Covid-19 has hit hard the European aviation system. What are the measures implemented by European Commission in support to our sector?

The drop in traffic when the Covid-19 crisis hit was significant, but there was still traffic in the network – repatriation, cargo and medical flights, for example. Whilst on the operational side ANSPs adapted to the new challenges, and the Network Manager orchestrated the new situation with the rolling NOP and weekly conferences, things looked dire for ANSPs and airlines on the liquidity front. The revenue gaps everybody was facing had to be addressed.

Ultimately, and in the absence of a definition of minimum services, an amendment to the performance and charging rules was agreed, delaying the recovery of ANSPs’ 2020 and 2021 revenue gap. In the meantime, equity injections from states and debt finance, including via a credit facility organised by Eurocontrol, was used to address the revenue gap. Some airlines benefited from state aid, as did airports. We saw that states generally preferred to direct aid to legacy carriers or airports linked to their territory, whilst support ANSPs, who offer their services on a non-discriminatory basis, was less forthcoming.

With the Digital Covid Certificates and a platform to exchange passenger locator forms, the European Commission also helped to create a cross-border framework to enable at least continental traffic to re-start.

Looking further ahead, we note the efforts within the sector to build a more resilient and sustainable business model and streamlined infrastructure. Reduced liquidity combined with the challenges that climate change holds for humanity make collaboration and the need to align future investments more important than ever. The COVID crisis could be the accelerator to force all stakeholders to work more closely together. The Ministerial Declaration adopted at the ICAO High Level Conference on Covid-19 is a good starting point.

In the same vein, in September 2020, the European Commission published proposals to complete the SES 2+ package of reforms. The European Parliament and the Member States in the Transport Council are now negotiating the SES2+ reforms. We hope to have a new system in place by 2025, so the next reference period for SES (RP4) can start under the new framework.

To build an efficient, scalable and resilient system, we need commitment to continued investment in research and innovation so as to prepare the smart and sustainable ATM that we need for the future. SESAR research can prompt disruptive change, creating an enabling environment for game-changing mobility technologies, such as drone-based services and urban air mobility.

Technology, environmental initiatives, new delivery models, drones, ANSPs are engaged in several initiatives to deliver Single European Sky, what is your view on the achievements and areas where further work is needed?

Indeed, stakeholder engagement in delivering the Single European Sky has been significant.

As I already mentioned, we are now transiting to new SESAR 3 JU. We are very satisfied with the results achieved through SESAR’s 2020 programme. A number of achievements are relevant for the ground industry and of particular interest for ANSPs, such as the Virtual Centre, and Trajectory Prediction with ADS-C, and U-space. These concepts will all surely contribute to building the ATM system of the future and will be a feature targeted by all European ANSPs.

Speaking of SESAR deployment, we have also achieved a significant impact by working together with the operational stakeholders through our SESAR Deployment Manager. The deployment of SESAR is a synchronised European effort involving civil and military airports, ANSPs, airlines and manufacturers to modernise European ATM. This effort translates into 190 modernisation projects already in operation and bringing tangible benefits to European ATM. These projects have been financed through our Connecting Europe Facility.

We will of course continue this process with a new partnership that aims to achieve closer collaboration between the operational stakeholders and the Network Manager. We need to strengthen the network dimension and ensure that all nodes of the European network work well and in synchronisation with each other. Good cooperation between Network Manager and ANSPs is essential for delivering an efficient ATM for Europe, and this cooperation must continue.

Finally, let’s turn to drones. Interest in the topic is very high within the industry, and stakeholders have been very involved in the work done so far.

The drone industry and services sector are developing rapidly. We see new, innovative ways of using drones all the time. Related technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, advanced sensors and improvements in power sources are opening new doors to new opportunities.

Recently, the Commission adopted the U-space regulatory package for managing the airspace integration of drones.

In our Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, we announced the intention to adopt a Drone Strategy 2.0 in 2022 to further develop this domain into a vector for sustainable and smart mobility. The Drones Leaders’ Group will play a role in defining this strategy and we appreciate ENAV’s engagement in this group.

What is your view on the future challenges and opportunities for the aviation sector and what are the pillars of the European Commission action? In this light, what role do you think ANSPs can play?

The aviation sector faces many challenges. Unfortunately, we are still living through a global pandemic, and the impacts it has. In addition, growing concerns about climate change have put pressure on aviation to deliver green solutions very fast. This will surely change the sector.

But let me focus on ATM. I already mentioned our SES2+ reform proposals and that we are aiming to have a new system in place for RP4, so from 2025.

I would like to mention a few key aspects of our approach:

• Strengthening the regulatory setup for ATM

Here we are aiming at both local level, with clearer responsibilities for economic and safety oversight of ATM service provision locally, but also European level, by proposing the creation of a European economic regulator as most flights are cross-border in the EU. We believe this would bring a more transparent and professional approach to economic regulation and create a level playing field for everyone in the sector. The option of modulating charges at European level to stimulate the greening of our sector, is also likely to become important in the future.

• Creation of European market for data services

The creation of a European market for data services will bring scalability and resilience – it has real potential to provide efficiency gains, foster specialisation and improve service quality. This is a key concept defined in the Airspace Architecture Study, and we see it as an important business opportunity for ANSPs. While we are sharing data and accelerating digitalisation, we need to improve our cybersecurity resilience, which will become increasingly important.

• Strengthening the network dimension of ATM

ATM is a network industry. We were more aware of this than ever before during the capacity crisis of 2018 and 2019. Delays in one part of the network were elsewhere, leading to extremely inefficient flight paths and an adverse impact on environment. ATM simply can’t be carried out in isolation. This is why we want to ensure that the provision of ATM services in Europe targets network benefit, and not just local efficiency. While local conditions are taken care of by local ANSPs, we need a set-up in which the Network Manager, together with all operational stakeholders, is fit to deliver optimal network functions in a collaborative way.

I would like to urge all relevant stakeholders to get on board, embrace the changes proposed and work together to make this reform a reality.