It is only a few days ago that airlines in Europe blasted states and ANSPs for creating empty shells which are then sold as operating Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs) and the European Commission sent an equally strong message expressing its displeasure.
The next round of fire aims at the UK, Italy, Ireland, Austria, Spain and France who have reported at the recent Project Steering Group meeting on Data Link Services, that they will not meet the deadline of 7 February 2012 for the provision of data link services in the core area of Europe as mandated by Commission Regulation EC No 29/2009.
“The decision of these member states to not comply with European regulation will not only undermine the financial investments made by airspace users, but will also damage the credibility of the Single European Sky of which achieving de-fragmentation of the ATM infrastructure is a key objective.” – says IATA and AEA in their common letter addressed to Matthew Baldwin, Director Aviation and International Transport Affairs at the European Commission.
What is more, they urge the European Commission to take the necessary legal action against non-compliant member states…
I have said many times that in the past that promising air traffic management programs like EATCHIP and ATM2000+ died premature deaths not because of mismanagement by EUROCONTROL as states like to claim. They went nowhere because some states and ANSPs chose to walk their own way even if it meant hitting the wall.
The Single European Sky legislation was born to put EC power behind the effort to finally create an efficient ATM system on Europe. SES I had to be followed by SES II and some serious words about the consequences of not playing along. Then came the FAB fiasco and now the death knell for data link services… I am saying death knell because with one state having said that they would not be ready for data link services before 2019, this project is as good as dead in the water.
Make no mistake, data link services are not rocket science. It has been tried, it works. You just need the will to do it…
The airlines are right in pointing out that if the states concerned are allowed to show such blatant disregard for the Commission Regulation, the whole regulatory framework will become a joke. A bad joke… Worse, who will believe for a moment that the infinitely more complicated elements of SESAR will ever become reality? It has been said repeatedly that funding SESAR is an issue… The airlines are expected to spend a lot of money to make their aircraft compliant with the SESAR requirements. But they will not spend a dime if they do not trust Europe to actually introduce SESAR.
With two such high profile failures being added to EATCHIP and ATM2000+, trust is the last thing anybody has in this mess.
The EC must take this warning very seriously. There is very little runway left to save European ATM from a major disaster!
We copy here the IATA/AEA letter sent to the European Commission, in its totality. Judge for yourself.
Mr Matthew Baldwin,
Director Aviation and International Transport Affairs,
European Commission,
DG for Mobility and Transport,
Directorat E,
Rue De Mot 24-28,
1049 Brussels,
Belgium
14 December 2012
Subject: Member states non-compliance with Implementing Rule on Data Link Services
Dear Mr Baldwin,
During the recently held Project Steering Group meeting on Data Link Services, the United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland, Austria, Spain and France reported that they will not meet the deadline of 7 February 2013 for the provision of Data Link Services in the core area of Europe as mandated by Commission Regulation EC No 29/2009.
One State indicated that it has set 2019 as its target date.
Data Link Services are recognized to improve the safety, environment, capacity and efficiency performance in the en-route airspace across Europe. A high percentage of IATA and AEA member airline aircraft operating within European airspace have invested in avionics required for Data Link communication.
The decision of these member states to not comply with European regulation will not only undermine the financial investments made by airspace users, but will also damage the credibility of the Single European Sky of which achieving de-fragmentation of the ATM infrastructure is a key objective.
IATA and AEA urge the European Commission to take the necessary legal action against non-compliant member states. Specifically, we seek that the European Commission takes actions to achieve:
-An acceleration of the implementation of the Data Link projects and
-The urgent creation of a simple and effective mechanism to recover airline investment in Data Link from non-compliant states through a corresponding reduction in user charges until such time that these states provide the agreed services
In order to avoid future costly non-compliance by member states, IATA and AEA seek that the EC implement stronger oversight mechanisms through the establishment of enforceable intermediate deployment compliance-checks. This will allow the EC to take interim remedial action where member state progress is deemed inadequate.
IATA and AEA request your urgent action on this important matter.
Yours sincerely,
Robert M. Tod
IATA
Regional Director
Safety, Operations & Infrastructure, Europe
Athar Husain Khan
AEA
Acting Secretary General
Cc:
Mr Luis Fonseca Almeida, ICAO Regional Director Europe and North Atlantic
Mr Frank Brenner, Director-General Eurocontrol
Mr Patrick Goudou, Executive Director, EASA
Mr Jeff Poole / Director General CANSO
Mr Peter Griffiths, Chair of the Eurocontrol Performance Review Commission