Enabling air traffic management (ATM) data services

Abstract

The Airspace Architecture Study (AAS), published in March 2019, set out a proposal for a future Single European Airspace System (SEAS) underpinned by optimised airspace organisation, progressively higher levels of automation and the establishment of common ATM data services, enabling seamless cross border air traffic service provision. The vision outlined in the AAS report requires operational, technological, organisational and regulatory changes to the existing SES architecture. Whilst the AAS focused on the operational and technical dimensions of the proposed future ATM architecture, a number of questions remain open in terms of regulatory aspects and service delivery arrangements (‘framework dimensions’). The framework dimension, including the regulatory framework and the service delivery models, constitute the enablers without which the proposed future vision cannot be realised. Hence, the Commission has taken further action to explore and address the related aspects critical for the future SEAS, by launching a study in October 2019 on the legal, economic and regulatory aspects of ATM data services provision and capacity on demand as part of the future European air space architecture. Subsequently, a major stakeholder engagement workshop was held in Brussels in November 2019, to inform all stakeholders about the scope and timing of the study, and to allow for key stakeholder groups to provide initial inputs to the study. In addition to this, a dedicated civil-military workshop was also organised by the European Defense Agency, to involve military and defense dimensions from early on.