Communication from the Commission - State of progress with the project to implement the new generation European air traffic management system (SESAR)
Date: 2007-03-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: air safety, air space, air traffic, air traffic control, air transport, common transport policy, joint venture

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 15.3.2007 
COM(2007) 103 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 

State of progress with the project to implement the new generation European air traffic 
management system (SESAR) 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 

State of progress with the project to implement the new generation European air traffic 
management system (SESAR) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

On 25 November 2005 the Commission adopted a communication setting out the challenges 
facing the development of air transport in Europe over the next twenty years and proposing a 
Council  Regulation  on  the  establishment  of  a  Joint  Undertaking  to  manage  an  ambitious 
project for the modernisation of air traffic control in Europe, SESAR (Single European Sky 
ATM Research). 

This proposal has been discussed in the Council, the European Parliament and the European 
Economic  and  Social  Committee.  The  Committee  adopted  its  opinion  on  6  July  2006,1 
Parliament's  opinion  was  adopted  on  14  November  2006,2  and  the  Regulation  was  finally 
adopted by the Council on 27 February 2007. 

On  9  June  2006,  the  Council  adopted  conclusions  stressing  the  importance  of  the  SESAR 
project  for  Europe  and  requesting  the  Commission  to  start  the  preparatory  work  needed  in 
order to set up the SESAR Joint Undertaking. It also asked the Commission to take stock of 
the  SESAR  project,  and  in  particular  the  progress  made  with  the  definition  phase,  and  to 
indicate the prospects regarding industry's participation in financing the project. 

The purpose of this communication is to report to the Council and the European Parliament on 
the  state  of  progress  with  SESAR,  and  in  particular  industry's  participation  in  the  project 
development phase.  

2. 

BACKGROUND 

In a little over a year there has been relatively little change in the air traffic control situation in 
Europe. Traffic is steadily rising (4.1% average increase in 2006 compared with 2005)3 in line 
with the forecasts. However, it is already clear that traffic is reaching saturation point, and all 
it  takes  is  a  critical  event  (such  as  fog,  bad  weather  or  breakdowns)4  to  cause  major  delays 
throughout the European network. 

While, for example as a result of the implementation of measures at Community level such as 
the "black list" designed to give European citizens greater protection against airlines regarded 
as  unsafe,  air  safety  in  Europe  was  satisfactory  in  2006,  a  number  of  accidents  in  other 
regions  of  the  world,  some  of  which  are  in  all  probability  broadly  attributable  to  air  traffic 

1 
2 
3 
4 

TEN 232 Joint Undertaking SESAR. 
P6_TA-PROV(2006)0484. 
Source: Eurocontrol. 
For example, the difficult weather in Summer 2006 and the crisis at Heathrow in August 2006. 

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control,5 serve to remind us that safety can never be taken for granted but requires constant 
vigilance. 

The Single European Sky, adopted in 2004, continues to make progress, in particular with the 
creation of national supervisory authorities responsible for overseeing air  navigation service 
providers,  and  the  adoption  of  seven  implementing  regulations,  and  over  fifteen  mandates 
assigned to Eurocontrol for the preparation of new implementing rules.  

The  Single  Sky  is  also  progressing  geographically  with  the  signature  of  agreements  on  the 
establishment  of  a  Common  European  Aviation  Area  (CEAA)  extending  Community 
provisions, including those relating to the Single Sky, to neighbouring countries. Initially, the 
CEAA agreements will apply to the countries of South-East Europe, Iceland and Norway. 

The institutional framework for European civil aviation is also developing, in particular with 
the  growing  importance  of  the  European  Aviation  Safety  Agency  (EASA),  which  will 
ultimately  become  the  authority  responsible  for  all  activities  related  to  aviation  safety  in 
Europe.  Vice-President  Barrot  has  requested  a  high-level  group  of  experts  to  reflect  on  the 
development of the regulatory and institutional context in Europe. The work of this group will 
be finalised in July 2007 and will make a decisive contribution to the progress report on the 
Single Sky which the Commission has to produce in 2008.6 

Where technical matters are concerned, a number of actions have been launched, in particular 
in order to minimise the environmental impact of flights. For example, the Commission and 
Eurocontrol  have  launched  a  study  of  the  feasibility  of  producing  a  tool  to  determine  the 
precise  impact of every  flight  in  Europe. In addition, in the context of the Memorandum of 
Cooperation signed with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Commission has 
launched a demonstration programme for "green" flight management procedures. 

Even though a Single Sky in Europe is on the right track, there remain major obstacles to be 
overcome: 

–  the capacity of the system has reached its limits, 
–  the technologies are obsolete, 
–  the proliferation of different technical systems remains a concern, especially for air safety, 
–  the  need  for  an  approach  based  on  the  realities  of  traffic  flows  and  not  on  geographical 

constraints. 

The  SESAR  project  is  the  only  way  of  successfully  bringing  about  the  technological 
revolution needed in this area, and completing the work started in 2004 to achieve a Single 
European Sky.  

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6 

For  example,  the  mid-air  collision  on  29  September  2006  in  Brazil  between  a  Boeing  737  and  an 
Embraer Legacy. 
This group is chaired by Ms Tammenoms Bakker. 

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3. 

PROGRESS WITH THE SESAR DEFINITION PHASE  

Eurocontrol,  the  European  Organisation  for  the  Safety  of  Air  Navigation,  is  responsible  for 
the  definition  phase  (2004-2008),  which  is  being  co-financed  by  the  European  Community 
(€30 million from the budget for trans-European transport networks). 

Following  a  tendering  procedure,  in  November  2005  Eurocontrol  signed  a  contract  for  the 
performance  of  the  work  involved  in  the  definition  phase  with  a  consortium  of  thirty 
companies representative of the entire European aviation community. Within this consortium, 
special  importance  has  been  assigned  to  airspace  users,  who  preside  over  the  consortium's 
Executive Committee and participate actively in the work. 

It  should  be  noted  that  staff  representatives  and  the  military  authorities  are  involved  in  the 
work of the consortium. Also, to ensure interoperability with the other regions of the world, 
non-European  companies  (Honeywell,  Boeing  and  Rockwell)  are  participating  in  the  work 
involved in the definition phase. 

The  project  is  divided  into  six  milestones,  each  of  which  will  be  summarised  in  milestone 
deliverable reports (D1…D6), as indicated in the following diagram: 

07/06            12/06             06/07            10/07            01/08          03/08

The 

Current 

Air 

Transport 

Framework 

ATM  

Perform
ance 

Targets 

ATM  

Target 

Concept 

ATM 

Deploy
ment 

S

ATM 

Master 
Plan 

Work 

Program
me 

Fig. 1 - Definition phase milestones 

For  each  project  milestone  the  consortium  holds  a  seminar  to  present  its  work  to  the  entire 
aviation  community.  The  number  of  participants  at  the  three  seminars  held  so  far7  has 
increased  each  time,  in  particular  as  a  result  of  the  attendance  of  non-EU  companies  and 
organisations  which  are  in  this  way  regularly  consulted  and  can  make  their  contributions  to 
the work of the SESAR project. 

The work involved in the definition phase is progressing on schedule. 

After over one year of existence, and following a start-up phase (over 600 people are involved 
in the definition phase), all the reports were delivered on schedule. 

7 

Organised  by  the  consortium  in  Geneva  at  the  IATA  Conference  Centre  on  28  March,  12  September 
2006 and 24 January 2007. 

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In particular, milestone deliverable report D1 published on 31 July 2006 takes stock of the 
societal,  economic  and  operational  context  of  aviation  in  Europe  today.  It  emphasises  a 
number  of  current  shortcomings  in  the  European  air  traffic  control  system,  the  economic 
impact  of  which  for  aviation  is  estimated  at  some  €4.4  billion,  a  figure  which  should  be 
compared with the figure of €7 billion which represents the total cost of the system.8 D1 
also  depicts  a  complex  institutional  and  technical  environment  in  urgent  need  of 
simplification.  It  concludes  that  an  approach  based  on  the  elimination  of  fragmentation  in 
Europe, and on compliance with performance targets, offering greater general flexibility to all 
air transport stakeholders, is essential.  

In  milestone  deliverable  report  D2,  published  on  22  December  2006,  the  consortium 
proposes a vision of the development of the sector over the next fifteen years, together with a 
precise  definition  of  performance  criteria  for  the  development  of  the  new  generations  of 
control  systems.  In  particular,  in  report  D2  the  industry  sets  ambitious  targets  for  the 
design of the new systems: a three-fold increase in capacity, a halving of unit costs, and 
an increase in safety by a factor of 10. With regard to the environmental targets, however, 
SESAR was unable to indicate quantitative targets at this stage since they will depend on the 
operational  and  technical  choices  that  will  be  made  in  report  D3.  However,  report  D2  did 
identify  a  number  of  short-term  initiatives  which  could  potentially  bring  about  significant 
improvements estimated at €0.5 - €1 billion per annum. 

The  definition  phase  is  managing  to  overcome  something  that  has  always  been  a  great 
weakness  of  the  air  traffic  control  sector:  all  the  stakeholders  are  working  together  towards 
the same end, and need to arrive at collective opinions, and make choices to which they are 
prepared to commit themselves. The project is well under way.  

4. 

ELEMENTS OF THE SESAR OPERATIONAL CONCEPT  

A fundamental element of SESAR is the operational concept, i.e. a technical and operational 
vision  of  the  method  of  operation  of  tomorrow's  air  traffic  control  system.  The  vision 
proposed by the definition phase is both revolutionary and pragmatic. 

4.1. 

A technological revolution  

As already indicated,9 the current air traffic control infrastructure will probably be incapable 
of  meeting  the  new  challenges  relating  to  the  sustainable  development  of  European  air 
transport. 

It  is  particularly  unfortunate  that  the  technological  capabilities  of  the  new  generations  of 
aircraft  (and  also  of  the  current  generations)  cannot  be  fully  utilised  on  account  of  the 
obsolescence of the ground equipment and of the ground-to-air telecommunications facilities. 
Moreover,  all  the  improvements  made  possible  by  space  technologies  (Galileo,  SATCOM, 
etc) need to be exploited to the full for air traffic control. 

8 

9 

€2 billion attributable to economic inefficiency, €1.4 billion to non-optimised flights, and €1 billion to 
delays. 
Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  Council  on  the  project  to  develop  the  new  generation 
European  air  traffic  management  system  (SESAR)  and  the  establishment  of  the  SESAR  Joint 
Undertaking (COM(2005) 602). 

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SESAR therefore proposes to structure the concept around the followings elements: 

–  Operations based on better forecasting 

The current air traffic control system is essentially reactive: the knowledge of the air traffic 
controllers on the ground regarding the real trajectory of an aircraft is so imprecise that their 
ability  to  anticipate  problems  is  extremely  limited,  putting  great  operational  pressure  on  the 
human operators (air traffic controllers and pilots). 

In the context of SESAR, anticipation of problems will be possible: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

by means of collaborative decision-making procedures involving the sharing of 
relevant  information  and  structured  discussions/negotiations  between  the 
various stakeholders (airports, air traffic control and airspace users) which will 
make it possible to assign traffic precisely to aviation infrastructures ("aviation 
highways",  "green  approaches",  etc)  taking  into  account  safety  concerns 
(spreading the traffic), economic concerns (taking the greatest possible account 
of 
the  requirements  of  airspace  users),  and  environmental  concerns 
(minimising the environmental impact of flights).10 

through  better  knowledge  of  meteorological  information,  the  uncertainty  of 
which  is  one  of  the  most  important  factors  affecting  trajectory  forecasts. 
Aircraft  could  serve  as  collectors  of  meteorological  information  and  thus 
provide accurate information about atmospheric conditions at altitude, so as to 
improve the performance of weather forecasting.11 

by  merging  the  different  "trajectory"  representations  into  a  single  one 
established by the on-board computers.12 The requirements of the air operator 
(e.g.  precisely  specified  arrival  time,  minimum  cost  or  flight  time,  departure 
time flexibility, etc)13 will be fully taken into account in the trajectory agreed 
with air traffic control.  

through  accurate  monitoring  of  the  scheduled  "trajectory",  in  particular  by 
means  of  satellite  navigation  (Galileo),  which  will  ensure  extremely  accurate 
aircraft positioning.14 

–  Establishment of an efficient telecommunications network 

The current air traffic control system is based mainly on radio contact between the ground and 
the pilot's cabin. This is something of an anachronism, since it reflects the technologies of the 
1950s, but it also represents an excessive amount of work for the human operators, entailing 
major risks of mistakes and misunderstandings resulting in flight safety problems. 

10 
11 

12 

13 

14 

These discussions will be reflected in particular in a network operations plan. 
This  type  of  information  could  also  help  to  improve  the  understanding  of  high-altitude  condensation 
trails ("contrails"). 
At present, the trajectories calculated by the on-board flight management systems are in fact different 
from those calculated by the air traffic control (flight data processing) systems on the ground, which is a 
major source of inconsistencies. 
The  SESAR  definition  phase  combines  all  these  elements  in  what  it  refers  to  as  the  "business 
trajectory".  
"Required navigation performance" methods which allow the aircraft a maximum margin of error. 

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SESAR  will  therefore  set  up  an  efficient  network  of  ground-to-air  data  links,  enabling  in 
particular the accurate 'trajectory" information exchanges referred to above. 

The  telecommunications  network  will  also  enable  all  stakeholders  to  have  effective  and 
simultaneous  access  to  flight  information  status.  In  this  way,  airlines  will  be  able  to  know 
exactly  where  their  aircraft  are,  what  their  place is  in  the  arrivals  "queue"  at  an  airport;  the 
airport  will  be  able  to  know  with  certainty  the  status  of  the  different  flight  preparation 
operations and when the disembarkation gate can be opened; all the operational information 
will  in  future  be  available  for  security  purposes,  enabling  better  anticipation  of  potentially 
critical situations and a more rapid and appropriate response. 

–  Optimisation of the use of airports 

It  is  foreseeable  that  European  airports  will  become  an  increasingly  critical  factor  in  the 
development  of  air  transport.  SESAR  proposes  a  number  of  operational  technologies  and 
procedures which will make it possible to manage airport movements more efficiently: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

(e) 

"smooth" approaches15 which will make it possible to reduce noise and gaseous 
emissions during the landing phase (in conjunction with other initiatives such 
as the clean sky initiative); 

better  forecasting  and  detection  of  slipstream  turbulence  phenomena,  which 
will  make  it  possible  for  aircraft  to  be  closer  together  when  the  risk  of  air 
turbulence is low; 

modern  systems  for  the  planning  of  airport  movements,  including  places  in 
departure and arrival queues. This will make it possible in particular to reduce 
the  number  of  runway  incursions,16  and  to  minimise  waiting  times  on  the 
ground  with  the  engines  running,  which  are  expensive  for  air  operators  and 
generate considerable emissions; 

new  sensor  technologies  (infra-red  for  example)  associated  with  new 
synthesising techniques will be able to recreate nominal visibility conditions so 
as  to  make  it  possible  to  operate  under  better  conditions  at  night  and  in  bad 
weather. 

"best  practice"  procedures  enabling  widespread  application  of  techniques  and 
procedures which have proved their merits on various platforms throughout the 
world. 

–  Increased automation of air traffic control tools to assist operators 

SESAR's  operational  concept  aims  to  keep  the  human  operator  at  the  heart  of  decision-
making.  Automation  will  make  it  possible  to  bring  about  a  significant  reduction  in  the 
pressure on operators, and help them to cope with the increase in traffic. In any event, they 
will continue to play the crucial role of guarantors of flight safety, even if the broad outlines 
of their tasks are bound to change. 

15 
16 

"Continuous descent approaches". 
Which remain a major factor in accidents on the ground. 

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In this way, the technologies and operational procedures developed in the context of SESAR 
will  make  it  possible  to  share  the  workload  between  the  air  traffic  controller  on  the  ground 
and  the  pilot,  for  example  where  the  latter  is  in  a  better  position  to  take  responsibility  for 
certain  constraints  (eg  maintaining  a  certain  separation  from  the  preceding  aircraft  on 
approach). 

The  following  are  examples  of  the  automated  tools  and  systems  which  will  need  to  be 
produced: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

(e) 

all the trajectory negotiation planning and support tools, 

trajectory  allocation  modification  tools,  including  conflict  detection  and 
resolution tools, 

automated tools for the management of movements on the ground and for take-
offs and landings, 

cockpit tools for the visualisation of surrounding traffic, 

trajectory conformance monitoring tools. 

5. 

PREPARATORY  ACTIVITIES  FOR  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  SESAR  JOINT 
UNDERTAKING  

Mandated by the Council conclusions of 9 June 2006 to begin the work needed to prepare for 
the establishment of the SESAR Joint Undertaking, the Commission has made initial contacts 
with a number of potential members and has started preliminary discussions with Eurocontrol. 
The results of these discussions are set out below. 

5.1. 

Position of the founder members 

European Community 

The European Community's estimated financial contribution to the SESAR Joint Undertaking 
is €700 million. This amount will come from the budgets of the Framework Programme for 
Research  and  Development  and  the  Programme  for  the  trans-European  transport  networks 
(TEN-T) in the form of grants in accordance with the specific rules for each instrument. 

The  total  budget  that  the  Commission  envisages  for  the  Seventh  Framework  Programme 
(FP7)  for  the  period  2007-2013  is  estimated  and  capped  at  €350  million.  In  FP7,  the 
"Coopération"  specific  programme17  includes  SESAR  under  the  theme  "Transport  (and 
Aeronautics)".  The  2007  work  programme  for  this  specific  programme18  earmarks 
€10 million for the Joint Undertaking for 2007. 

Under  the  TEN-T  Programme,  the  Commission  envisages  including  €350  million  for 
SESAR in the 2007-2013 multiannual programme due to be adopted on the basis of the new 
TEN-T Regulation (which is now in the final phase of the co-decision procedure). SESAR is 
regarded as a major project and thus included among the horizontal priorities. 

17 
18 

Council Decision 2006/971/EC of 19 December 2006. 
Decision C(2006)6839. 

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Indicative  estimated  breakdown  of  the  Community  contribution  to  the  SESAR  Joint 
Undertaking: 

(Indicative amounts, in millions of euros) 

2007 

2008 

2009 

2010 

2011 

2012 

2013 

TOTAL 

FP7 

TEN-T 

10 

50 

65 

50 

75 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

350 

350 

Eurocontrol 

Le  Provisional  Council  of  8  February  2006  confirmed  Eurocontrol's  participation  in  the 
SESAR  Joint  Undertaking  as  a  founder  member,  and  agreed  to  the  principle  of  the 
organisation providing a financial contribution of €700 millions. 

5.2. 

Participation of industry 

The  Commission  has  received  twelve  expressions  of  interest  from  industry  in  becoming 
members of the SESAR Joint Undertaking.  

The cumulative investment in SESAR envisaged by industry amounts to a preliminary 
total  of  €900  million  to  €1300  million,  broadly  corresponding  to  the  expected 
contribution.  

Many other parties have also expressed an interest in participating in the project, even if this 
interest has not been formalised in a letter of intent. In particular, small and medium-sized air 
navigation service providers envisage forming an appropriate grouping which would make its 
contribution to the project. 

Industry  is  willing  to  contribute  above  all  by  making  technical  resources  available  to  the 
project,  which  will  form  a  sound  foundation  for  a  partnership  in  which  the  research  carried 
out in the context of SESAR will provide an effective basis for the development of industrial 
and operational products. The idea of an "industrial architect" for the technical supervision of 
the work has been put forward in some proposals and deserves more detailed consideration. 

Evaluation of contributions in kind 

The  amounts  indicated  by  candidate  investors  will  be  carefully  and  systematically  verified 
during the negotiations that will be held between the Joint Undertaking and its future partners; 
they confirm industry's willingness to commit itself to the project. 

The  methodology  for  evaluating  the  contributions  in  kind  is  based  on  the  well-known 
mechanisms  of  the  research  and  development  framework  programmes.  Where  human 
resources  are  concerned,  these  contributions  will  be  evaluated  on  the  basis  of  the  real 
auditable costs. To evaluate products or the use of material resources (experimental aircraft, 
simulators, control centres, etc), a transparent contribution evaluation methodology based on 
market prices will be proposed. 

A number of non-European parties have expressed an interest in joining SESAR. The need to 
modernise air traffic control is a worldwide phenomenon, and a number of countries want to 
invest in new technologies as a result of the massive growth in air traffic. The possibility of 
involving these parties in the Joint Undertaking is a strong point of the European approach.  

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Allocation of intellectual property rights 

The property rights arising from the results of the development phase will belong to the Joint 
Undertaking.  Each  member  will  be  entitled  to  have  access  to  these  results  exclusively  for 
research,  development  and  validation  activities  in  the  context  of  the  SESAR  work 
programme. 

The Administrative Board will decide on the procedures for the granting of exploitation rights 
on the basis of requests made to it and needs to ensure the deployment of new systems. Where 
the members of the Joint Undertaking are concerned, these procedures will be set out in the 
accession agreements. 

Given the public-sector investment involved, rights of access to the development phase may 
be granted to the Member States for strictly non-commercial purposes. 

Transition between the development phase and the deployment phase  

On cessation of the activities of the Joint Undertaking and depending on the option chosen for 
carrying out the following phase, the transfer of all tangible and intangible assets created or 
ceded for the project will be decided upon by the Administrative Board.  

Its  decision  will  take  account  of  the  type  of  investment  made,  the  interests  expressed  by 
investors  in  the  context  of  their  accession  agreements  (commercial  exploitation  rights, 
utilisation  rights,  property  rights)  and  the  needs  of  the  project  to  ensure  the  deployment  of 
new technologies on a non-discriminatory basis. 

5.3. 

Other preparatory measures  

One of the objectives of SESAR is to rationalise research and development efforts in Europe 
around a joint project and under the responsibility of the Joint Undertaking. The Commission 
has already undertaken to align with SESAR the R&D projects it is subsidising under FP6, in 
particular  by  including  in  the  contracts  clauses  concerning  obligatory  alignment  with  the 
results of the SESAR definition phase.19  

In  the  expressions  of  interest  received  by  the  Commission  a  number  of  candidates  for 
participation  in  the  Joint  Undertaking  clearly  express  their  wish  to  align  their  programmes 
with SESAR. The same applies to Eurocontrol which has undertaken not to duplicate research 
and development efforts in Europe by carrying out a substantial proportion of its work in the 
context of the SESAR project. 

It can therefore be asserted that, thanks to SESAR, the process of rationalisation of air 
traffic control research has begun.  

19 

For projects arising from DG TREN's fourth call. Specific negotiations will need to be held for the other 
projects. 

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6. 

CONCLUSION 

The  SESAR  project,  a  technological  component  of  the  Single  European  Sky  and  an 
instrument that is essential for the development of safe and sustainable air traffic, is arousing 
much  enthusiasm  and  a  strong  commitment  within  the  European  aviation  community.  The 
definition  phase,  which  has  been  entrusted  to  Eurocontrol  and  an  industrial  consortium,  is 
meeting  the  objectives  assigned  to  it  and  is  yielding  promising  results  which  industry  in 
general endorses. 

Industry  has  clearly  indicated  its  wish  to  contribute  to  the  project  and  to  align  its  own 
activities  on  the  European  SESAR  project.  This  represents  a  significant  step  towards  the 
coordinated modernisation of air traffic control in Europe. 

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