate in order to make better use of the available capacity. 
Pressure  to  co-operate  in  the  process  might  be  applied  by  requiring  airports  and  aircraft 
operators  to publish  puncmality  figures  so  that  passengers  could  see  which  are  planning 
realistically  and  which  are  not. 

A  detailed  analysis  of the possibility  of integrating  airport  slot allocation mechanisms and 
the  air  traffic  flow  management process  should  be carried  out. 

5.4. 

Priority  rules 

The  underlying  priority  principle  in  ATFM  is  the  "first  come  -  first  served"  queue.  It 
would be useful  to consider  for  each phase of ATFM  operations what priority  rules would 
lead to the most  efficient  use  of  the  available  capacity  and  what compromises  might 
be  necessary  in order  to  make  such  rules  acceptable to all  concerned. 

In so doing, consideration  should also be given to the need for the  CFMU  to  be provided 
with  a proper  legal  basis  for  its  work.  This  must  give  authority  to  its  decisions  whilst  at 
the  same  time defining  the framework  within  which  it is empowered  to  act. 

5.5. 

Management  of  crisis  situations. 

Although  it is accepted  that the mechamsm  put  into place by EUROCONTROL  should be 
left to demonstrate  its effectiveness,  it would  also benefit  from  additional political support. 

The examination of priority  rules referred  to above should also include the consideration of 
special rules which might  be invoked in crisis  situations. These would have to be supported 
by  a decision  making mechamsm  for  authorising  the CFMU  to apply  the modified  rule  in 
any  given  circumstances. 

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^ 

It  would  be  useful  for  planning  purposes  to  establish  a  common  standard  of  minimum 
service  levels  to be provided  in case  of  industrial  action,  particularly  if  the  standard  was 
traffic. 
defined  in such  a  way  as  to  limit the interference  to  international  overflying 

The difficulty  of obtaining  agreement between Unions  and Management  in this  area  is not 
underestimated,  but it is considered  that the potential benefits  are such as to make the  effort 
worthwhile. 

Comment : 

In  its  Communication on  congestion and  crisis the  Commission  concluded 
that a number of actions were needed in this area,  but reserved its position 
on  the  most  appropriate institutional  arrangements to  manage  air  traffic 
flows. 
It  is  nevertheless clear, from  the  analysis developed in  the  Commission's 
Communication,  that  Europe  needs  an  appropriate  body,  based  on  the 
CFMU, empowered with  enough  means  and  authority  to  plan  air  traffic 
flows, predetermine ATC capacities to be provided and, if  required,  allocate 
available capacity according to rules established in advance. 

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Appendix I 

AIR  TRAFFIC  CONTROL  PRACTICE 

Air  traffic  control  is a service provided  to airspace users, with  the objective  of keeping 
them  a safe  distance  apart. 

In sectors with heavy public air traffic,  this service is a sine qua non for the development 
of  air  transport. 
In  this  respect,  it  is  very  different  from  other  traffic  management 
services which are optional (apart from  in certain shipping lanes) and are designed, above 
all, to  optimize  traffic  flow  or fleet  management. 

After  the first mid-air  collision  (in Vienna in  1910), there was a clearly  perceived  need 
for  rules on air traffic  so that  aircraft  would  apply  common rules to  avoid  one  another. 
With the  advent  of  blind flight and of ever  faster  aircraft,  these were no longer  enough 
and pilots could no longer prevent mid-air collisions on their own.  They then had to turn 
to  outside help, from  air traffic  controllers. 

Of course, the sky seems vast and empty.  But according to a smdy in the USA, without 
air traffic  control  the risk of mid-air collisions in densely  crowed  airspace, such as over 
Western  Europe,  would  be  100  times  higher. 
In  other  words,  the  probability  of  an 
accident  would  be  intolerable. 

What  is  controlled? 

Virtually  all aircraft  carrying members of the public and operating in conditions making 
visual  flight  impossible  need  an  ATC  service.  To  achieve  this,  the  aircraft  must  be 
equipped  for  instrument  flight,  with an  indication  of  their  altitude  and position  and the 
possibility  of  establishing  radio  contact  with  the  control  authorities  at  any  time. 
Similarly,  the  crew  must  hold  IFR (instrument  flight  rules)  qualifications.  Finally,  for 
each  flight  users  must  lodge  a  flight  plan  informing  the  control  authorities  of  their 
intentions  (route,  flight  levels,  departure  and  arrival  times,  time  of  passing  certain 
landmarks, location  devices, survival kit, etc.).  This is a sort of contract which must be 
submitted  to  all the  air traffic  authorities which need to know of the flight. 

Military  aircraft  are  also  monitored,  despite their  very  different  performance  and roles. 
They fly very high or very low and perform  interception operations, provide support  for 
troops on the ground  or carry out bombing hussions.  In order to do so, they must have 
training  grounds, which they  cannot  share, with  other types of traffic  for  safety  reasons. 
They interfere  with  general  air traffic  only when they fly between their  bases and these 
In  most 
restricted  areas.  Coordination  is  therefore  needed  to  ensure  flight  safety. 
countries, military flights are controlled by military controllers who provide the requisite 
coordination  with  their  colleagues  in the civil  sector.  Some  countries  with  very  heavy 

055appl.96 

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055appl.96 

civil  and  military  air  traffic  have preferred  to entrust  one and  the  same  control  body  with 
this  phase  of  military  flights  too,  as  in  Germany  and  the  USA. 

Where 

Wherever  the  nature  of  the  flights  (instrument  flights,  commercial  flights,  high-speed 
flights,  etc.)  and  traffic  density  dictate.  Accordingly,  in  Western  Europe  all  the  upper 
airspace (over  6  000  m) is controlled, plus the airways  (rectangular  corridors  18 km  wide 
and  at  an  altitude  of  between  1 500  m  and  6  000  m  protecting  an  air  route  in  the  lower 
airspace), terminal control areas in the vicinity of airports containing standard take-off  and 
landing  paths  between  the  runways  and  the  air  routes  (between  900  m  altitude  or  300  m 
above  ground  level  and  a sufficient  altitude to  allow the necessary  operations)  and  airport 
control  areas  linking  the  terminal  control  areas  to  the  ground  around  major  airports.  No 
control  service  is provided  outside these areas, particularly  close to the ground,  where the 
aircraft  which need  ATC  services rarely  fly,  leaving this space free  for  light  aircraft.  The 
same  applies  outside the airways,  since in Europe  this space  is often  occupied  by  military 
areas  reserved  for  operational  training  for  the  armed  forces. 

Generally,  ATC  services are provided  for  aircraft  following  predetermined  routes,  i.e. on 
the  network  of  airways  which  cross  the  airspace.  Consequently,  aircraft  are not  free  to 
take  the  shortest  route,  but  must  follow  these paths.  It  is generally  acknowledged  that  in 
Europe  this  adds,  on  average,  10%  to  the  distances  flown.  However,  it  seems  difficult 
to  overcome  this  constraint  with  the  current  control  technology,  since  air 
traffic 
controllers  need  to  position  their  traffic  on  such  routes  in  order  to  do  their  job. 

In  regions  with  less  dense  traffic,  there  are  vast  uncontrolled  areas  where  users  are 
nevertheless  provided  with  a  flight  information  service  (weather  reports,  traffic  in  the 
vicinity,  distress  alert). 

How? 

Air traffic  control  consists of keeping aircraft  a safe  distance apart, based  on a knowledge 
of  the  position  of  the  aircraft  in  a  r'v  n  sector.  Consequently,  the  separation  between 
aircraft  will  depend  on  the  precision  with  which  the  position  of  the  aircraft  is  known, 
which,  in  turn,  depends  on  the  instruments  used  to  determine  the  position  and  speed  of 
the  aircraft  en  route  or  approaching.  In  accordance  with  the  precision  of  the  altimeters, 
the  standard  vertical  separation  is  300  m  up  to  an  altitude  of  9  000  m  and  600  m  above 
that.  The  horizontal  separation  can  vary  between  225  km  in  the  case  of  aircraft  on  the 
same route  if their position  is known only from  their own reports (procedural  control)  and 
5.5  km  in  the  case  of  aircraft  approaching  under  radar  control.  The  separation  between 
aircraft  en  route  under  radar  control  is  9  km,  although  this  must  be  increased  where  the 
performance  of  the radar  equipment  is inadequate,  as it still  is in certain parts  of  Europe. 

If two  aircraft  come  closer together  than the  standard  separation,  this  is known  as an  "air 
miss".  Pilots and  air traffic  controllers must report  such incidents.  Analysis  of air misses 
gives  an  idea  of  the  safety  standards  provided  by  the  system  and  allows  the  requisite 
In  some  ATC  centres  this  is  backed  up  by  automatic  conflict 
corrective  measures. 
detection  methods,  where  the  controllers  are  assisted  by  computer. 

055appl.96 

2 

055appl.96 

To  perform  this  task,  all  aircraft  in  a  given  control  sector  are  placed  under  the 
responsibility of an air movements team (one principal controller and two assistants) who 
must  take  control  of  any possible  interference  between  aircraft.  Taking  account  of the 
pressure  of  work  which  this  entails  and  of  the  control  aids  available  today,  it  is 
universally  accepted that not more than  15 to 20 aircraft  may be in the same sector at the 
same  time,  depending  on  the  complexity  of  the  traffic  handled  (number  of  air  route 
crossings,  configuration  of  the  landing/take-off  paths,  transfer  to  and  from  sectors 
alongside, above or below, etc.).  Airspace  capacity therefore  depends on the number of 
sectors  into  which  the  airspace  can  be  divided.  However,  there  is  a  limit  since  if  the 
sectors are too small the aircraft  will not stay in them long enough for potential  conflicts 
to  be  detected  and  resolved  before  they  arise.  At  the  same  time,  the  workload  for 
negotiating  transfers  from  one  sector  to  the  next  will  be  heavier  and  the  sectors'  unit 
capacity lower.  A compromise must therefore  be struck between the size and number of 
sectors.  This  is what  determines  airspace  capacity. 

The  sectors  are  brought  together  under  control  centres,  which  provide  a  means  of 
combining  them  in  line  with  variations  in  demand  and  of  adapting  supply  to  demand. 
Today,  there  are  42  encroûte  control  centres  in  Western  Europe  to  control  the  upper 
airspace, air routes and terminal control  areas.  In the USA, 21 en-route control centres, 
backed up by  189 terminal radar control  (TRACON)  facilities,  handle six times as much 
traffic. 

To  avoid  overloading  the  sectors,  and  the  potential  consequences  for  flight  safety,  air 
traffic  flow  management  (ATFM) mechamsms have  gradually  been developed  to detect 
any such risks of congestion in advance and to ground any aircraft  which would have had 
to fly in a saturated sector.  The development of these mechanisms and their growing use 
in  air  traffic  management  were  described  in  the  Commission  communication  on 
congestion  and  crisis  in air traffic  (COM(95)318 final of  5 July  1995). 

By whom? 

The air traffic  controllers are responsible for maintaining the separations.  In order to do 
so, they must form  a mental image of the situation  in their sector at any time in order to 
detect potential  conflicts,  devise solutions and give the pilots the necessary  instructions: 
change flight level, slow down/accelerate, wait, change flight path, etc.  To help them in 
their work, air traffic  controllers use small strips of paper, each representing one  aircraft 
and giving details of the  flights.  These are set out on a console representing their relative 
positions.  Virtually  everywhere  in  Europe  ATC  controllers  also  have  a  radar  image 
which  gives them  another two-dimensional  picture of air traffic.  They  communicate by 
radio with the aircraft  and by telephone with the other controllers with whom they must 
coordinate  transfers. 

Air traffic  controllers perform  a complex task which is more like an art than a traditional 
repetitive  job.  It  requires  a  special  predisposition  and  a  very  high  level  of  training. 
These features combined with the fact that the slightest lapse has immediate consequences 
for the safety of hundreds of passengers mark this out as a clearly distinct profession  with 
its own rites and  scales of values. 

055appl.96 

3 

055appl.96 

Almost everywhere the controllers and the staff responsible for the equipment (electronics 
engineers)  and  for  various  operational  tasks  (particularly  flight  plan  processing)  are 
employed  by  the  national  administrations  or  State-owned  private  agencies.  This  State 
involvement  is  due  to the  Chicago  Convention  which  makes  the  States  responsible  for 
safety  in their airspace.  But it is also attributable to the heavy civil and criminal liability 
associated  with this activity. 

Virtually  throughout  the world ATC services are funded  by charges levied  on the direct 
users.  One notable exception  is the USA where  all  expenditure  on civil aviation  safety 
is funded  from  taxes and a charge levied  on the end users, i.e. air passengers. 

With  what? 

As mentioned  earlier,  air traffic  control  requires  special  equipment. 

First, means of communication between the ground and the aircraft  are needed to transmit 
messages about the aircraft's  position  and ATC instructions.  The ATC authorities have 
established a private mobile air-to-ground communications service, principally in the VHF 
(Very  High  Frequency)  band, but also in the HF (High Frequency)  band  for  long-range 
communications.  Today there  are also plans to use satellite  communications. 

Ground-to-ground  links  are also needed  to transmit flight plans  and  allow  coordination 
between different  controllers.  Another private network has been set up for this purpose, 
using subsystems leased from the telecommunications operators to provide a fixed service 
linking  all ATC  centres, airports  and main users. 

Navigational  aids are also needed  so that pilots know the aircraft's  position at all times 
and  can  inform  the  ATC  authorities  when  necessary.  These  can  take  the  form  of 
stand-alone on-board equipment, such as inertial guidance systems and Doppler radar, or 
of  navigational  aids  on  the  ground  using  different  frequency  ranges,  depending  on  the 
ranges to be covered, to transmit signals from which aircraft  can calculate their position: 
VHF omnidirectional radio range stations (VOR), distance measuring equipment (DME), 
non-directional  beacons  (NDB),  instrument  landing  systems  (ILS),  the  LORAN  and 
OMEGA long-range navigation systems and, increasingly coming into consideration, the 
GPS and GLONASS satellite systems.  Consequently, to provide the navigation  service, 
the air traffic  authorities have been setting up networks of navigational aids, some denser 
than others. 

Air traffic  controllers also need to know the position of aircraft  under their responsibility 
as well as possible.  The more precise and frequently  updated this information,  the more 
the  controller  can  reduce the  separation.  For  this reason,  position  reports  from  aircraft 
have  been replaced  by a  stand-alone radar  system which  gives a comprehensive  picture 
updated  after  each  turn  of the  antenna  (every  five  to ten  seconds).  There  are  different 
types  of  radar,  depending  on  the  phase  of  the  flight.  The  latest  radar  technology  can 
identify  the  position,  altitude  and  call  sign  of  aircraft.  Soon  it  will  be  possible  to  use 
these radar  waves to transmit other data between the ground and the air (S mode radar). 

055appl.96 

S"? 

055appl.96 

At the same time  satellite technology  is opening  up the possibility  of developing  a rival 
on-board Automated Dependent  Surveillance  (ADS) system, which would  automatically 
transmit  the  aircraft's  position  to the  ground  at all times. 

All the information  and resources required by air traffic  controllers are brought together 
at the control consoles.  Telephones, microphones, video screens, strip boards, etc. are all 
found  there in the most ergonomie, interactive  configuration  possible in order to lighten 
the air traffic  controllers'  workload and  enable them to handle more aircraft  at the same 
time.  To achieve this, computers have been introduced  en masse in control  centres.  To 
date, however, their role has remained  limited to processing and displaying  information. 
In  the  most  modern  centres,  they  can  also  alert  controllers  a  few  minutes  before  a 
collision  risk.  But they  are  not  yet  capable  of  proposing  a  strategy  for  resolving  such 
conflicts. 

Within  which  instimtional  framework? 

According  to the  Chicago  Convention  adopted  at the end  of  1944 to  lay the basis for  a 
global  system  of  international  air  transport  and  its basic  principle  that  States  have  full 
sovereignty over their own airspace, it is their responsibility to provide air traffic  services 
and to mobilize  the necessary resources  for  this purpose. 

At  the  same  time, the  International  Civil  Aviation  Organization  (ICAO)  was  set up  to 
define  and adopt the common rules needed to make the system interoperable  so that any 
one aircraft  could travel anywhere in the world.  This organization is also responsible for 
ensuring that the services correspond  as closely as possible to the needs of the users.  It 
may, consequently, give certain States responsibility for supplying such services to aircraft 
crossing  international  waters. 

It  is  nevertheless  a  relatively  flexible  framework,  within  which  it  is  even  possible  to 
notify differences  from the common standards, while the undertakings given in connection 
with the  satisfaction  of users'  needs are not legally binding. 

Each  State  is  free  to  decide  the  level  of  service  to  be  provided  and  the  means  to  be 
employed  for  this  purpose,  with  the  result  that  the  technology  used  and  the  results 
achieved vary tremendously from one country to another, making the overall system less 
efficient  than  it  should be. 

To  overcome  this  problem,  if  only  in  part,  groups  of  States  have  felt  the  need  to 
cooperate  more  closely  at  regional  level  and,  in  some  cases,  to  consider  actually 
integrating their national services. It is the reason why EUROCONTROL was up in 1960 
by an international convention, to provide air traffic  control for the entire upper airspace 
of its Member  States.  This, however, represented too great a transfer  of sovereignty  for 
some of the first Member States:  even before the Convention entered into force,  France 
and  the  United  Kingdom  reclaimed  control  of  the  whole  of  their  own  airspace,  and 
Germany later largely followed suit.  Thus EUROCONTROL today, via its control centre 
at  Maastricht,  provides  air  traffic  control  only  for  the  airspace  above  the  Benelux 
countries  and  Northern  Germany  -  and  then  only  within  the  framework  of  specific 
agreements  between  the organization  and  each  of the  States  concerned. 

055appl.96 

6° 

055appl.96 

By  way  of  compensation,  EUROCONTROL  was  given  a  greater  coordinating  role  in 
planning and research, and its Convention was supplemented  by a multilateral  agreement 
under  which  it was given responsibility  for  collecting route charges.* 

In  parallel  with  these  developments,  and  in  view  of  the  lessons  learned  from  over-
ambitious  attempts  at  integration,  the  ICAO  reinforced  the  existing  mechanisms  for 
cooperation  at regional  level by setting up a more permanent  structure than the regional 
meetings.  This was the EANPG,1 which  was able to meet  once or twice  a year if need 
be and to work more  or less continuously  on updating  and monitoring  the Regional  Air 
Navigation  Plan. 

Today,  EUROCONTROL has  19 Member States (the States of the European Union except Finland, Italy and Spain, plus 
Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey). The multilateral agreement on route charges covers 
these  same countries plus Spain. 
European  Air  Navigation  Planning  Group. 

055appl.96 

6 

Appendix 2 

ATM : A QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION. 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1. 

Scope of the  annex 

This  annex looks  at the technical  and operational  aspects of the current Air  Traffic 
Management  (ATM)  system  in Europe,  covering  all the national organisations  that 
provide air traffic services (ATS) to airspace users (aircraft operators), in accordance 
with  suitable  rules  and standards,  for  the  safe,  orderly  and efficient  movement  of 
aircraft  in the air and on the ground. 

ATS  are divided into specific  services  : 
-  Air  Traffic  Control  Service  (ATC)  ;  it  aims  at preventing  collisions  between 
aircraft  or between aircraft  and obstructions  on the manoeuvring  area  ; and at 
expediting  and maintaining an orderly  flow  of air traffic  ; 

-  Flight Information Service  (FIS)  ; it provides  advice and information useful  for 

the safe  and efficient  conduct of flights  ; 

-  Alerting Service  ; it notifies appropriate organisations  regarding  aircraft  in need 

of search and rescue  ; and assist  such organisation. 

Annex  1 explained that  ATC : 

-  are the services provided by Air Traffic Control Centers to control the movements 
of  aircraft  both  on  the  ground  and  in  the  air  by  the  cpntinuous  tracking  and 
coordination  of  moving  aircraft  to keep  abreast  of  their  respective  positions  in 
order to ensure  safe  separation and passage between airports; 

-  are delivered  to airspace users  in three different  ways:  at the airport  itself,  and 
during  landing  and  take-off  (airport  control);  within  the  terminal  airspace 
surrounding  an  airport  (approach  control);  and  in  the  airspace  between  two 
terminal  areas (en-route control); 

-  are carried  out by  air traffic  controllers  following  specific  procedures  with the 

help of facilities  and equipment capable of supporting  this work. 

This  Annex  concentrates  primarily  on  the  en-route  aspect  of  European  air  traffic 
management,  and ATC most  of  all,  aiming  to  describe  it  in  quantitative  terms  to 
complement  the more qualitative description  in Annex  1. 

055app2.96 

1 

62, 

1.2.  Methodological  approach 

The  Annex  first  describes  the  way  in  which  air  traffic  services  are  provided  in 
Western Europe  (supply analysis); and then looks at precisely  how users need these 
services  (demand  analysis).  Finally,  it reviews  the interaction  between  supply  and 
demand,  and  considers  the  quality  of  service  that  results.  Wherever  possible  this 
description  is  supported  by  figures,  to  illustrate  both  trends  over  past  years  and 
correlations  between  variables;  and  references  to recent  studies. 

With  this in mind,  the Annex  consists  of  three chapters: 

-  Chapter  1 looks  at each  of  the three  components  of  the ATM  system,  airspace, 
_ 

technical  facilities  and staff; 

-  Chapter  2 analyses  the requirements  of  airspace users; 

-  Chapter 3 looks at the acmal performance  of the system as it works in practice in 
terms  of matching  the demand  for,  and  the supply  of,  Air  Traffic  Services. 

Air  traffic  management  consists  of  three  main  activities.  Two  of  these  concern  the 
supply  of services (airspace management and air traffic  control). And, thirdly,  flow 
management  aims  to match  supply  to  demand: 

-  airspace  management  means  the design  of  the structures  (in the  form  of  sectors 
and routes)  that enable  airspace  to be used  according  to specific  procedures; 

-  air  traffic  control  involves  the technological  and human resources  necessary  for 

the supervision  of  aircraft; 

-  air  traffic  flow  management  improves  the  use  of  airspace  by  identifying  and 

resolving  capacity problems  when demand  exceeds  supply. 

Finally,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  throughout  that  this  survey  looks  at  airspace 
management  in Europe  generally,  rather  than at the area  covered  by the EU. 

2.. 

HOW EUROPEAN AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES  ARE PROVIDED 

2.1.  The structure of  air traffic  management 

The planning  and operation  of Air Traffic  Management  in Europe  is carried  out on 
a national basis, through the public sector,  with varying degrees of coordination via 
organisations such as EUROCONTROL (European Organisation for the Safety of the 
Air Navigation), ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation - European region) 
and  the European  Civil Aviation  Conference  (ECAC). 

Three factors explain why Air Traffic  Services are undertaken on a national basis and 
by public  sector  bodies: 

055app2.96 

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63 

- 

- 

- 

the birth of air traffic  control during  World  War  II as a means of identifying  and 
locating  military  aircraft.  Its  subsequent  extension  to  civilian  air  services  was 
influenced  by  the  original  purpose  of  securing  the  defence  of  national  airspace 
against hostile  aircraft; 

the Chicago Convention of 1944, which enshrined the principle of national control 
over  the use of  sovereign  airspace  ; 

the perceived  importance  of  such  services,  together  with  airlines'  own services, 
as vital  assets  influencing  tfye development  of  national  economies. 

This national approach to ATC in Europe has,  as a result,  led to the development of 
an institutional and organisational  strucmre  where responsibility  for the provisiorrof 
Air Traffic  Services tends to be shared between three different  bodies within national 
administrations: 

- 

- 

- 

the  government  level,  with  the  Ministry  of  Transport  or  Communications 
concerned  with  policy  decisions; 

the  management  level,  for  which  responsibility  lies  with  the  Civil  Aviation 
Administration  or  Authority  (CAA); 

the operational  level,  where  the actual  provision  of  ATC  services  is usually  the 
responsibility  of Air  Navigation  Services  (ANS)  organisations. 

Detailed arrangements may vary between different  countries  - for  instance, the ANS 
organisation  may  itself  be a part  of  the  CAA  - but,  generally,  the three  levels will 
follow  this pattern: 

- 

- 

- 

the government  level will  be concerned  with  supervision  of  the  system  overall, 
and future  investment policies; 

the  management  level  will  be  responsible  for  ensuring  the  integrity  of  safety, 
setting  standards  , defining  strategies  and  future  planning; 

the  operational  level  will  provide  the  services  to  airspace  users,  develop  the 
planning of future  service provision  and  organise  revenue  collection in the  form 
of  fees  paid by  airspace  users  for  Air  Traffic  Services. 

The  need  for  an  international  approach  to  aviation  matters  led  to  the  setting  up  of 
various organisations for the development and application of common regulations and 
operating  procedures.  ICAO  was  formed  in  1944  as  an  international  body  for  the 
purpose of developing international standards and conventions for International Civil 
Aviation  and Air Traffic  Control,  in conjunction  with  industry  bodies  and  national 
administrations.  Within  Europe,  ECAC  was  established  in  1955  as  an  inter 
governmental  organisation,  supervised  at Ministerial  level, to oversee  the European 
In  the  1960s 
system  and  propose  and  coordinate  improvements  in  air  transport. 
another inter-governmental  organisation,  EUROCONTROL,  was formed  which was 
originally  intended to develop means of providing  Upper  Airspace  Control  Services 
across  all  its Member  States  on a unified  basis.  In  practice  this  was  only  achieved 
over  a  relatively  limited  area  - Benelux  and  North  Germany.  EUROCONTROL's 

055app2.96 

3 

£4 

mandate  was  later  extended  to  include  the  collection  of  route  charges,  the 
development  of  standards,  research  and  advisory  services  and  the  management  of 
air  traffic  flows  at a European  level. 

The  respective  roles  and  responsibilities  of  the  various  national  and  international 
bodies  in  terms  of  the  three  levels  of  ATC  management  functions  -  government, 
management  and  operations  - are  summarised  in the following  table: 

Table 2.1.  -  Current  roles  and  responsibilities 

Level 
-Role 

ENTITY 

National 

International 

Min 

CAA 

ANS 

ECAC 

|ICAO 

Eur 

• 
• 
• 

• 

• 
• 

. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•: 

i 

= - r -f 

• 

• 

• 
• 
• 

Governing 

-  Supervision  of  the  system 

- Investment  policy 

- Standards  setting 

Managing 

- Safety  oversight 

-  Investment  planning 

Operating 

-  Services  provision 

-  Services  planning 

- Revenue  collection 

Legend: 

responsible 
• 
advisor 
• 
Min  =  Ministry 
Eur  =  EUROCONTROL 

Eurocontrol  has  responsability  for  service  provision  and  service  planning  for  the  Maastricht  Centre  and  the  Central  Flow 
Management  Unit  (CFMU)  ; and  an  advisory  role  in other  flields. 

055app2.96 

*r 

2.2.  The  complexity  of  airspace  structure 

Basic  division  of  airspace  is  into  : 
-  controlled  airspace,  and/or 
-  uncontrolled  airspace. 

By international agreement,  airspace  structures  are set up in seven different  airspace 
control  classes  around  fixed  air  routes  and  control  zones.  The  service  provided  to 
aircrafts  flying  on  instruments  (IFR) and to aircraft  flying  visually  (VFR),  reflects 
the requirements  of  airspace  users  and the density  of  air  traffic. 

Air  Space Management  consists  of two  separate  activities: 

-  Ground-based  controllers  control  aircraft  within  the  "sectors"  of  airspace  for 

which they  are  responsible.  These  sectors  make up  airspace  structure: 

-  aircraft  are  piloted  by  their  crews  along  "airways"  which  form  the  airspace 

network. 

The current strucmre of European airspace strucmre is determined,  in the first place, 
by  the  boundaries  of  each  country's  airspace.  Other  determining  factors  are 
operational and technical, mainly to do with the performance  of communications and 
navigation aids. At operating level, Air Traffic  Services infrastructure  is managed in 
the  first  place  by  Area  Control  Centres  (ACCs),  each  of  which  is  responsible  for 
supervising the use of the airspace within a territorial area (Flight Information Region 
(FIR)).  The  airspace  within  each  FIR  is,  in turn,  divided  into  sectors  in ways  that 
best  suit  the  process  of  controlling  aircraft  within  it..  A  sector  is  notionally  the 
volume of airspace that can be controlled  by a single controller;  but in practice some 
sectors are amalgamated with others where this makes sense in terms of traffic  loads. 

As  well  as  being  separated  horizontally,  airspace  is  divided  vertically,  generally 
being  divided  into Upper  and  Lower  Airspace  at a specified  altitude level: 

-  below  this  level  is  the  Flight  Information  Region  (FIR),  where  flights  are 

controlled  in the climb  and  descent phases; 

-  above  this  level  is  the  Upper  Information  Region  (UIR),  where  flights  are 

controlled  at their  cruising  altitude. 

Most  FIRs  and  UIRs  share  the  same  ACC  but,  in  some  cases,  countries  have 
established  separate  Upper  Air  Centres  (UAC). 

Two countries, the UK and Portugal, operate Oceanic Area Control Centres (OACC) 
to provide  air  traffic  control  over  the eastern  part  of the North Atlantic. 

Areas around principal  airports  may need  separate  systems  for  co-ordinating flights 
to control  arriving  and  departing  flights. 

The  current  strucmre  of  European  airspace  is  summarised  in  table  2.2.  For  each 
country  it shows: 

055app2.96 

5 

66 

- 

the area  covered  by the Flight  Information  Region; 

- 

the flight level chosen  as the boundary  between the FIR  and the  UIR; 

- 

the maximum  number  of  'single* sectors  that can be operated  simultaneously  by 
each ACC. 

Table 2.2.  -  Airspace structure in  1995 

Country 

Surface FIR 
(km2) 

Separation 
FTR/VIR 

No of ATC 
Units 

No of Sectors 

ACC  ;  VAC 

En-route  \  APP 

Austria 

Belgium 

Denmark 

Finland 

France 

Germany 

Greece 

Ireland 

Italy 

Luxembourg 

Netherlands 

Portugal 

Spain 

Sweden 

84000 

30500 

n.a. 

n.a. 

768600 

297600 

277200 

168000 

n.a. 

-

34000 

276000 

621875 

n.a. 

United Kingdom 

575000 

Maastricht  VAC 

n.a. 

FL245 

FL 195 

FL245 

FL245 

FL  195 

FL 245 

FL245 

FL245 

FL 245 

FL245 

FL  195 

FL245 

FL245 

FL245 

FL245 

-

1 

1 

1 

2 

61 

61 

31 

2 

4 

1 

1 

5l 

3 

3 

- 

i 

î 

! 

î 

! 

! 

! 

! 

! 

i 

î 

î 

! 

! 

\ 

! 

-

-

-

-

-

1 

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

i 

14 

!  6 

4 

9 

4 

74 

61 

9 

9 

28 

6 

5 

32 

19 

41 

7 

!  2 

1  3 

! 

-/ 

î  6 

i  12 

!  2 

!  3 

\  92 

i 

!  3 

!  2 

!  16 

;  8 

1  16 

! 

-

1 
2  - 

-  with  the addition  of one separate Approach  Units 

5 sectors play  en-route  +  APP role 

Source:  EUROCONTROL  - CIP - Stams  Report  1995 

055app2.96 

6 

2.3.  The configuration  of the airspace network 

The European airspace structure consists of a network of fixed routes. These routes 
were originally aligned according to the siting of navigational aids - usually close to 
airports. This means that routes normally follow dog-leg paths, and cross one another 
frequently at points where it is particularly important to avoid conflicts. (This pattern 
may vary,  but only  to  a degree when airspace  normally  reserved  for  military use 
becomes temporarily  available for  civil use,  allowing  some more direct routeing.) 
Because the route network  is defined  in two dimensions only, aircraft flying along 
the same route on conflicting courses are assigned different flight levels. Flight levels 
are spaced 1000 feet apart up to FL 290 (2900 feet), above which the spacing is 2000 
feet. Even-numbered flight levels above FL 300 are not, therefore,  used at present. 

Table 2.1. gives an indication of the present use of flight  levels based on airlines' 
requests  in  July  1990  (EUROCONTROL  figures)  ;  experimental  studies  have 
demonstrated  that  the  best  cruise  level  for  a flight of  500  NM  in  terms  of  fuel 
consumption is FL 350. It is estimated that about  10% of flights in Europe are not 
flown  at their optimal cruising height because of ATC restrictions. 

Figure 2.1. -  Flight levels requested by airlines 

10 

15 

20 

25 

Percentage of total  flights 

Source  : EUROCONTROL 

055app2.96 

7 

2.4.  Network  effectiveness 

Ideally, the route between two airports  should be set in order  to minimise the length 
of  a flight in terms  of  time and  distance,  so that  it can be flown on the most  direct 
route using the most efficient  vertical profile.  In practice, however, there are various 
constraints: 

a)  route  design  has  to take  account  of  the  need  to  avoid  areas  of  potential  conflict 
and of high traffic  load;  and to the need to sequence  arrival  traffic  and segregate 
—~ 
arrival  and departure  flows  ; 

b)  national borders  have the effect  of fragmenting  available  airspace; 

c)  military  operations  restrict  the use  of  airspace; 

d)  the present  layout of navigationals  aids,  particularly  the  siting  of radio  beacons, 

determines  routes; 

e)  in some cases,  en-route  paths  will clash  with  airport  approach "paths; and 

f)  weather  and environmental  restrictions  can  always  play  a part. 

Some  of  these  factors  are  interdependent  (for  instance,  radar  stations  are  sited  to 
cover  national  airspace)  with  the  result  that  the  individual  effect  of  each  on  the 
network  layout  cannot  be  easily  isolated.  Studies  have  been  carried  out  by 
EUROCONTROL to identify  indicators which compare the lengths of the most direct 
paths  to those  of the paths acmally  followed.  Although  these analyses provide  only 
rough  measures  of  network  effectiveness  they  suggest  that all  these  factors,  except 
weather, contribute to the problem. The studies, the results of which are summarised 
in table  2.3., are  qualified  as  follows: 

. 

. 

they cover a varied  sample of flights,  using  airport  pairs,  over a specific  period. 
It is difficult,  therefore,  to extrapolate the results  to other times of the year,  or to 
flights  in Europe  generally; 

they  assume  that  all flights followed  the  routes  most  normally  flown  (according 
to the EUROCONTROL  Database).  Acmally,  the  distance  acmally flown could 
have  varied,  if  Air  Traffic  Control  had  altered  the  routeing  away  from  these 
"normal"  paths. 

The  comparison  was carried  out by: 

.  selecting for examination a sample of routes and corresponding  flights to examine; 

.  evaluating  the distance flown according  to the most commonly used  itinerary,  as 

stored  in the Database  of EUROCONTROL  (DBE  itinerary); 

055app2.96 

8 

01 

.  evaluating  the distance flown according  to the theoretically  most  direct  itinerary 
between terminal areas, which represents  the shortest possible routing taking into 
account  runway  orientation  (reference  itinerary). 

Because average flight distance of the sample became shorter towards the end of the 
1980s, the influence of route design in terminal areas,  as opposed to en-route design, 
became proportionally  more  important. 

Table  2.3.  -  Estimation  of  inefficient  routing 

Period 
(m/y) 

7/88 

7/89 

7/90 

9/91 

9/92 

9/93 

,  9/94 

Sample 

Average flight distance (Nms) 

(n>  of flights) 

DBE 

Reference 

Difference 
(%) 

262,355 

330,040 

441,620 

470,876 

n.a. 

496,269 

504,223 

553 

522 

474 

453 

n.a. 

506 

492 

507 

476 

430 

410 

n.a. 

460 

447 

-9.1 

9.7 

10.2 

10.4 

n.a. 

10.0 

10.1 

source:  EUROCONTROL/Division  01 

This  suggests  that  the  effect  of  constraints  is  to  increase  flight  distances  by  about 
10%,  or  around  45 Nms on average.  Of this  10%,  about 70% take place en route; 
20%  on approach to airports  and 8% on departure  from  airport  areas. According to 
ECAC's  INSTAR  study  the reasons  are: 

^ 

-  problems  arising  where  en-route  routes  clash  with  airport  areas  (24%); 

- 

routes  having to be designed  to avoid  dense  traffic  areas (33%); 

- 

the need to circumnavigate  military  airspace  (30%); 

-  other  factors  (13%). 

055app2.96 

9 

To 

2.5.  Technological  resources 

The airspace  structure  and network  is  greatly  influenced  by the equipment used to 
support Air Traffic  Control  services.  According  to its function,  equipment will  fall 
into one of three separate  "domains": 

-  " Communications " includes all technology for transferring information needed for 
navigation,  surveillance  and  ATM.  "Ground-air"  is  distinct  from  "ground-
ground", but each have separate networks for both speech and data transmission; 

-  "Navigation " refers to all equipment that facilitates en-route navigation by aircraft 

along the routes they have to fly; 

—-

-  "Surveillance" means all technologies  that enable ground-based ATC controllers 
to keep track of aircraft.  The use of radar is now enhanced by the introduction of 
Radar Data Processing  Systems (RDPS). 

Communication 

Three means of comunication are now in use  at ATC Centres: 

-  air/ground  voice communications  (radio-telephone), 

-  ground/ground  voice communications  (telephone), 

-  ground/ground  data communications. 

Air/ground voice communications between controller  and pilot are currently carried 
out by radio transmission,  in HF,  VHF and UHF. 

High Frequency  radio transmission  is the only non-satellite  communication system 
which allows direct communication between aircraft and ground beyond the line-of-
sight.  This long range communication works  through the reflection of the skywave 
from the ionosphere and is currently used within Europe for longhaul trans-oceanic 
flights.  Its  performance  is  generally  unsatisfactory  for  reliable  communications 
because it is affected by ionospheric conditions.  HF is considered to be a redundant 
technology about to be replaced by satellite communication systems. 

VHF  is the normal  means of  air-to-ground  communications  for ATC purposes  for 
civil  aircraft.  But because  VHF is limited to line-of-sight,  ground stations must be 
sited so as to ensure that an aircraft  will  always be in line-of-sight  of  one of them 
and within a maximum distance depending upon the height of the aircraft.  Aircraft 
overflying  the European  area must  therefore  communicate  with different  Centres, 
changing channels frequently.  Each station is allocated a frequency and stations need 
a  minimum  physical  separation  from  one  another  to  avoid  antenna  interference. 
Within the EU there  are about 350  VHF  stations  serving  major airports  and ATC 
Centres; but each Centre has developed its own radio communications system more 
or less independently. Although care is taken to ensure sufficient  overlap in coverage 
and to prevent interference, technical approaches and solutions may be very different. 

055app2.96 

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If 

VHF  is  also  used  occasionally  for  air-to-air  communications,  most  countries 
allocating  for  this purpose.  VHF also  allows  aircrew  to monitor  all the traffic  on a 
particular  frequency,  which  enables  them  to  hear  controllers'  instructions  to  other 
aircraft  and  thereby  gain  a  reasonably  full  picture  of  the  air  traffic 
in  the 
neighbourhood. 

The frequency  bank currently  allocated to VHF aeronautical mobile communications 
is  118 to  137 MHz with a spacing of 25 kHz.  There  is an urgent need for  additional 
frequencies  over  and  above  the  760  currently  available,  particularly  in  Central 
Europe.  The  shortfall  is  caused  in part  by  poor  procedures  for  operation  and  co 
ordination.  To  alleviate  the problem  it  may  be  necessary  to challenge  some  of  the 
present allocations of the VHF band and,  if necessary,  to reassign  them. This would 
improve efficiency  but by itself would not solve the problem of congestion. By 1998»-
2000,  however,  it may be possible  to  increase  the number  of channels  by  reducing 
the channel  spacing  to 8.33  kHz. 

Another  issue  arises  in times of heavy  traffic.  The  limiting  factor  on the number of 
aircraft  a  controller  can  handle  is  the  communications  workload  demanded  by  the 
operational,  organisational  and  procedural  requirements  for  handling  the  aircraft. 
This  is due not  to the technical performance  of the communications  system,  nor  to 
the  lack  of  channels,  nor  even  to  aircraft  separation  standards.  A  reduction  of  the 
workload  of  the  controller  will  be  only  achieved  by  introducing  some  degree  of 
automation  in aircraft  handling.  This  will come about with the  implementation  of a 
datalink system between the aircraft  and the ATC system - between the crew and the 
controller.  In  the  longer  term,  Mode-S  represents  one  of  implementing  a  datalink 
system,  which would also  reduce  the demands  on the  VHF  spectrum. 

UHF communications are similar to the use of the VHF communication band. Their 
only use  for  ATC  in Europe  is for  military  aircraft. 

Ground/ground  Voice  communications  are  concerned, 
in  particular,  with 
communications between Centres. These communications provide a common network 
for  exchanging  information  using  direct  speech  links.  In Europe,  however,  there  is 
no standard network, and a large variety of technically different  communication links 
and procedures  are already  in place  at different  European  ACCs.  The need for  this 
network  will,  however,  dimmish  after  the  introduction  of  an  automated  data  link 
network developed to international standards, even if voice communications continue 
to play their part  for  resolving  particular  problems. 

ATC  voice communications  are  generally  based  on private  fixed  dedicated  circuits 
connecting  every  pair  of  control  centres  which  need 
to  cooperate.  The 
implementation  of  a  Voice  Communication  Network  suitable  for  ATC  purposes 
requires  the provision  of extensively  networked  circuits,  compatible equipment and 
standard  communication  procedures.  For  the  time  being,  however,  the  basic 
providers  of circuits  are the national  public  telephone  organisations,  and the use of 
extensive  link-ups  across  the  network  is  not  a  standard  feature  of  public  telephone 
systems  today. 

A common approach  for  the implementation  of  such a network has been developed 
as part of the EATCHIP programme.  This system  will still be based on international 
point-to-point  circuits  but  all  lines,  together  with  the  switching  system,  will  be 

055app2.96 

11 

operated  as  a  network. 

Ground/ground Data  Communications  enable  information  to be exchanged  between 
centres,  so  reducing  the volume  of  routine  coordination.  This  information  is to  do 
with  signals,  flight  plans,  aeronautical  and  meteorological  reports  etc.  Sharing  it 
between different  centres requires having proper data exchange links and appropriate 
communications  procedures. 

At  present,  the  conventional  Aeronautical  Fixed  Telecommunications  Network 
(AFTN) remains  the primary  source  for  the acquisition of basic data. This network, 
designed  some  forty  years  ago,  connects  AFTN  centres  in all  European  countries. 
Most countries  have a centralised  system  with one communications  centre  as a hub, 
which alone communicates with other countries' networks. Conventional AFTN links-
comprise teletype systems and manually operated radiotelegraphy channels. Although 
well proven, such links suffer  from  slow transmission and inadequate data protection. 
Moreover,  the  particularly  poor  performance  of  certain  AFTN  switching  centres 
means that comprehensive  new routeing  arrangements  cannot be set up. As a result, 
some  AFTN  switches  and  circuits  are  heavily  overloaded,  producing  message  loss 
and  unacceptable  transmission  delays.  For  this  reason  a  new,  improved  data 
interchange architecture was defined by ICAO in the mid 1970s - the Common ICAO 
Data  Interchange  Network  (ODIN).  The  original  specification  was  subsequently 
modified  to  take  account  of  the  publication  of  the  X25  communication  protocol. 
Introducing  a CIDIN network  would be accompanied  by replacing or upgrading old 
AFTN  switches  with the new  CIDIN  nodes  and  increasing  the transmission  speeds 
of AFTN  circuits.  So far,  the  introduction  of  CIDIN  procedures  on the ICAO plan 
has  already  taken place  in some  European  countries  (Austria,  Denmark,  Germany, 
Greece  and  Spain)  and  is  in  hand  in  others.  This  should  increase  the  overall  data 
signalling  rate  and  switching  capacity  of  the AFTN  in the European  area. 

There are other ground-to-ground  data communication networks for the exchange of 
aeronautical  data  and  of  radar  data.  These  networks  are used  within  regions  or,  at 
most,  country-wide. 

One  development  in  communication  infrastructure  which  will  greatly  improve  the 
automatic exchange of flight plans and system coordination data between ACCs is the 
On-Line  Data  Interchange  (OLDI).  The  verbal  exchanges  needed  for  traffic  hand 
overs  to  adjacent  centres  represent  a  significant  workload  for  controllers.  The 
automation  of  this  process  through  the  use  of  OLDI  links  has  already  produced 
significant improvements. At present, OLDI links have been established on a bilateral 
basis  between  centres  in  Ireland,  the  United  Kingdom,  Spain,  France,  Benelux, 
Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  These are based on logic links, from a source Air 
Traffic  Control  computer  system  to  a  receiver  ATC  computer.  There  is  no  direct 
relationship  between  the number  of  such  links  and  the number  of physical  circuits 
because  relay  facilities  are  provided  at  some  ATC  Centres;  and  because  in  some 
cases the QLDI application shares the same physical circuits with other facilities.  The 
full  benefit of this programme will  be reached,  however, only when all transmission 
systems  have been fully  harmonised. 

055app2.96 

12 

73 

Navigation 

At present,  navigation is carried  out by means of VOR/DME (VHF Omnidirectional 
Radio  Range/Distance  Measuring  Equipment)  or  NDB  (Non-Directional  Radio 
Beacon)  facilities.  These  navaids  are  radio  beacons,  operating  in VHF or  MF and 
emitting a constant signal. The signal,  received by equipment on the aircraft,  guides 
it in the right direction.  The use of these navaids has also contributed to perpetuating 
the  existing  fixed-route  structure,  because  routes  are  aligned  according  to  fixed 
nodes, being the points where airway beacons are located on the ground (fixes). Each 
individual  radio  station  provides  route  coverage  more than halfway  to the next  fix, 
so  that  coverage  always  overlaps.  Waypoints  along  a  route  may  be  radial 
intersections  from  other  fixes;  or  DME  fixes  from  stations  co-located  with  the" 
present fix, or the next fix along the route.  The current  distribution of navaids in the 
European  area  is shown on a country-by-country  basis  in table 2.4. 

Table 2.4.  -  Number  of navaid types by  country 

Country 

Austria 

Belgium 

Denmark 

Finland 

France 

Germany 

Greece 

Ireland 

Italy 

Luxembourg 

Netherlands 

Norway 

Portugal 

Spain 

Sweden 

United  Kingdom 

Switzerland 

TOTALS 

Source:  ANP EUR 

055app2.96 

VOR 

VOR/DME 

DME 

NDB 

-

1 

6 

7 

38 

22 

4 

-

4 

1 

-

8 

-

9 

22 

5 

7 

134 

11 

9 

6 

6 

41 

39 

26 

4 

43 

1 

9 

15 

10 

27 

14 

42 

5 

: 

- 

-

1 

-

l 

11 

l 

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

l 

-

-

11 

8 

4 

13 

2 

44 

14 

6 

28 

..  -

9 

17, 

6 

28 

9 

26 

6 

308 

15 

231 

13 

The present  VOR/DME navigation regime is generally considered  satisfactory  from 
the point of  view  of  performance  and  reliability.  However,  they  inhibit the  further 
development of network design. The trend has been to move away from  such station-
oriented  systems  towards  the much wider  coverage  achieved by satellite  navigation 
systems:  moving completely  to such a system  would,  of course,  remove one of the 
major  obstacles  to redesigning  the European  route  network. 

Modern navigation airborne computers enable an aircraft  to determine its position by 
measuring  its  distance  from  two  DME  ground  stations.  This  two-dimensional 
navigation  is accurate to about 0.25  miles  and makes it possible  to use RNAV with 
current  technology.  However,  legislation  allowing  RNAV  use  over  continental 
airspace as a sole means has not yet been put in place, standards and regulations haver-
still to be developed and, with RNAV so far used only on a limited basis,  controllers 
are not yet sufficiently  familiar  with  it. 

Surveillance 

The  use  of  radar  to  cover  European  airspace  has  enabled  controllers  to  handle  an 
ever  increasing  level  of  air  traffic.  Before  radars  came  into  general  use  -  and  as 
indeed still happens today in areas where radar coverage is deficient or non-existent -
flights were monitored by ATC on the basis of pilots' radio reports. The introduction 
of  radar  surveillance  has  given  ATC  controllers  much  better  information  on  the 
progress  of flights, and hence improved their ability to predict flight paths and detect 
possible  conflicts. 

Two types  of radar  are used  in Europe:  primary  radar  (PSR); and secondary  radar 
(SSR),  the most  recent  form  of  which is the monopulse  secondary  radar  (MSSR). 

Primary  radar  was  first  developed  to monitor  military  flights.  It provides  positions 
(in  terms  of  range  and  bearing)  of  any  target  within  range  by  means  of  passive 
returns obtained by the reflection  of radio waves directed onto the target. It therefore 
needs no equipment on the aircraft  itself,  and is a ground-based  system consisting of 
two  basic  elements:  a  rotating  antenna  and  a  transmitter.  Its  range  is  from  60 nm 
(short  range  category)  up  to  200  nm  (long  range  category);  the  pulse  repetition 
frequency  is from  340 Hz to  1000 Hz;  and  its accuracy  in reporting  the range  and 
bearing  (azimuth)  of  an aircraft  is measured  by  the  following  standard  deviations: 
0.03 nm for  the range and 0.05 *  for the azimuth. The quality of surveillance  of PSR 
may be affected  by fixed echoes  and  "clutter". 

"Mode  A/C"  secondary  radar,-  by  contrast, 
is  a  system  that  makes  it  possible  to 
interrogate  an aircraft  within range  and obtain a coded reply  containing,  as well as 
range  and  bearing,  the  identity  of  the  aircraft  ("Mode  A")  and  its  altitude  ("Mode 
C").  In  this  case  the  radar  system  comprises  both  ground-based  and  airborne 
equipment.  The  core  elements  of  the  ground-based  radar  station  are  the  rotating 
antenna,  a  transmitter/receiver  and  an  extractor.  The  extractor  processes  all  the 
responses  from  an  aircraft  during  each  scan  of  the  antenna  and  delivers  a  digital 
message  containing  the aircraft's  position,  identity  code and altimde.  Conventional 
secondary  radar  (SSR) and monopulse  radar  (MSSR)  are distinguished  by  different 

055app2.96 

- 

14 

1Ï 

techniques  used  for  acquiring  this  information. 

The airborne element is the transponder,  connected to the aircraft  antenna. Secondary 
radars  have  a  range  of  up  to  200  nm,  and  operate  on  a  pulse  repetition  ranging 
frequency  is  from  300  to  400  Hz  for  conventional  radars  and  of  200  Hz  for 
monopulse  radar.  Accuracy  is  measured  by  the  following  standard  deviations  for 
classical SSR radars: 0.15 nm for range and 0.2* for bearing. Monopulse radars have 
the same accuracy  as piimary  radars.  The quality of surveillance  of  "classical" SSR 
is limited by problems of interference  due to transponder saturation, while monopulse 
radars  have  brought  considerable  improvements  in  eliminating  garble,  reducing 
interferences  and improving accuracy. Secondary radar is the core element of current 
ATC  systems  in Europe,  and the general  trend  now is to install monopulse  systems 
whose performance  allows radar  separations  of 5 nm and less.  The performance -of*" 
secondary radars is restricted, however, by limited procedures; techniques for  aircraft 
identification  that  do  not  allow  an  individual  code  to  be  used;  and  line-of-sight 
constraints. 

Table  2.5.  provides  a summary  of  types  and  numbers  of  radars,  on a  country-by-
country  basis.  The  term  "P+S"  is used  when the ATC  is operating  both a primary 
radar  (PSR) and a secondary  radar  (SSR). 

Table 2.5.  -  Number  of  radar types by country  and age 

Country  . 

Radar 

Number of radar station per  age (years) 

Total 

<  5 

6*10 

1U20 

>20 

P+S 

PSR 

P+S 

PSR 

SSR 

MSSR 

P+S 

PSR 

SSR 

MSSR 

PSR 

SSR 

MSSR 

P+S 

MSSR 

6 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 

6 

5 

1 

1 

2 

7 

3 

10 

> 

-

-

1 

2 

-

-

-

3 

-

2 

1 

-

2 

1 

1 

4 

-

1 

-

1 

1 

1 

-

1 

1 

-

1 

3 

-

4 

-

3 

1 

1 

1 

1 

4 

1 

-

-

5 

-

Austria 

Belgium 

Denmark 

Finland 

France 

055app2.96 

15 

fi 

Country 

Radar 

Number of radar station per  age (years) 

Germany 

Greece 

Ireland 

Italy 

Netherlands 

Norway 

Portugal 

Spain 

Sweden 

United  Kingdom 

Total 

<  5 

P+S 

PSR 

SSR 

PSR 

SSR 

MSSR 

P+S 

PSR 

MSSR 

P+S 

PSR 

SSR 

P+S 

SSR 

PSR 

SSR 

P+S 

PSR 

SSR 

PSR 

SSR 

MSSR 

P+S 

PSR 

SSR 

MSSR 

P+S 

PSR 

SSR 

MSSR 

21 

2 

2 

9 

9 

9 

2 

1 

5 

6 

1 

1 

2 

10 

14 

3 

8 

5 

1 

2 

10 

3 

6 

3 

6 

1 

-

-

-

1 

-

1 

2 

6 

2 

2 

-

1 

-

-

-

-

-

1 

1 

3 

-

2 

-

1 

6*10 

2 

lh20 

13 

-

-

-

-

-

1 

-

-

-

1 

1 

-

-

2 

2 

-

-

-

2 

1 

•-

6 

-

2 

1 

-

-

-• 

-

-

-

-

-

2 

1 

1 

-

-

1 

1 

1 

-

2 

1 

6 

-

1 

1 

8 

1 

1 

>20 

-

-

1 

1 

1 

-

1 

-

1 

5 

5 

2 

-

2 

3 

-

1 

-

6 

6 

-

1 

5 

-

2 

5 

1 

Source:  EUROCONTROL 

055app2.96 

16 

?? 

Radar  stations  are  connected  by  dedicated  telephone  to  Radar  Data  Processing 
Systems  (RDPSs) 
in  Air  Traffic  Control  Centres.  RDPSs  convert  radar  data  to 
appear  on  controllers'  screens,  tracking  each  aircraft's  current,  previous  and 
predicted position,  altimde, course  and speed.  A mono-radar tracker processes  plots 
from  a  single  radar,  whereas  a  more  accurate  and  reliable  multi-radar  tracker 
simultaneously processes plots from  several stations. RDPSs can warn controllers of 
potential hazards when an aircraft's  altimde or proximity to other aircraft  seem likely 
to breach  separation  minima.  Hazard  detection  extrapolates  the aircraft's  trajectory 
based  on  track  information,  but  at  present  this  is  limited  to  Short  Term  Conflict 
Avoidance  systems  (STCAs). 

Research  is  taking  place  into  possible  improvements  of  radar  data  exchange  using 
computer  networking.  With  such  a network,  each ATC  centre  would  no longer-De 
restricted  to processing  information  from  a limited number of radar  stations  since it 
would  then be possible  to exchange  track  information  between centres.  This  would 
answer  the need for  identical  radar  information  and identical radar  separations,  and 
eliminate problems  at border  areas. 

There  are  three  main functional  deficiencies  in Europe's  radar  network: 

-  Radar coverage. The introduction of duplicated SSR coverage - an objective of the 
EATCHIP programme - in the South-East of Europe is proceeding far too slowly. 
On the other hand,  in the central  area of Europe there are more radars  operating 
than  are  strictly  needed  (see  table  2.6.),  as  they  have  been  sited  principally  to 
serve  national  requirements.  Two possible  results  are  technical  problems  due to 
the high number of radar  transmissions  in the area;  and unnecessary  increases  in 
the costs  of providing  ATC  services. 

-  The  disparity  of  radar  separation  requirements.  Different  crteria  for  radar 
information and aircraft  separation result in the need for  "stopgap" measures when 
aircraft  are handed on from one centre to another.  It also means that the capacity 
of  a  route  is  dictated  by  the  centre  along  the  route  which  applies  the  greatest 
separation  standards. 

-  The different  technical characteristics  of systems. These can put severe  difficulties 
in the way of achieving  interoperability.  But even when systems  are compatible, 
international  sharing  of  information  does  not  take  place  as  much  as  it  should  -
hence the over-provision  of  radar  coverage  in the core  area. 

055app2.96 

17 

7* 

Table 2.6.  -  Evolution  of radar coverage in ECAC area 

Radar  Coverage  (entire  ECAC  area) 

mo 

1991 

1992 

1993 

No coverage 

66.81% 

66.04%, 

63.14% 

60.29% 

Single coverage 

10.11% 

9.50% 

11.16% 

11.59% 

Multiple  coverage 

23.71% 

24.47% 

25.70% 

28.12% 

Radar  Coverage  (continental  ECAC 
area) 

No coverage 

36.70% 

36.32% 

30.68% 

25.55% 

Single  coverage 

17.89% 

16.72% 

19.97% 

21.01% 

Multiple  coverage 

45.41% 

46.95% 

49.35% 

53.44% 

source:  EUROCONTROL 

2.6.  Human  resources 

This  section  looks  at  staff  engaged  in  Air  Traffic  Services,  and  controllers  in 
particular,  on  a  country-by-country  basis  in  terms  of  their  numbers  and  different 
conditions  of work. 

At  the  request  of  the  Commission,  the  International  Federation  of  Air  Traffic 
Controllers  Associations  (IFACTA) has carried  out a survey  of trends in manpower 
numbers,  by  different  functions.  Although  there  are  many  gaps  in  the  data,  the 
information  gathered  points  to the following  conclusions: 

-  over the last seven years some countries (for example, Belgium, the Netherlands, 
Sweden  and  the  UK)  have  seen  an  increase  in  the  number  of  controllers.  The 
average yearly  rate  of this  increase  ranges  from  4 to 7 percent; 

- 

for  other  countries  (for  example,  Denmark,  Ireland  and  Italy)  the  number  of 
controllers  has remained stable over the period  (and in one case - Finland - it has 
slightly  decreased). 

An  assessment  of  manpower  requirements  was  made  in  1993,  as  part  of  the 
EATCHIP  programme,  which  concluded  that  there  was  a  shortage  of  air  traffic 
controllers  which would  last until  at least  1997; and that this would have an impact 

055app2.96 

18 

J? 

on traffic  capacity.  Another  conclusion  was  that  in  some  countries  the  deployment 
of controllers was less than fully  effective,  due largely to low motivation of staff  and 
poor  management  practices. 

The  figures  in  the  table  appear  to  confirm  the  shortage  of  trained  staff  in  certain 
areas.  This  shortage may be due in part to disparities  in selecting and training  staff, 
which requires  considerable  resources  of time and money. Efforts  are under way to 
harmonise  aspects  of  human  resources  in  this  field  by  establishing  common 
procedures  for  selection,  training  and  licensing. 

Differences  in  social  and  cultural  attitudes  are  reflected  in  different  working 
conditions, as shown in table 2.8. There are marked differences  in standard  working 
— 
times,  which could  explain disparities  both  in productivity  and  in salaries. 

055app2.96 

19 

<p 

Table 2.7.  -  Number of  air traffic  controllers available 

Country 

Function 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

1995 

Belgium 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

TOTAL 

152 

109 

80 

189 

115 

81 

196 

126 

89 

215 

Denmark 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

TOTAL 

Maastricht 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

TOTAL 

152 

152 

145 

145 

155 

155 

Finland 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

TOTAL 

213 

220 

227 

236 

Germany 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

TOTAL 

1180 

1225 

1334 

Ireland 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

TOTAL 

Italy 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

TOTAL 

Netherlands 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

67 

58 

TOTAL 

125 

Spain 

Tower/Approach 

166 

69 

67 

136 

En-route 

TOTAL 

800 

727 

Sweden 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

TOTAL 

United Kingdom 

Tower/Approach 

En-route 

TOTAL 

1500 

1600 

60 

105 

165 

71 

71 

142 

370 

452 

822 

330 

245 

575 

650 

1150 

1800 

60 

105 

165 

77 

70 

147 

325 

230 

555 

138 

94 

232 

105 

95 

200 

171 

171 

170 

60 

230 

65 

110 

175 

135 

86 

221 

106 

92 

198 

168 

69 

237 

65 

110 

175 

501 

668 

144 

87 

231 

108 

96 

204 

164 

70 

234 

65 

110 

175 

515 

685 

-

1169 

1200 

1200 

80 

71 

151 

340 

245 

585 

78 

77 

155 

345 

260 

605 

77 

76 

153 

345 

280 

625 

1900 

1900 

2000 

source:  IFATCA 

055app2.96 

20 

<*' 

i 

working  days per 

week 

month 

year 

working 
hours per 
week 

breaks 
incl. 

maximum 
length of a 
shift  (hr«) 
day / night 

max  continuous  working 
time without  a break / 
day-shift 
(hra) 

radar 

non-radar 

<s 

total duration of 
breaks  (hours) 

day 

night 

minimum 
time-off 
between 2 
shifts 
(hra) 

max number of 
consecutive 
days of work 
without  a day-
off 

official 
allowed 
hours of 
sleep during 
night 

5 

5 

5 

20 

20 

210 

200 

22 ' 

22B 

3.5 

14 

140 

36 

38.5 

35 

32 

4  - S 

2 0 - 22 

205 

38.5 

6 

5 

3.5 

5 

4.5 

14 

21 

19 

140 

200 

230 

41 

35 

32 

38 

35 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yea 

yes 

yes 

no 

yes 

9 / 10 

.30 

7 . 2 0 / 1 0 , 20 

1.30 

1.30 

2 

3 

8 . 4 5 / 1 0 . 30 

4 

1.30 

min 4 

7 . 3 0 / 1 2 . 30 

1  - 3 

1  - 7.5 

1 1 / 12 

1 0 / 10 

8 / 11 

7 

/ ll 

2.5 

2 

2 

5 

6 

3 

2 

1 

7 

2 

7 

2.30 

2.00 

1 

1.45 

1.30 

4 

8 /6 

2.20 

5.20 

1.20 

8 / 10 

2.30 

14  /  14 

1 0 / 10 

2 

2 

8 

4 

4 

2.10 

1 

2 

8 

10 

9 

12 

10 

9 

7 

s 

8 

12 

10 

4 

6 

3 

6 

6 

3 - 4 

10 

3 

10 

6 

no 

yes 

no 

yes 

yes 

yes 

yes 

AUSTRIA 

BELGIUM 

CHANNBL  ISLANDS 

DENMARK 

BUROC0NTR0L 

FINLAND 

GERMANY 

FRANCE 

I 

GREBCB 

IRELAND 

ITALY 

LUXEMBOURG 

THE  NETHERLANDS 

PORTUGAL 

SPAIN 

SWEDEN 

U K 

o'. 
a 

1/5 

8 

i-
od, 

'•••§•• 

2.7.  The  costs of  services  provided 

The economic  appraisal  of  the cost  of facilities  and  staff  engaged  for  the provision 
of  ATS  is  based  on  the  yearly  expenditure  of  national  administrations,  which  is 
reported  to EUROCONTROL  annually by the countries  participating  in the Central 
Route Charges Office  (CRCO). Member states of CRCO operate a common charging 
system, in which the costs for actual services provided, added to EUROCONTROL's 
central  costs,  are used  to establish  a cost-base from  which the national unit rates  of 
charge  can be  calculated. 

The  cost-base  is  worked  out  in  accordance  with  generally  accepted  accounting 
principles  for  investment  expenditure  and  operating  costs.  Investment  expenditure, 
on equipment and buildings,  is taken into account by amortising  its cost on the basis— 
of its expected operating  life.  The two components of this cost are depreciation  (the 
amount of capital acmally  in service); and interest  (which is related to the net value, 
in terms  of  cost  - depreciation,  of  the capital  invested).  Operating  costs  are  those 
for Air Traffic  Services, communications,  meteorological  services and Aeronautical 
Information  Services,  each classified  in terms  of maintenance,  operations,  training, 
research  and  administration. 

The capital  and operating  costs  for  EUROCONTROL  Headquarters.-  including  the 
Central  Flow  Management  Unit,  the  Experimental  Centre  and  the Institute  of  Air 
Navigation Services - are added to Member  States'  own national costs pro rata with 
Member States' contributions to the EUROCONTROL budget.  EUROCONTROL's 
capital  and operating costs for  the Maastricht  Centre are added to national costs pro 
rata  with  the  use  of  the  airspace  of  the  participating  countries  for  which  route 
services  are provided.  Table 2.9.,  and figure  2.2.,  illustrate the changes in en-route 
services  costs  in both actual  and deflated  terms  (at  1986 prices). 

The  overall  cost  of Air Traffic  Services  in  1993 amounted  to 2.147 billion ecus.. 

In order to express  the series  of costs at constant prices  (1986), the consumer  price 
index EUR12* has been used.  Data given,  on the deflated  cost of air traffic  services 
in  EURO/88,  show  a  slight  increase  till  1989  (3.4  percent  on  average)  and  a 
sustained  increase  from  1989 onwards  (10 percent  on average). In the period  under 
analysis  (1986-1993), the contribution of EUROCONTROL  cost to overall  cost has 
increased  from  7 percent  to  11 percent. 

The EUR 12 index is a weighted average of the national price indeces of the Members of the European 
Union. 

055app2.96 

22 

7jS 

Table 2.9.  -  En-route  ATS cost in EURO/88* (million of ECU) 

1986 

1987 

198$ 

198? 

1990. 

1991 

1992 

1993 

Actual costs 

National 

916 

EUROCONTROL 

73 

Total 

989 

Costs in 1986 

National 

EUROCONTROL 

963 
+5 % 

79 
+8 % 

1043 
+5 % 

936 
+2 % 

77 
+5 % 

1034 
+ 8  % 

1130 
+ 10  % 

1357 
+ 19  % 

1574 
+ 16  % 

1772 
+ 13  % 

1927 
+ 11% 

87 
+ 10  % 

101 
+ 16  % 

105 
+4 % 

126 
+21  % 

154 
+22 % 

220 
+42% 

1121 
+7 % 

1231 
+9% 

1462 
+20 % 

1701 
+ 16  % 

1927 
+ 13  % 

2147~~ 
+9 % 

969 
+4 % 

81 
+6 % 

1005 
+4 % 

1148 
+ 13  % 

1269 
+ 11  % 

1365 
+8 % 

1442 
+8 % 

90 
+ 10  % 

88 
-1  % 

102 
+ 15  % 

119 
+ 17  % 

164 
+38% 

Total 

1013 
+2  %  | 

1050 
+3 % 

1094 
+ 4%  j 

1236 
+ 14  % 

1371 
+ 11  % 

4484 
+8 % 

1606 
+ 6% 

source:  CRCO 

3 
O 
LU 

Figure 2.2. - En-route ATS cost in EURO/88 

1986  1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 

'Actual Eurocontrol 
tuai National 

Deflated Eurocontrol 
Deflated National 

EURO/88 is formed  by Belgium, Luxembourg,  Germany,  France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland,  Austria, 
Spain  and  Portugal. 

055app2.96 

23 

& 

Member  States'  costs  are  divided  into: 

-  Staff  costs, 

-  Other  operating  costs  (maintenance,  consumables,  power etc), 

-  Depreciation, 

- 

Interest. 

Costs  between  1991  and  1994,  using  this  breakdown,  are  shown  in  table  2.10.  -
based  on  11 European  countries  (the  "EURO/88"  group,  with Switzerland  excepted 
and  Greece  included). 

Overall,  the  main  component  is  staff  costs,  which  account  for  over  half.  But  the 
relative  importance  of  each  cost  component  to  the  total  national  cost  differs  from 
country  to country.  This  is explained by the  following: 

-  staff  costs  account,  on  average,  for  56%  of  total  costs,  but  with  a  standard 

deviation  of  9%; 

-  other  operating  costs account for  21% on average,  with a standard  deviation of 

12%; 

-  depreciation  accounts  for  13 %,  with  a standard  deviation of  5 % ; 

- 

interest  accounts  for  10%, with a standard  deviation  of 6%;  and 

other  costs  count for  0%,  but  with  a standard  deviation of 2%. 

055app2.96 

24 

K 

Table  2.10.  -  Changes  in  national  ATC  costs  1991-1994  (11  countries) 

Costs 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

Actual costs 
(million ECU) 

Staff 

765 

49  % 

864 

!  49  % 

999 

;  52  % 

+ 13  %  j 

+ 16  %  ; 

1118 
+ 12  %  | 

j  52  % 

j 

Operating  costs 

423 

27 % 

485 

;  28  % 

+ 15  %  | 

471 
-3  % 

;  25  % 
; 

499 
+6  % 

1  23  % 
; 

Depreciation 

183 

12  % 

213 

!  12  % 

255 

1  13  % 

+ 17  %  I 

+20  %  | 

308 

|  14  % 
+20  %  |  •  •  — 

Interest 

153 

10  % 

159 

|  9  % 

+4  %  j 

|  8  % 

161 
+ 1 %  j 

187 

|  9  % 

+ 16  %  | 

Other 

34 

2 % 

32 . 
-4  % 

\  2% 
j 

32 
-2% 

!  2  % 
r 

TOTAL 

1557 

1754 

j 
+ 13  %  \ 

1918 
j 
+9  %  j 

Costs in  1991 
(million of ECU) 

1 

Staff 

Operating  costs 

Depreciation 

Interest 

Other 

TOTAL 

source:  CRCO 

830 
\ 
+8  %  \ 

465 

! 
+ 10  %  j 

929 

| 
+ 12  %  j 

434 
- 7% 

| 
[ 

205 

! 
+ 12  %  j 

'  • 

237 

| 
+ 16 %  j 

, 

151  - I 
! 
-1  % 

32 
-7  % 

1 
j 

1679 
| 
+8  %  ! 

146 
-3  % 

30 
-4  % 

! 
| 

| 
j 

1767 
| 
+5  %  J 

35 

\  2% 

+ 12  %  j 

2147 
| 
+ 12  %  ; 

j 

| 
j 

| 
| 

1012 
+9  % 

453 
+4  % 

279 

| 
+ 18  %  | 

165 

| 
+ 13  %  \ 

33 

| 
+ 10  %  ; 

1937 

j 
+ 10  %  I 

055app2.96 

25 

3. 

THE DEMAND FOR  EUROPEAN  AIR  TRAFFIC  SERVICES 

3.1 

The  developing roles  of  ATS users 

There are three main users  of Air Traffic  Services: 

-  Commercial  Air Transport, 

-  Military Aviation, 

-  General Aviation. 

Commercial  Air  Transport  includes  all  scheduled  and  charter  airlines.  General^ 
Aviation includes: 

-  commercial  (Air Taxis,  private charters,  corporate  aircraft  etc); and 

- 

leisure  (private light aircraft,  gliders,  balloons etc). 

The relative roles of these categories in 1994, when 4.7 million flights took place in 
the  "EURO/88  area", 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  97  percent  of  flights  were  civil 
operations (of which 92% were commercial) while military flights accounted for only 
3 percent. 

The main source  of data on the en-route operational  workload of air traffic  control 
is EUROCONTROL's Central Route Charges Office  (CRCO). From an analysis of 
en-route communications  one can ascertain  the  number  of  flights  operating  under 
instrument  flying  rules  (IFR) handled at en-route  control  centres  (flights  operating 
under visual rules -  VFR - are excluded). The data enables a comprehensive analysis 
to be made of the demand for airspace use. For consistency, data coverage is limited 
to the eleven countries  who participated  in the Route Charges  System before  1988 
(since  then,  a further  six  countries  have joined  the  System;  and  the  former  East 
Germany has been incorporated into the FRG)\  Global traffic figures are shown in 
table 3.1..  The number of  IFR flights  controlled  in the  "EURO/88" area came to 
4.72  million  in  1994 and  represented  a total  of  2.923  million  kilometers  flown. 
Although the number of  flights  had grown more  slowly  in  1991  and  1993,  flights 
became steadily  longer - the average  distance per flight  rose from  582 km in 1988 
to 618 km in 1994. 

EURO/88  is  formed  by  Belgium;  Luxemburg,  Germany,  France,  United  kingdom,,  Netherlands, 
Ireland,  Switzerland,  Austria,  Spain,  Portugal. 

055app2.96 

26 

if 

Table  3.1. 
countries 

-  Trend  of  air  traffic  control  workload  in 

the  "EURO/88  group  of 

1988 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

3605491 

3876962 

4098461 

4180127 

4459574 

4521977 

4723188 

-

+7.53% 

+5.71% 

+ 1.99% 

+6.69% 

+ 1.40% 

+4.45% 

2099 

2249 

2394 

2490 

2677 

2776 

2923 

-

582 

+7.15% 

+6.45% 

+4.01% 

+7.51% 

+3.70% 

+5.30% 

580 

584 

596 

600 

614 

619 

Total number of 
flights 
Increase over 
previous year 

Total kilometers 
flown  (million) 

Average 
kilometers per 
flight 

source:  CRCO 

3.2.  Distribution  and  patterns  of  demand 

The CRCO data  also show  the pattern of  air traffic  in Europe.  In table 3.2.  flights 
are categorised  as  follows: 

-  "Domestic":  flights  wholly  within one of  the  "EURO/88"  countries. 

-  "Internal": international flights operated from  one of the "EURO/88" countries to 

another. 

-  "External":  international  flights  between the  "EURO/88"  group of countries and 

other  countries. 

-  Overflights. 

Figure 3.1. shows the growth in air traffic  control activity during the past ten years, 
based  on  1985, by  category  of  traffic. 

Table 3.2.  -  Number of  IFR flights  handled in EURO/88 in past  decade 

TYPE OF TRAFFIC 

1985 

1986 

1987 

1988 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

Domestic 

1203091 

1264356 

1342253 

1455717 

1565133 

1632485 

1680313 

1733481 

1688161 

1730783 

Internal (international ) 

814861 

897937 

980962 

1070381 

1155993 

1205757 

1239891 

1317597 

External  (international) 

837105 

862166 

936642 

1026868 

1102948 

1207155 

1204377 

1343369 

1324891 

1414082 

1433675 

1504586 

Overflights 

TOTAL 

51994 

47496 

50253 

52525 

52888 

53064 

55546 

65127 

75250 

73737 

2907051 

3071955 

3310110 

3605491 

3876962 

4098461 

4180127 

4459574 

4521977 

4723188 

source:  EUROCONTROL/Division DED.4-STATFOR 

055app2.96 

27 

ii 

Figure 3.1. - Growth of IFR flights  handled  in EURO/88 

~°— Domestic 
"D~ Internal 
• *- External 
~*~ Overflights 

1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994 

Despite the economic effects  of two major  global events (the Gulf War of  1990, and 
the  economic  recession  of  1991-93),  since  1985  there  has  been  strong  growth  in 
international traffic,  with yearly average increases of 6.3 percent in "internal"  traffic 
and  6.7  percent  in  "external"  traffic.  By  contrast,  "domestic"  traffic  grew  more 
slowly,  especially  in the early  1990s,  with  an  average  annual  increase  over  the ten 
year  period  of  only  4.1  percent.  As  a  result,  the  share  of  international  traffic 
("internal"  plus  "external")  increased  from  56.8%in  1985  to  61.8%in  1994. 
(Similarly, the sharp increase in the number of overflights  after  1991 was mainly due 
to  the  growth  of  international  flights  from  and  to  European  countries  outside  the 
"EURO/88" area.) For air traffic  control, this has meant that international traffic  has 
accounted for an ever increasing proportion of sector-to-sector transfer,  throwing into 
sharper relief the shortcomings of European ATS as a grouping of disparate national 
systems. 

Table  3.3.,  and  figure  3.2.,  look  at  the  pattern  of  IFR  flights  in  1994.  For  each 
country,  these  are  shown  in  terms  of  total  flights;  flights  operated  within  national 
boundaries  (domestic);  international  flights;  and overflights.  Under the symbols RT, 
RD, R, and R<j are  shown the respective  ranking  of each country  in terms  of  traffic 
volume  for  each category.  For domestic  flights,  activity  is clearly  correlated  to the 
size  of  the  country;  with  international  flights,  there  is  a clear  concentration  in  the 
core-area  (the UK,  Germany  and France);  and most overflights  take place along the 
north-south  corridor  (Belgium-Germany-France-Switzerland-Austria). 

055app2.96 

28 

ff 

Table 3.3.  -  Annual  number  of  IFR flights in  1994 

International 

Overflights 

Country 

total 

Belgium/Luxemb. 

653908 

Germany 

France 

United Kingdom 

Netherlands 

Ireland 

Spain 

Portugal 

Switzerland 

Austria 

Greece 

Sweden 
Finland 

1830726 

1877914 

1536042 

550171 

321235 

991335 

303611 

774818 

570776 

326285 

515452 

154573 

RT 

6 

2 
1 
3 
8 
11 
4 
12 
5 
7 
10 
9 
13 

Domestic 

6233 

424164 

462206 

416842 

19935 

15199 

260124 

32317 

32661 

27120 

59801 

210253 

73142 

Ro 
13 
2 
1 
3 
11 
12 
4 
9 
8 
10 
7 
5 
6 

278905 

945513 

664297 

954148 

319431 

124364 

502463 

106923 

330333 

183579 

164364 

189141 

70890 

*/ 
7 
2 
3 
1 
6 
11 
4 
12 
5 
9 
10 
8 
13 

368770 

461049 

751411 

165052 

210805 

181672 

228748 

164371 

411824 

360077 

102120 

116058 
10541 

Ro 
4 
2 
1 
9 

JL 
8 
6 
10 
3 
5 
12 
11 
13 

source:  EUROCONTROL/Division  DED.4-STATFOR 

Figure 3.2. -  Annual Number of IFR Flights in 1994 

2000000 
1800000 +-
1600000 -
1400000 -
1200000 f 
1000000 
800000 
600000 
400000 
200000 
0 

Ç 
V) 

c> 

•  Overflights 

•international 

•  Domestic 

Fra  Ger  UK  Sp  Swit  Be!  Aus  Neth  Swe  Gr 

Ire  Port  Fin 

The monthly distribution shows how traffic  decreases during the winter and increases 
in summer:  this is more marked  for  international  flights.  From  1991, July has been 
the busiest  month of  the  year. 

055app2.96 

29 

?o 

Figure 3.3. - Monthly distribution of IFR flights in 1994 

160000 
140000 -
£120000 
êl00000 
£  80000 
o  60000 
^  40000 
20000 

o-^ 

•  Domestic 

•  Internal 
B External 
El Overflights 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec 

4. 

THE  LEVEL,  AND QUALITY,  OF  ATS  SERVICES 

4.1. 

Indicators of  service  quality 

There  are three main criteria  by which  the success of a European ATM system  can 
be judged: 

- 

the level of  safety  achieved; 

- 

the quality  of  service performed;  and 

- 

the value for  money  represented  by the,services  delivered. 

The  system  is assessed  against  these  criteria  using performance  indicators: 

- 

the number  of  airmisses  (as an indicator  of  safety  levels); 

-  delay  monitoring  (as  an indicator  of  service  quality); 

- 

the levels of en-route charges; and productivity  factors  (as indicators of value for 
money). 

4.2.  Level  of  safety 

Over the last  15 years,  the number of airmisses  recorded by IATA in the European 
region  has  remained  relatively  stable  (with  the  exception  of  1989  and  1990  -  see 
figure  4.1).  At  the  same  time,  traffic  increased  tremendously,  which  has  meant  a 
steady  reduction  in  the  rate  of  airmisses  as  a proportion  of  the  number  of  flights 
handled  by the ATC  system. 

055app2.96 

30 

V 

It has  to be  noted  that  this  continuous  improvement  was  achieved  at  the same  time 
that the  introduction  of  new  technologies  allowed  a gradual  reduction  in  separation 
between  aircraft.  Neither  was  it  adversly  affected  by  airspace  congestion  and 
consequent  delays  : on the contrary,  these delays were  often  introduced  to maintain 

Figure - Total airmisses for  EUR region (source IATA) 

400 

the  safety  level of the system  at the expense  of  its  punctuality. 

However,  the growth of air transport continually keeps up the pressure  on an already 
overcrowded  system and new methods of assessing  safety  against capacity will have 
to be developed  if the improvement  in airmisses  is to be  maintained. 

4.3.  Factors  influencing  airspace  capacity 

"Airspace  capacity"  means  the  maximum  number  of  aircraft  that  can  be  handled 
simultaneously  by  a  typical  sector  while  maintaining  an  acceptable  safety  level. 
Capacity  will  therefore  depend  on: 

- 

the  minimum  separation  between  aircraft,  and  hence  the  maximum  potential 
number  of aircraft  movements  at any  one time; and 

- 

the size of the sector,  in terms  of  the volume of  airspace  controlled. 

Capacity can be improved  by increasing  the number of flights handled  in the sector; 
by decreasing their separation; and by reducing the size of the sector's airspace while 
maintaining  the number  of  flights  controlled. 

The degree of separation between  aircraft  depends on several factors.  The principal 
one  is the criteria  applied  for  radar  separation,  which will  depend  on the  accuracy 
of  the  radar  system  and  the  display  representation.  Standards  for  all  radar  sub 
systems  are  set by criteria  for  the performance  of the radar  sensor,  and the  central 
data  processing  equipment.  Other  factors  may  affect  the  use  of  a  particular  radar 

055app2.96 

31 

n 

system,  and  hence  the separation  minima: 

-  Communications.  It  is  essential  to  have  proper  means  of  communication,  with 
proper  coverage  and  performance,  which  always  allow  immediate  contact  with 
aircraft. 

-  Meteorology.  Adverse  weather  conditions  can  mean  that  wider  separation 

distances  has  to be  allowed  between  aircraft. 

-  Airspace  Management  and  Procedures.  This  means  having  a  type  of  airspace 
structure  and  network  which  has  the  maxinum  flexibility  to  adapt  to  different 
radar  separation  requirements. 

-  The  human  element.  This  includes  pilots,  who  must  be  able  to  monitor  and 
respond  promptly  to  controllers' 
instructions,  as  well  as  the  controlllers 
themselves.  The  extent  of  controllers'  expertise,  experience  and  stamina  are 
critical  factors  when establishing  the maximum  workload  they  can cope  with. 

To  an  extent  it  is  possible  to  increase  capacity  and  solve  the  problems  linked  to 
workload  by  decreasing  the  size  of  the  sector  -  the  area  of  responsibility  of  the 
individual  controller.  Increasing  the number  of sectors  in this way could,  however, 
give  rise  to new problems  by  increasing  the amount  of  coordination  needed. 

The  benefits  of  closer  radar  separation  within  a  particular  sector  can  be  lost  if 
separation distances have to be increased  significantly  as aircraft  approach the sector 
boundaries to be transferred  to the next en-route sector. Indeed, the disparity in radar 
separation standards on international routes is one of the single most inhibiting factor 
in  determining  capacity  in  Europe.  Before  a  single  minimum  radar  separation 
standard could be applied across the European area, however, controllers would need 
to be  able  to have  a clear  picture  of  the  traffic  in  neighbouring  sectors  as  well  as 
their own. This would require overlapping radar and R/T coverage; standard display 
screen  characteristics,  when  two  adjacent  aircraft  are  under  control  of  different 
centres; compatible  airspace structures  on both sides of the sector boundary;  and an 
understanding  of  the procedures  and  equipment  in neighbouring  sectors. 

the 

The  main  failing  of  the  present  system,  in  terms  of  meeting  demand,  is  lack  of 
capacity. This stems principally from  the relatively low degree of interoperability  of 
equipment  and 
inefficient  deployment  of  controllers.  Scarce  capacity  means 
delays,  and  less  flexibility  in  the  use  of  airspace.  Delays  are  often  regarded  as  a 
useful  indicator  of system capacity  : when and where they are reported,  shortage of 
ATC capacity could be their cause. However,  measuring  capacity  levels in this way 
first requires  a proper analysis of the different  possible causes of delay. In May  1995 
EC AC s  INSTAR  Study  Group  concluded  that  there  were  three  main  causes  of 
capacity bottlenecks and consequent delay. Lack of technical infrastructure,  especially 
the  quality  and  quantity  of  radar  coverage,  accounts  for  about  10 percent  of  total 
ATM  delays,  while  staff  shortages  in  ATC  centres  account  for  about  another  10 
percent.  The  study  concluded,  however,  that  by  far  the  biggest  cause  -  accounting 
for  some  80%  of  delays  -  was  the  effective  limit  on  a  controller's  workload, 
especially  in the core  area,  in terms  of the maximum  number  of flights that he can 
safely  handle  at  any  one time.  This  limit  will  vary  from  sector  to  sector,  and  may 
indeed  depend  in large part  on the  individual  controller.  This  factor  is also  a result 

055app2.96 

32 

11 

of  a  system  not  offering  the  controller  optimal  working  conditions.  Therefore,  the 
many  factors  involved  (poor  airspace  design,  deficiencies  in  technical  equipment, 
controller  workload)  need  to be  studied  in  depth  before  conclusions  can be  drawn 
about  improving  efficiency  in this  area. 

4.4.  Assessing the  causes  of  ATC  delays 

Delays  affect  both  aircraft  operators,  because  increased  flight  times  directly  affect 
airlines'  costs;  and passengers,  in terms  of inconvenience  and reduced  reliability  of 
flying compared  to other  means  of  travel.  Delays  also mean that  airspace  capacity 
is not used  effectively,  since the effect  is to spread  the same flow of  flights  over a 
longer period; and the resulting increase in ATC operators'  costs per kilometer flawn-
is directly  reflected  in user  charges. 

Although EUROCONTROL,  IATA and AEA monotor delays across Europe, current 
tools  for  measuring  delays  are  still  being  developed.  Delays  resulting  from  ATC 
impact  assessed 
activity  cannot  always  be  directly  identified,  or  their  causes.and 
properly.  There  are  significant  limitations,  therefore,  in our  understanding  of  the 
influence  of  capacity 
capacity  shortages.  Indeed,  system  elements  are  so 
interdependent  that  a some quite unrelated  factor  - such  as  weather,  or  an  accident 
which blocks a key feeder  road to an airport  - may upset flight schedules  in the first 
place;  but  a fundamental  shortage  of  ATC  capacity  may  exacerbate  the  disruption. 
More  research  is  needed  on these  interactions. 

There  are  three  main  sets  of  statistics  on  delays.  Two  have  been  developed  by 
airlines  organisations  (IATA  and AEA)  and the third  consists  of data from  national 
Flow  Management  Units  (FMU)  which  has  been  continued,  more  recently,  by 
EUROCONTROL's  Central  Flow  Management  Unit  (CFMU).  Table  4.2. 
summarises  the main techniques used in assembling  each one. All three surveys take 
into  account  departure  delays. 

The  LATA  survey  collects  data  regularly  from  a sample  of  carriers  -  international 
flights  by  16 European  and  American  carriers  -  and  analyses  them  on  a  monthly 
basis.  While  the IATA  survey  is necessarily  limited  in scope,  it is useful  in that  it: 

-  samples  the  delays  incurred  by  major 

international  carriers  for  all  their 

international  scheduled  flights  - a particularly  important  sector  of the  market; 

-  shows  historic  trends  for  different  causes  of  delay;  and whether  they  are related 
directly to ATC operations, or more indirectly through flow restrictions,  industrial 
action etc; 

055app2.96 

33 

<H 

Figure 4.3. -  Average delay per delayed flight on a monthly  basis 

1990 
1991 
1992 
1993 
1994 
1995 

35,00 

0,00 

Jan 

Feb  Mar 

Apr  May 

Jun 

Jul  Aug 

Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec 

Table 4.2.  -  General criteria of  present statistics  on  delays 

Source 

Start year 

IATA 

1989 

AEA 

1986 

CFMU 

1985 

Collection 
method 

Report of 
airlines 

Report of 
airlines 

Report of 
FMUs 

Calculation 
method 

Difference  between actual 
off-blocks  time and 
scheduled  time of departure 
( >5  minutes) 
Difference  between  actual 
off-blocks  time and 
scheduled  time of departure 
(>15  minutes) 
Difference  between last 
requested  slot time and last 
allocated slot time 
( >5  minutes) 

Type of 
x delay 

: - Sample 
(na of carriers/ 
yearly  fights). 

ATC  & ATC 
related causes 

16 
1.4 million 

Airport & 
ATC caused 

25 
1.4  million 

Flow 
management 
restrictions 

all carriers 
4.7 million 

-  attempts to draw conclusions  about the extent to which delays are attributable to 
weaknesses  in the ATS structure,  in terms of capacity shortages resulting from a 
lack of technical or human resources. 

Table 4.3.  shows the main results  of the IATA  survey  over the last five years. 

055app2.96 

34 

f 

Table  4.3.  -  Yearly  results of IATA-ATC  delay  survey  (year:  from  July to June) 

90/91 

91/92 

92/93 

93/94 

94/95 

Total  number of  flights 

1,034,760 

Number of flights delayed 

185,719 

Percentage of flights delayed 
Delay in minutes 

17.95% 
4,231,040 

Average  delay per delayed 
flight 

22.78 

1,173,018 
+ 13,4% 
196,751 
+5.9% 
16.77% 
4,276,069 
+ 1.1% 
21.73 

1,291,311 
+ 10.1% 
173,153 
-12.0% 
13.41% 
3,109,602 
-27.3% 
17.96 

1,464,663 
+ 13.4% 
133,502 
-22.9% 
9.1% 
2,191,292 
-29.5% 
16.4 

1,475,762 
+0.8% 
144,373 
+8.1% 
9.8% 
2,612,437 
+ 19.2% 
18.1 

source:  IATA 

Although the sample has changed  over the period,  the figures  show the trend:  after 

Figure 4.2. - Montly percentage of flights delayed 

25.00% 

20,00%  HfifT -

Z  15,00% 
o 
<D 
D> 
CO 
§  10,00% 

5,00% 

0,00% 

•O—1990 
•D—1991 

-A-1992 
- * - 1 9 93 

-*—1994 

- 0 - 1 9 95 

-i 

: 

u 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec 

steady improvements up to 1993/94, the situation deteriorated  last year. Figures 4.2. 
and 4.3. contain the same information  on a monthly basis,  showing how delays tend 
to peak over the  summer. 

The FMUs delay survey  was started in 1985 on a small  scale, and was expanded in 
1991 when the CFMU took over responsability  for it. The object of this exercise was 
to  survey  all flights planned to  operate  on restricted  routes,  flying  from  areas for 
which the FMUs had flow management responsibility to other European destinations. 
All  flights  were  included  whenever  they  were  affected  by traffic  flow  restrictions, 
even  if they  experienced  no  delay.  Delays  were  calculated  in terms  of the time 
between the initial  slot  allocation and  actual  take-off  (times of less than  10 minutes 
were  disregarded). 

055app2.96 

35 

# 

The departure  and destination  areas  in the sample  were initially  selected  in order  to 
concentrate on looking at the North-South flow (from  the UK, France,  Benelux and 
FRG  to  Italy,  France,  Spain  and  Greece).  They  were  later  extended,  however,  to 
include  other  areas  where traffic  growth  threatened  a need  for  restrictions  (such as 
Gatwick airport, and the Netherlands); and the inconsistencies resulting from this and 
other changes  preclude  the production  of exhaustive  historical  statistics. 

Table 4.4.  -  Monthly  results of  FMUs delay  survey  from  1986 to 1989 

YEAR 

MONTH 

WEEK 

Traffic flow 

Reported 
flights 

Ç 

, 

Reported 
delay 

%  delayed 
flights 

Average 
delay 

1986 

1987 

1988 

" 

1989 

June 

July 

August 

Total 

June 

July 
August 
Total 
June 
July 
August 

Total 
June 

23-29 

21-27 

25-31 

22-28 

20-26 
24-30 

20-26 
18-24 

22-28 

26-02 

July  ~ 

"24:30""" 

August 
Total 

28-03 

16391 
16148 

16323 
48862 

17763 

17395 
17810 

52968 
19445 
18582 

19108 

57135 

21969 
21147 

21780 

64896 

2773 

3029 
2654 

8456 
4267 

2986 
3176 

10429 
8986 

9579 
9946 

28511 
12318 

12391 
11065 

35774 

16745 

13371 

14683 

44799 
60748 

26788 
19083 
106619 
125744 

125224 

106336 

357304  „ 

237094 

211292 

137793 

586179 

16.92% 

18.76% 

16.26% 
17.31% 

24.02% 

17.17% 

17.83% 
19.69% 
46.21% 

51.55% 

52.05% 

49.90% 
56.07% 

58.59% 
50.80% 

55.13% 

6.04 

4.41 

5.53 

5.30 
14.24 

8.97 

6.01 
10.22 
13.99 
13.07 

10.69 

12.53 
19.25 

Ï7.05""" 
12.45 

16.39 

source:  EUROCONTROL 

Nevertheless,  table 4.4. has been drawn up to compare, year by year, delays in three 
separate  weeks  over  June,  July  and  August,  even  though  the  sample  coverage  has 
changed  over  the period. 

Bearing  these limitations  in mind,  the table  shows  how  delays  rose  dramatically  in 
1988  from  a stable level in  1986 and  1987, both in terms of the number of delayed 
flights and length of the average  delay. 

From  1992,  with  the  inauguration  of  EUROCONTROL's  CFMU,  a  coordinated 
approach  has  meant  that  data  could  be  collected  on  a  daily  basis  and  analysed 
monthly.  At the  same  time,  the  survey  was  extended  to cover  the  entire  European 
region,  recording: 

055app2.96 

36 

<?? 

- 

- 

- 

the estimated  total number  of flights per month that passed through the area of an 
FMU's  responsibility  (from  data  supplied  by  CRCO); 

the number of  slots  requested  for flights subject  to flow control  measures  which 
were  obliged  to request  slots; 

the  delay  between  a requested  slot  time  and  the  actual  take-off  time  if  this  was 
longer  than five minutes. 

Table  4.5.  shows  the  results,  year  by year.  Last  year  saw  about  160,000 hours  of 
delays  - the percentage  of  flights  delayed increased  to 8.9%;  and the average delay 
went up to 23 minutes.  This  setback  is confirmed  when the information  is analysed 

Figure 4.4. -  Monthly percentage of flighs delayed (CFMU) 

25,00% 

0,00% 

Jan 

Feb  Mar  Apr  May 

Jun 

Jul 

Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec 

Figure 4.5. -  Average delay per delayed flight (CFMU) 

»  25,00  -B 

-|  20,00 

°  10,00 

•1992 

•1993 

1994 

•1995 

•1992 

•1993 

•1994 

'1995 

Jan 

Feb  Mar 

Apr  May 

Jun 

Jul 

Aug 

Sep  Oct 

Nov  Dec 

on a monthly  basis  (figures  4.4.  and  4.5.). 

055app2.96 

37 

S-

Table 4.5.  -  Yearly  results  of  CFMU  delay  survey  (year:  from July to June) 

Total number of  flights 

92m 
3,698,061 

93/94 
4,443,245 

Number of flights delayed 

408,994 

357,652 

Percentage of flights delayed 
Delay in minutes 

11.1% 
9,464,541 

8.1% 
8,046,979 

Average delay per delayed-
flight 

23.1 

22.5 

94/95 
4,663,969 
+5.0% 
415,108 
+ 16.1% 
8.9% 
9,558,647 
+ 18.8% 
23.0 

(year  1992 from  August) 
source:  EUROCONTROL 

A recent review by the CFMU  looked  at the 30 busiest  sectors  in Europe  in  1994. 
Leaving aside delays of less than  15 minutes, it still attributed between  100,000 and 
170,000 hours  of departure delay  to ATC causes.  Three  main causes  are  set out  in 
table 4.6.  below. 

Table 4.6.  -  Estimation  of  delay  and  related causes in  1994 

Causes 

Airport and ATM constraints 

.  ' 
Proportion 
j 
100% 

Yearly Delay 

Hours 
200,000 

ATM constraints 
- Inefficient  rostering 

50-80%!  100% 
j  10% 

100,000 to 170,000 
10,000 to 17,000 

- Lack of technical  infrastructure 

j  8% 

8,000 to  14,000 

- Maxima placed on controller 

workload  in elementary  sectors 

;  82% 

82,000 to 140,000 

Source:  Ecac  Instar  Study  Group  - May  1995 

055app2.96 

Improvement measures 

Recruit  controllers 
Improve rostering 
Complete radar coverage 

Revise  airspace  structure/network 
Implement joint use of airspace 
Improve flow  management 
Improve controller  tools 

38 

tf 

4.5.  En-route  charges 

Route charges are levied for the use of en-route air navigation facilities  and services. 
Within  the  EU  all  Member  States  except  Italy,  Finland  and  Sweden  operate  a 
common  charging  system  for  en-route  air  navigation  services  in  the  airspace  for 
which  they  are  responsible.  This  common  system  is operated  by  the Central  Route 
Charges  Office  (CRCO)  of  EUROCONTROL  on behalf  of the Contracting  States. 

The route charges recover the costs incurred by Air Traffic  Control organisations  for 
en-route air navigation services  (see paragraph  2.7.).  The overall charge exacted-by 
a Contracting  State  equates  to  the sum  of  individual  charges  for flights which have 
entered  the airspace  of that State.  The  individual charge for  a flight is calculated  by 
multiplying  the national unit  rate of charge by the number  of  "service  nuits" of that 
flight.  For  each  country,  the  national  unit  rate  of  charge  is  fixed  each  year  by 
dividing the national en-route facility  cost-base by the total number of "service units" 
in that country's airspace in that year.  The calculation of "service units" is a  function 
of  the  distance  flown  by  an  aircraft,  expressed  in  terms  of  one  hundredths  of  the 
great  circle  distance  between  the  point  of  entry  into the country's  airspace  and  the 
point of exit from  it,  multiplied  by the weight factor  of the aircraft  expressed  as the 
square root of its maximum certificated  take-off  weight. The points of entry into and 
exit  from  that  airspace  are  assumed  to  be  along  the  most  commonly  used  routes 
between the airports  of  departure  and  arrival.  "Unit rates  of charge"  for  a year  are 
fixed  at  the  end  of  the  previous  year,  on  the  basis  of  actual  costs.  There  is  a 
mechanism  which allows  any  consequent  disparities  to be adjusted  subsequently. 

Finally, these values must refer  only to chargeable flights. (Some flights are usually 
exempted  - such as those by aircraft  under 2 tons,  State aircraft,  search and rescue 
flights,  military  flights,  training  flights,  and  Navaid  check  flights.) 

Table  4.7.  and  figure  4.6.  show  how  the  unit  rate  of  charge  has  changed  between 
1985 and  1995 for  the  11 European  countries  in  the  "EURO/88" area,  in terms  of: 

- 

the  average  unit  rates  calculated  by  dividing  the  sum  of  the  forecast  costs 
chargeable  to  users  by  the  sum  of  the  forecast  chargeable  service  units  ;  and 
expressed  in current  and  constant  terms  (1985)  ; 

- 

the sum of costs, and of number, of chargeable service units forecast  to determine 
previous  unit rates. 

055app2.96 

39 

Table  4.7.  -  Average  unit  rate  in  the  "EURO/88"  area. 

1985 

1986 

1987 

198& 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

1995 

Unit  Rate 
(ECU) 

Deflated  Unit  Rate 
(ECU  in  1985) 

Costs  forecasted 
(million  of  ECU) 

Chargeable  Service 
Units  forecasted 
(millions) 

41.92 
-
41.92 
-
785.63 
-
18.74 

-

Source:  CRCO 

37.58 

42.49 

41.12 

43.92 

47.29 

55.91 

61.16 

62.36 

63.83 

63.38 

-10.35% 

+ 13.06% 

-3.22% 

+  6.81% 

+7.66% 

+ 18.24% 

+9.39% 

+  1.96% 

+2.36% 

36.14 

39.71 

37.04 

37.54 

38.47 

43.31 

45.44 

44.83 

44.51 

-13.80% 

+ 9.89% 

-6.71% 

+  1.33% 

+2.50% 

+ 12.56% 

• +4.92% 

-1.34% 

-0.71% 

738.83, 

892.08 

964.50 

1139.04 

1288.05 

1685.24 

1911.10 

2166.10 

2247.52 

-0.71% 
-
-
2406.79 

- 5 . %% 

+20.74% 

+ 8.12% 

+ 18.10% 

+ 13.08% 

+30.84% 

+ 13.40% 

+ 13.34% 

+3.76% 

+7.09% 

19.66 

20.99 

23.46 

25.93 

27.24 

30.14 

31.25 

34.74 

35.21 

37.97 

+4.9% 

+ 6.8% 

+  11,7% 

+  10.6% 

+ 5.0% 

+  10.6% 

+3.7% 

+  11.2% 

+  1.4% 

+7.8% 

Figure 4.6. - Evolution  of average unit rate in EURO/88 

E> Unit Rate 

•  Deflated Unit Rate 

1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995 

Real unit rates wavered up and down between  1985 and  1990, and then rose sharply 
(the  average  growth  in  1991 and  1992 was  8.7%).  Since  1992 real  unit rates  have 
slowly  falling.  Looking  at  the  influence  of  the  different  factors  that 
determine unit rates (the cost-base and forecast  service units),  the trend is explained 
as  follows: 

been 

-  until  1990  the  increased  value  of  service  units  (yearly  average,  7.5%)  was 
accompanied  by a - lower  - increase  in the cost-base  (yearly  average,  5.9%); 

-  after  1990 there was a stronger  increase  in the cost-base  (yearly average,  10.6%) 
which was not matched in 1991 and 1992 by a corresponding  increase in the value 
of  service units; 

-  most recently  (since  1993), this trend  has  reversed  due to a sustained  increase  in 

traffic. 

055app2.96 

40 

A^l 

Further  considerations  can be drawn  when the basis  of  the values  of  costs,  service 
units  and unit  rates  are  expressed  in actual  terms. 

Table  4.8.  shows: 

- 

the number  of  actual  total  service  units  in the  "EURO/88"  area; 

- 

the number  of  chargeable  service  units  in the  area; 

- 

the number  of  service  units  exempted; 

- 

the  actual  unit  rate  (derived  by  dividing  actual  costs  by  actual  service  units, 
representing  the theorical  charge that would have been imposed on airspace users 
each year). 

Table  4.8.  -  Actual  Service Units  generated  in  EURO/88  area 

Actual  Unit  Rate 
(ECU) 

Chargeable  Service 
Units  generated 
(millions) 

Exempted  Service 
Units  generated 
(millions) 

Total Service  Units 
generated 
(millions) 

1985 

1986 

1987 

1988. 

1989 

1990 

:  1991 

1992 

1993-

1994 

na 

48.54 

46.74 

46.08 

47.45 

53.72 

57.83 

58.84 

62.64 

na 

19.22 

20.37 

22.31 

24.33 

25.95 

27.22 

29.41 

32.74 

34.27 

-

+5.99% 

+ 9.48% 

+9.06% 

+6.66% 

+4.89% 

+ 8.07% 

+ 11.32% 

+4.6% 

36.28 

+5.9% 

1.83 

1.88 

1.96 

2.01 

2.15 

3.00 

2.06 

1.10 

1.11 

1.01 

+2.80% 

+4.06% 

+2.43% 

+7.10% 

+ 39.50% 

-31.21% 

-46.84% 

+  1.03% 

21.08 

22.27 

24.30 

26.39 

28.10 

30.22 

31.48 

33.84 

35.38 

-8.5% 

37.29 

"  +5.7% 

+ 9.1% 

+ 8.6% 

+ 6\5%" 

" + 7 . 5 %* 

+4.2% 

+7.5% 

+ 4 . 6 %" 

"+7.4%"" 

Over the past decade the number of total service units has increased  at an annual rate 
of  6.5  percent,  reaching  about  37.3 million  in  1994. If  these  figures  are  compared 
with  the  corresponding  figures  on kilometers  flown,  it  is clear  that  the  increase  in 
service  units  is principally  due  to the growth  of  air  traffic  generally,  whether  seen 
in  terms  of  kilometers  flown  or  the  number  of  flights  ;  while  the  influence  of 
aircraft  weight has  remained  constant. 

4.6.  Efficiency  issues 

Air  Traffic  Control  Services  are  operated  at  present  as  monopolies.  Services  are 
provided  and  controlled  by  single  organisations  in each  state.  As  a result,  as  with 
many  public  services,  the  main  motivation  for  the  management  of  Air  Traffic 
Services  has been technical efficiency.  However,  the need to provide services  to an 
ever-increasing  international  air  traffic  market  has  pointed  up  the  fact  that  this 
imperative,  which derives  from  national considerations,  does not necessarily  match 
the idea of a common European service functioning  as if it were provided by a single 
unified  system. 

055app2.96 

41 

Jû^ 

Figure 4.7. -Average cost  per km and per flight  in EURO/88 

0,6 

0,55 

ê  0.5 

0,45 

o 

0,4 

400,00 

350,00 

300,00  r 

250,00  -s; 
o 
O 

200,00 

"Cost per km 

"Cost per flight 

1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993 1994 

The  issue of future  investment  in human  and technological  resources  to achieve a 
harmonisation  and integration  of the different  national  systems,  and the consequent 
inevitably  raises  the question of cost  efficiency.  What 
effects  for  airspace  users, 
integration has been achieved so far enables us now to compare the different  national 
systems  in terms  of the management  and  organisation  of ATC  centres.  Such a 
comparison could well  suggest  that there are opportunities to reduce costs  further. 

European  Air Traffic  Control  Services  have  very  varying  unit  costs.  As we have 
seen,  the biggest differences  are in staff  and operating  costs,  which are reflected in 
the different  unit rates charged by various  countries.  To some extent, the causes of 
these  disparities  are differences  in  quantity  and quality  of the manpower and 
equipment  required  to handle  air traffic.  It is undeniable  that  the more  complex 
traffic  handling  becomes,  so the more  properly-trained  staff  and  sophisticated 
equipment are required.  Other  causes  related to  staff  costs,  and hence  availability, 
are  the  high  differences  in  salaries,  other  remuneration  and social  security 
contributions  paid by different  countries. 

Looking back over the last ten years, productivity indicators of Air Traffic  Services -
in terms of unit costs per kilometer  flown,  and per flight, in terms of ECUs at 1986 
prices - show a positive trend until  1989 followed  by a decline in productivity  after 
1991 at an average annual rate of 4.3%  (see figure 4.7.). This suggests that between 
1989 and 1993 there were no economies of scale: while total traffic  volume increased 
by an average of 5.4% per annum, the overall discounted cost increased even further, 
by  an average  of 10% per annum.  This  trend  is expected  to continue  next  year. 
Looking  at national  figures,  for some  countries  this  is  likely  to be even  more 
pronounced. 

055app2.96 

42 

4&Ï 

These  trends  are  not  entirely  explicable  by  technical  or  external  effects  (such  as 
differences  in labour and systems costs), which suggests that there may well be scope 
for further cost reductions. A recent study by INSTAR suggested that ATC efficiency 
could be improved to the tune of  600 million ECU a year (in  1993 cost terms),  in 
the following  ways: 

-  reducing  the  costs  of  support  personnel  (i.e. 

in  engineering,  technical, 

administrative  and managerial  functions); 

-  reducing the level of "other" costs reported to the CRCO (such as meteorological 
"" 

services,  telecommunications etc); and 

improving  controller productivity. 

If  such  a  cost  reduction  had  been  achieved  in  1993  it  would  have  led  to  a 
corresponding  reduction in the average unit rate of charge in "EURO/88" countries 
of  some  30 percent.  The  study  also  suggests  that possible  improvements  in cost 
performance  as a function of  centre size  should not be disregarded.  Larger centres 
do not seem to be necessarily  more efficient  then smaller ones: the study concludes 
that the significant variance in costs between ATM organisations may well mean that 
any  economies  of  scale  are  currently  masked  by  differences  in  cost  efficiency 
between different  ATC centres. 

055app2.96 

43 

Appendix 3 

BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE  REQUIREMENTS 

1.  Introduction 

This  Appendix  sets  out  the  Community's  priorities  for  investment  in  the  fields  of 
Communications,  Navigation,  Surveillance  and  Automation  of  ATM  functions. 

When preparing  the ATM component of the Trans-European  Transport  Network and trying 
to  make  its  mind  on  the  priorities  for  Community  action  in  this  area,  the  Commission 
realised the need for a more focussed  view on the kind of projects  which would .yield the best 
results  in term  of  improving  capacity  and  safety. 

Accordingly,  it decided to launch  a study,  in co-operation with EUROCONTROL to ensure 
consistency  with the CIP,  aimed  at identifying  by mean of a multicriteria  analysis  the most 
promissing  avenues  for  Community  funding.  This  study,  by  analysing the Member  States' 
investment  plans,  has  identified  three  broad  guidelines  for  action  within which  short  term 
expenditure  (up  to  1997/98)  can be  coordinated  with  longer  term  spending  (until  2000  or 
2001).  These  guidelines  are as follows  : 

- 
- 
- 

to  improve  the continuity  and  quality  of  surveillance  in Europe, 
to  improve  the coverage  and quality  of the communication  system, 
to  improve  the  interoperability  of  ATC  systems  and  the  automation  of  operational 
coordination. 

These  guidelines  have  been  further  refined  and  broken  down  into  two  kind  of  project 
groups  : 

"short-term  projects",  to  bring  on  stream  equipment  available  today  and/or  to  apply 
common  specifications  already  drawn  up.  This  is  a  matter  of  supporting  individual 
countries  in their work to modernise  their  infrastructure, 

- 

"medium-term projects",  based on specifications  still being drawn up which have yet to 
be validated by experimental equipment but which should become commercially available 
in the next few years. Here, the Community's role is to support the operational validation 
activities  and  the  work  being  undertaken  to  prepare  these  new  technologies  for 
deployment by the year  2000. 

It has to be underlined  that the terms  "short-term  projects"  and  "medium-term projects"  are 

CP/055app3\96 

1 

^*?> 

used  from  a  technical  point  of  view  to  designate 
respectively  short-term  technologies 
implementation and new technologies pre-operational validation.  From an investement point 
of  view  it  is  obvious  that  investment  in  "medium-term  projects"  should  start  very  early  in 
order  to prepare  in good  time for  the deployment  of  those technologies  by the year  2000. 

In  addition,  steps  must  be  taken to create  a European  component  for  the global  navigation 
satellite  system  which,  in  January  1994,  the  Community  decided  to  make  one  of  its 
priorities.1 

2.  The basic infrastructure for  Air  Traffic Management 

2.1.  Communications 

Improving  communications  between  pilots  and  controllers  and  between  the  controllers 
themselves  will  obviously 
the  risks  of 
misunderstanding. 

improve  capacity  and  safety  by  reducing 

For  short-term  projects,  the Community's  objective  should be to help improve the coverage 
and  quality  of  the existing  analogue  RT network.  This  means,  in order  of priority  : 

setting up  new VHF receiving/transmitting  stations,  or upgrading  existing  ones; 
improving  the  RT  ground  environment  and  installating  equipment  for  frequency 
management; 
preparating  for  the changeover  to  8.33  kHz channel  spacing. 

For  medium  term  projects,  preparatory  work  should  be put in hand  towards  setting up the 
Aeronautical  Telecommunication  Network  (ATN). Examples  of projects under this heading 
might be  : 

' 

pre-operational  development of the ATN Europe,  preparing  the ground  segment of the 
network; 

joint  feasibility  studies  and  experiments  on the  changeover  from  existing  applications 
to an ATN  architecture; 

common pre-operational  validation work  in particular  on air/ground  communications, 
which  should  help to alleviate R/T overloads  as well  as controller's  workload  ; 

the development  by  industry  of pre-operational  products  and ATN  services. 

In  association  with  this  pre-deployment  joint  activity,  individual  countries  should  take 
concrete  action to introduce  elements  of the ATN  from  1998/99. 

1  COM(94) 238  final.  14.6.1994. 

CP/055app3\96 

stlft> 

2.2.  The European component of a GNSS 

When  the  29th  ICAO  Assembly  adopted  the  CNS/ATM  concept  it  was  recognised 
world-wide  that  new  technology  could  improve  the  capacity  of  the  air  transport, 
infrastructure.  Studies and experience acquired with the US military GPS demonstrated that 
a  space-based  navigation  system  can  also  be  of  benefit  to  all  other  modes  of  transport. 
Particular  benefits  for  the  aviation  sector  will  come  from  greater  accuracy  in  position 
determination; and the ability to receive positioning signals over remote areas such as oceans 
and desert regions. 

The  European  Commission  therefore  decided  to  support  the  implementation  of  a  global 
navigation satellite system. 

A Communication was adopted in June 19942 in order to define a way ahead for Europe. The 
Ministers  of  Transport  fully  supported  the  initiative  of  the  Commission  and  adopted  a 
Resolution  in December  19943.  The European Parliament also underlined the need to take 
action on this4. 

The  European  Commission,  EUROCONTROL  and  the  European  Space  Agency  have 
established  a Tripartite  Group to coordinate  activities  of the three organizations  within the 
framework  of  a  European  Satellite  Navigation  Action  Programme.  This  programme 
comprises  two parallel elements : 

the  implementation  of  the  European  Contribution  to  the  first  generation  of  Global 
Navigation  Satellite  System  (GNSS  1)  to  enable  users  to  gain  early  benefits  from 
existing military satellite systems  (GPS, GLONASS) through the setting up of civilian 
wide  area  and/or  local  area  augmentation,  the  latter  being  needed  for  precision 
approaches and increased navigational, accuracy,  thus making possible new or reduced 
separation standards and increased ATC capacity. 

preparatory  work  needed  for  the  design  and  organisation  of  the  second  generation 
Global Navigation Satellite System  (GNSS 2)  for civil use. 

The ultimate objective of the European Commission  is to contribute to the implementation 

. 

2 

3 

4 

COM(94) 248 of  16.6.94 

JO n* C 379/3 du  31.12.1994 

Coraelissen  Report  30.11.1994 

CP/055app3\96 

3 

/J^t 

of a global system that can be certified  as the sole means for all phases of flight. It is widely 
recognised  that GNSS  1 may  only be a transitional  step to that goal. 

The Tripartite  Group has already assembled  budgetary provisions  for  the implementation of 
a  European  contribution  to  GNSS  l5  :  this  budget  will  enable  the  Initial  Operational 
Capability  (IOC) phase to be undertaken,  based  on a limited  ground  infrastructure.  As well 
as those technical developments,  work  has still to be done on defining  the requirements  for 
an institutional  framework7  for  service  provision,  system  operation,  certification,  liability, 
etc. 

Early  benefits  for  the Air  Traffic  Management  sector  will therefore  only be effective  if  : 

resources  are  made  available  to  enable  the  implementation  of  the  Full  Operational 
Capability phase to be implemented. The potential for joint ventures between public and 
private  bodies  should  be explored; 

an  appropriate  institutional  framework  is  adopted  to  provide  the  necessary  legal 
instruments  for  certification,  financing  and  exploitation  of  the  IOC  phase.  The 
Commission  has  already  set up  a High  Level  Advisory  Group  with representatives  of 
the national  governments  and  all  other  relevant  participants  in order  to flesh  out such 
a  framework. 

2.3  Surveillance 

The extent to which surveillance  is continuous, and of a high quality, has an obvious impact 
on: 

capacity,  in  as  much  as  uniformity  of  surveillance  facilitates  the  reduction  of 
separations,  especially  at  frontiers  between  national  systems,  where  differences  in 
performance  levels have created  unnecessarily  large  margins; 

safety,  to  the  extent  that  greater  precision  allows  a  swifter  detection  of  possible 
navigation errors. 

For the short  term projects  therefore,  the aim of Community  action should be to encourage 
the establishment  of  a comprehensive  monitoring  network  which meets  appropriate  quality 
standards  (that  is,  those  achievable  with  monopulse  secondary  radars).  This  means,  in 
descending  order  of priority  : 

setting  up  new monopulse  radars,  to provide  total  coverage 

adapting  existing  interrogators  to monopulse  technology,  and, 

5 

EC participation comes from the Trans European  Transport Network and the 4th Framework 
Programme. 

CP/055app3'.96 

si  ûi 

bringing  existing  monopulse  radars  into  line with the new  surveillance  standards. 

For  the  medium  term  projects  Community  action  will  aim  to  develop  pre-operational 
validation and support  measures  in connection with the deployment of the new technologies 
(Mode-S  radar  and  ADS)  .  The broad  thrust  of  this  will  be as follows  : 

technical  and  operational  experiments  to do with Mode-S,  starting  with the core  area; 
and preparatory  measures  for  its deployment (such as revising  radar network diagrams 
and coverage charts); 

setting-up  an  infrastructure  for  the  retrieval  of  ADS  data  in  the  North  Atlantic,  the_ 
Mediterranean  and  the  Scandinavian  countries,  and  the  integration  of  ADS  data  in 
surveillance  servers; 

operational  assessment  of the effects  of reducing  vertical  separations,  particularly  over 
the  North  Atlantic. 

2.4  Automation  of  operational  coordination  and  new  Data  Processing  Systems 

Action  in  this  area  covers  projects  designed  to  increase  the  automation  of  operational 
coordinations  between controllers,  and measures  to ensure better integration and automation 
of  radar  data  and  flight  plan data  processing  systems. 

Although  appearing  less  obvious,  the  potential  contribution  of  automatic  data  exchange 
services  in boosting  capacity  and improving  safety  is perhaps  more  important  than those of 
all  the  other  improvements  already  mentioned.  For  instance,  the  replacement  of  voice 
communication links between controllers by a system of automatic data exchange reduces the 
controller's  work  load; and the effects  of this  in terms  of increasing  the productivity  of the 
controllers  - although difficult  to measure  at this  stage  - could  be considerable. 

For  short term projects,  Community  action should  focus  on the development of the national 
data exchange  networks,  their  interconnection  and  the automatic  distribution  of the various 
types of ATC data (radars, flight plans and coordination  messages).  Possible projects  could 
include: 

setting up or extending terrestrial  data networks, based on international standards (X25, 
ISDN,  etc.); 
installing  the hardware  needed  for  the interconnection  of these networks; 
installing  network  management  systems  to  enhance  the  operational  availability  and 
efficiency  of  the service  provided; 
implementing  generic  application  protocols  (X400,  FT AM,  etc.)  and/or  transport 
protocols  in  support  of  specific  automatic  data-exchange  applications  between  the 
computers  of ATC centres.  In certain cases,  this may mean that flight-plan processing 
computers  still  in use  at certain  ATC  centres  have to be  replaced. 

Priorities  for  action - in descending  order  of  importance  - are  to set up: 

4 

CP/055app3*.96 

sUf 

transnational  connections, 
national  networks  or data links; 
networks  needed for the exchange  of radar data. 

For medium term projects,  Community  involvement  will  concentrate  on the integration of 
the Radar Data Processing  Systems (RDPS) and the Flight Data Processing Systems (FDPS) 
within a distributed  data base structure.  On the technical  side,  this will  seek to: 

implement  RDPSs  which  comply  with  EUROCONTROL  specifications  for  the 
processing  of radar data; 

implement  a new FDPS  based on common functional  specifications; 

improve  the degree  of correlation between FDPS and RDPS. 

In view  of  the complexity  of  the systems  under consideration  and the need for a common 
approach to the development of new-generation RDPSs and FDPSs, the Community will give 
priority  to  supporting  pre-implementation measures.  Possible  examples  of  such measures 
are : 

feasibility  studies and other necessary  measures,  such as the development of prototype 
systems,  for a common European approach to the new generation of FDPSs; 

feasibility  studies  and  other  essential  measures  to  do  with  adapting  ATC  centres  to 
enable them to use the RDPS specifications  proposed by EUROCONTROL; 

studies  on  adapting pilot surveillance  systems  to the needs of Mode-S. 

CP/055app3'.96 

/I** 

Appendix  4 

RESEARCH  AND TECHNICAL  DEVELOPMENT  (RTD)  ACTIVITIES 
FOR  AIR  TRAFFIC  MANAGEMENT. 

1. 

Introduction 

The identification and planning of RTD activities in the field of ATM in Europe is a process 
involving many interested parties, national administrations, research centres, universities and 
systems  manufacturers. 

The  concepts  for  the future  ATM  environment  developed within the ICAO/FANS group, 
which  injected  a new way of thinking  in this  field,  addressed  heavily  the use of satellites, 
particularly  for  communication  and  navigation  purposes.  This  led  EUROCONTROL  and 
then  also  European  Space Agency  (ESA)  to  include  in their  plans new subjects  for  RTD 
activities  for  ATM  improvement. 
With  the  spirit  of  supporting  the  ICAO/CNS  Concepts  the  Commission  services  being 
involved  under  different  titles  in  ATM  RTD,  started  the  ECARDA1  initiative  with  the 
primary  objective  to  coordinate  RTD  activities  aimed  at  developing,  evaluating  and 
demonstrating  new  operational 
concepts  based  on  advanced  ATM  functions  and 
technologies  so as to build  the future  European  ATM  system. 

2. 

The  future  system 

The  future  system  is  intended  to  be  a  well-understood,  manageable,  cost-effective  and 
dynamic system that keeps pace with user  needs for  safety,  capacity and efficiency  as well 
as environmental  requirements.  This  future  system  will be characterised  by  : 

a. 

b. 

c. 

improved  internetworking  between elements of the system regardless  of their physical 
distribution  (distributed  system); 

an increased  degree of automation,  providing  system users  and service providers  with 
increased  efficiency  through enhanced  interfaces; 

the  flexibility  to  provide  appropriate  capacity  to  match  the  changes.in  requirements 
resulting  from  the evolving traffic  patterns  imposed by the fluctuations  of the demand. 

ECARDA  (European Coherent Approach  for  RTD  in Air traffic  management, SEC (94)  1475), an inititiave 
undertaken  by  the three DGs VII.XII,  and Xm  to define  a coherent framework for RTD activities in the field of 
ATM 

055app4.96 

Wl 

The  ATM  system can be broken down into  its  individual  components  and elements,  as set 
out below, and the RTD activities are assessing  the various options to establish their benefits 
and drawbacks to enable the future  system configuration to be defined.  Broadly,  introducing 
new procedures  and technologies should facilitate the integration of the Flight Management 
Systems  on board  aircraft  and air traffic  control  functions  in the ground;  support  all ATM 
planning  levels  from  strategic-long  term  through  to  operational  monitoring  and  tactical 
control;  and  speed  up the  introduction  of  improved  airspace  management. 

2.1.  Airspace  Management 

For  airspace  management,  the application  of  area navigation  (RNAV) techniques  in ATM 
can  be  made  as  new  aircraft  navigation  systems  are  introduced.  This  will  allow  die 
implementation of new route profiles,  comprising  for  example parallel tracks,  tubes,  fixed*—-
and  random  routes,  flexible,  mixed  or  dynamic  routes,  which  together  with  reduced 
separation  criteria  will  increase  the  utilisation  of  airspace,  thereby  contributing  to  an 
expected  increase  in  the  ATM  capacity.  The  airspace  structure  should  be  adapted  in  a 
dynamic  and flexible way to prevent  restrictions  on traffic  flow  during  peak times. 

2.2.  ATM  Procedures 

The  definition  of  the  preferred  ATM  procedures  is  a  very  important  part  of  the  system 
definition  process  and  starts  from  the  planning  of  ATM  system  capacity  tô meet  traffic 
demand.  A number  of planning  layers  are envisaged  with new roles  being  assigned  to the 
operators,  covering Airspace Management (ASM), Air Traffic  Flow Management (ATFM) 
and  Air  Traffic  Control  (ATC)  at  centre  level,  taking  account  of  the  options  of  traffic 
segregation based on equipment fit, aircraft performance,  reduced horizontal, vertical and/or 
time  separation  standards,  autonomous  aircraft,  free  flight,  dynamic  sectorisation  etc.  To 
expedite the flow of traffic,  airport operations, including airlines systems, Advanced Surface 
Movement  Guidence  Control  and  Management  Systems  (A-SMGCS)  and  landside 
operations,  have to be integrated  into the ATM  system. 

2.3.  Control  Strategies 

The design of  the future  ATM  system  depends  heavily  on how control  is carried  out  and 
where  responsibilities  will  reside.  The  task  sharing  between  the  automated  system 
components,  on the ground and in the air,  and the human has to be addressed  to  establish 
how  automated  systems  could help  the work  of  air  traffic  controllers  and  to which extent 
they  could  take  over  functions  presently  exploited  by  the  man.  Suitable  limits  for  the 
involvement  of  the available  automation  technology  have to be worked  out to ensure  that 
safety  requirements  are  always  met.  The  division  of  responsibilities  between  pilot  and 
controller  could  also  change  significantly.  In  particular,  the  operations  in  and  around 
airports  will be greatly  affected  by the introduction  of new technologies which will enable 
a  greater  efficiency  in  traffic  flow,  but  will  also  require  a  new  assessment  of  human 
responsibilities. 

2.4.  Aircraft  Systems 

The future^ATM  system considers the aircraft  as an integral part of the whole and will rely 
heavily  on the aircraft  systems  fitted.  Flight Management  Systems  (FMS)  will have to be 
coupled with GNSS receivers  and ATN  routers  to perform  ADS functions,  to compute the 
most  convenient flight path,  negotiate  with  the  ground  control  and  then comply  with  4D 

055app4.96 

2 

contracts  for  those parts  of  airspace  where  this  will be needed;  but also to decide  whether 
free  flight  can be carried  out  and,  if  so,  where. 

2.5.  ATM  Support  Systems 

As  in the case  of  many  other  complex  systems  the future  ATM  system  will  have to  cater 
for  the  processing  of  a  large  amount  of  data,  in  real  time  for  some  applications,  over 
homogenous  areas  certainly  bigger  than  today's  national  airspaces.  This  can  only  be 
achieved by the introduction of ATM  Support Systems to gather,  process  and distribute the 
data for surveillance, flight planning, meteorological reporting and forecasting,  civil/military 
information  exchange, airport/ATC/Airline  Operational  Centre (AOC) interconnection and 
to  support  the  necessary  computer  assistance  (automation) tools. 

2.6.  Communications 

Communications  between the ground  and the air  in the future  system  will be characterised 
by  the  silent  mode  of  data  transfer,  implying  a diminution  of  the use  of  traditional  voice 
communications:  routine  traffic  would  instead  rely  on data transmission  (datalink)  leaving 
voice  conversations 
situations.  Ground-to-ground 
communications will be through an Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) using 
Open System  Interconnection  (OSI). 

for  non-standard  or 

specific 

2.7.  Navigation 

The  development  and enhancement  of  navigation  systems  is aimed essentially  at obtaining 
the  most  cost-effective  solutions  to  meet  the  levels  of  safety,  integrity  and  performance 
necessary  for  aircraft  operations  particularly  under  the  conditions  of  high  traffic  density 
within European airspace. It will start with the introduction of  Area Navigation, both Basic 
and Precision  RNAV  in 3D,  followed  by  moves  to 4D  systems  to obtain further  gains  in 
ATM  system  capacity  and  runway  utilisation  using  Global  Navigation  Satellite  Systems 
(GNSS)  initially  as a supplementary  means of navigation,  with the aircraft  relying  on on 
board inertial or  ground based navigation systems as a primary  navigation system;  later as 
a  primary  means,  although  there  might  be  a  need  for  a  secondary  navigation  system  for 
safety/redundancy  reasons. 

2.8.  Surveillance 

For  surveillance,  the  objective  is  to  integrate  and  distribute  all  means  (primary  and 
secondary  radars  and  Automatic  Dependent  Surveillance  (ADS))  through  data  fusion 
techniques,  so  that  an  improved  picture  results.  The  situation  over  the  oceans  and  over 
terrain unsuitable for radar  (where ADS based  satellite systems are the only ones available) 
should  be  distinguished  from  other  land  areas  where  there  will  continue  to  be  extensive 
radar  coverage  for  the foreseeable  future.  The  benefits  of  E-scan  antennas  deriving  from 
military  applications  will  need  to be  assessed. 

2.9.  Validation 

The  validation  of  new  concepts  and  features  for  the  Air  Traffic  Management  System 
requires  the performance  of a number of exercises  such as simulations and large scale, real 
time  demonstrations  of  the  envisaged  functions  and  procedures,  with  various  degrees  of 
integration  into a real environment.  The  validation strategy  will plan,  define  and carry  out 

055app4.96 

3 

^3 

the validation exercises to ensure that the technical components, resources  and data required 
to run a validation exercise  are available and work properly  together to support an  efficient 
implementation.  It shall  also integrate the analysis  of human factors  linked with the use of 
these new concepts and features and assess their acceptability in an operational  environment. 

3. 

The  European  Commission's  RTD  activities  in the near  future 

The  Air  Transport  part  of  the  Transport  RTD  programme  builds  on  results  of  the  2nd 
Frame Work Programme  (EURET),  and is mainly addressing  ATM,  but contains also tasks 
on  air  transport  safety,  environment  protection  and  airport  operations.  Those  related  to 
ATM  and  airport  management  were  defined  in the  framework  of  the  ECARDA  initiative 
with  a total  available  budget  of  about  33 MECU. 

As  a  result  of  the  first  Call  for  Proposal  of  the 4th  F.P.  in March  1995  for  the  part  on 
ATM  13 projects  were selected  for  which the Community  will spend  a total of  11 MECU. 
They address ATM functional  architecture requirements,  system modelling, simulation and 
overall  validation  ,  the  human/system  roles  and  the  advanced  automation. 

The  requirements  and  operational 
implications  for  Communication  Navigation  and 
Surveillance  (CNS)  will  be  covered  in  the  next  two  Calls  together  with  some  other  tasks 
covering  further  the domains  of the  first  Call. 

The tasks related to the airport operations are addressing  airport design, management issues 
such as the different  kinds of traffic  flows  within airports  and the interface  between airport 
management  and control  systems  on the one hand,  and ATM  on the other.  Modelling  and 
simulation  techniques  will be  developed,  where  appropriate,  in order  to define  the system 
requirements  and  high-level  functional  architecture  of  an  Airport  Movement  Guidance 
Control  and Management  System  and  will lead to a Demonstration  exercise  to validate the 
safety,  capacity,  environment  and  efficiency  benefits.  The  research  will  include  an 
examination  of the impact of  alternative  operational  strategies  on the capacity  and level of 
service  of  European  airports.  The  proposal  selection  of  the  first  Call  led  to  4  projects 
which  will  receive  a total  Community  contribution  of  around  6 MECU. 

The activities  identified  above will define  the elements  of the future  system developing the 
appropriate  components  and  technologies  and  starting  the  process  of  validating  their 
contribution  to the future  system  through  demonstration. 
This  validation  process  of  the  overall  system  will  continue  into  the  5th  FP.  The 
progressive  implementation of validated elements of the  future  system into existing systems 
will bring progressive capacity improvements and could be supported amongst the initiatives 
envisaged  in the Trans-european  Transport  Network  (TENS-T). 

Within the Industrial  and Material  Technology  RTD Programme  some 230 MECU will be 
utilized  for  Aeronautics  activities  of  which  around  25  MECU  will  be  devoted  to  the 
improvement  of the airborne  side  of  the  future  ATM  system. 
In the March  1995 Call for  Proposals  at least three projects  have amongst their  objectives 
the  definition  of  improved  on-board  systems  to  be  integrated  in  the  future  CNS/ATM 
environment.  For  other  projects  the  links  with  ATM  are  of  lesser  importance  but  will 
certainly  be of  relevance. 

In the first activity it will be performed  the development of a demonstrator  for an Advanced 
Flight  Management  System  compatible  with  future  European  CNS  /ATM  environment, 

055app4.96 

4 

still 

including  flight  plan  negotiation  and  4D  planning/guidance,  the  role  of  the  crew  as  the 
manager  of the airborne  part  of the future  ATM system,  the ovearall  system  integrity  and 
user  oriented  functionality  and  cost-effectiveness. 

Another  project  aims  at  the  demonstration  of  a  system  enabling  the  safe  continuation  of 
aircraft  operations  in  poor  weather  at  a  wide  range  of  airfields  with  under-equipped 
runways.  The  solution  is based  on the use  of emerging  technologies  like Enhanced  Vision 
Systems (EVS) based on fusion of sensors and database,  or Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) 
based  on precise  positioning  of  aircraft  and  database. 

The reduction of separations of aircraft  in the landing phase to overcome one of the capacity 
limiting  factors  of  the  future  ATM  system  is  amongst  the  objectives  on  another  RTD 
activity.  In  fact  these  separations  are  imposed  by  the  hazards  to  the  following  aircraft—"-
created  by  the wake  vortices  of  the preceding  aircraft.  This  can be  achieved  by  airborne 
multifunction  equipment  not  only  for  wake  vortex  detection  but  also  for  dry  windshear 
predictive  detection,  clear  air  turbulence,  volcanic  ash,  gust  alleviation,  etc. 

Amongst  the projects  that  are  less  directly  connected  to the ATM  environment  it is worth 
mentioning  one  on advanced  avionics  aiming  at defining  and  validating  a demonstrator  of 
a generic scalable computing architecture  which would be used as a general purpose multi-
applications  computing  platform  into avionics  providing  i.a.  CNS/ATM  functionalities. 

For the Transport  Telematics  sector of the Telematics Application RTD programme,  about 
60%  of  the  budget  will  be  committed  as  a  result  of  the  1995  Call  for  Proposals  which 
closed in March.  The timetable for subsequent calls is not decided. It is intended to commit 
approximately  20 MECU  for  Air Transport  projects  in '95, with a further  14 MECU to be 
secured  for  those actions at a later date.  Member  States have been given an indication that 
some  25%  of  the  total  budget  will  be  spent  on  Air  Transport  in  the  course  of  the 
programme. 

Following  the mentioned  Call  for  Proposals  , covering  all topics  of  the Workprogramme, 
14 proposals  were  selected  for  funding  on Communications,  Navigation  and  Surveillance, 
Airports,Controller  Tools,  Airborne  Air  Traffic  Management  Functions. 

As  in the  case  of  the  other  Specific  Programmes,  the projects  selected  continue  previous 
work  funded  through  the  second  Framework  Programme  or  through  preparatory  actions. 
The focus is on the provision of surveillance data through the integration of communications 
and  navigation technology  and experimentation  with  satellite  navigation  systems.  The use 
of  two-way  data  links  and  the  integration  with  the  Aeronautical  Telecommunications 
Network  are  addressed  as well as the experiments  with the use of  self-organising  TDMA. 
Application of communication, navigation and surveillance technology to presently unserved 
airspace  is  also  considered.  The  development  of  GNSS-1  is  supported  in  multimodal 
projects. These demonstrate the exploitation of GNSS-1 by various user segments, including 
aviation  and the  possible  transition  to GNSS-2. 

Within the Airports domain the intention is to obtain a demonstrator  of an advanced  surface 
movement  guidance  and  control  system,  improving  traffic  flow  at  airports.  Projects 
currently  supported  represent  partial  solutions,  addressing  one.  a  guidance  system  and 
protection  against  intrusion,  while the other  will  investigate  the problems  of  surveillance 
data  fusion  at  airports. 

055app4.96 

5 

SI si  $ 

When addressing  the Controller  Tools  several  different  aspects  of  the controller's  task  are 
considered  in  attempts  to  improve  traffic  handling.  A  task  closely  related  to  the  airports 
work  described  above,  will  provide  tools  to  assist  planning  and  management  of  ground 
movements,  while another  will  similarly  support  the tower  and  en-route  controller. 

The  airborne  functions  will  become  relatively  more  important  in  future  air 
traffic 
management  systems  and the development  of airborne  air  traffic  management  functions  is 
covered.The  possible  integration  of  future  airborne  collision  avoidance  systems  and 
ground-biised  short  term  conflict  alert  is also  addressed. 
Within  the  ECARDA  context,  future  work  in Transport  Telematics  will  seek  to  complete 
the  airports  systems  demonstrator,  improve  airborne  situation  awareness  and  explore  the 
need for a next generation of navigation satellites (GNSS-2). Further work will also be done 
on overall system  architecture  and the possible user  benefits  to be obtained from  increased 
integration of traffic management, self-organising  TDM A and other communications, airport 
and  airline  operational  systems. 

Conclusions 

The  outcome of the research  will support pre-normative,  pre-legislative  activities,  leading 
to  international  standardisation  and  prepare  the  implementation  of  the  operational  system 
satisfying  user  needs for  safety,  capacity and efficiency  as well as environmental  demands. 

The  RTD  activities  mainly  performed  by  consortia  of  different  organisations  (industry, 
research  centres,  university,  airlines,  etc.)  coming  from  all  European  Member  States  to 
further  the definition of the future ATM system,  will bring improvements through the cross-
fertilisation  of different  European working styles and environments,  resulting  in an overall 
increase  of  technical  knowledge  and  awareness,  forming  a  solid  background  to  face  the 
world-wide competition, not only for industry, but also for other actors'performing  research 
activities  which more  and more need to be on the  "leading  edge". 

The efforts  undertaken  following  the ECARDA  initiative that led to the RTD action in the 
4th Framework Programme will have to be carried on and improved by means of the above-
mentioned  continuous  co-ordination  process,  having  Member  States  directly  involved  to 
monitor  and  advise,  together with EUROCONTROL,  in planning  following  phases. 

Three  main strands  for  action can be identified  as a result  of the monitoring,  advising  and 
planning functions  : indication for further  RTD action,  selection for  RTD results  to be put 
into operation,  with the resulting  infrastructure  projects  or  standardization  activities. 

055app4.96 

6 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(96) 57 final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

07 

Catalogue number  : CB-CO-96-104-EN-C 

ISBN 92-78-01347-1 

Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 

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