Brussels, 1 March 2010 – ASD, the Aerospace and Defence Industries association of Europe, has endorsed the “Declaration of Madrid” on the implementation of the Single European Sky. Industry particularly welcomes the emphasis put on the need to build and deploy in Europe the most advanced air traffic management technology through the SESAR programme.

The European aerospace manufacturing industry was among the key stakeholders represented at a high-level conference on a ‘Roadmap towards implementing the Single European Sky’, held in Madrid on 25-26 February. Speaking at the conference, François Gayet, ASD’s Secretary General, emphasized that SESAR, the Single European Sky ATM Research programme, would be “crucial” for a successful implementation of the Single European Sky. “SESAR represents the political will that is necessary to succeed in developing the technology needed to modernise air traffic management. It requires a number of major innovations and breakthroughs in the space, air and ground sectors which our industry will develop.”

The Declaration of Madrid, adopted at the conference, underlines the need to establish an appropriate governance of the SESAR deployment phase (2014-2020), including a partnership between European institutions and industry. François Gayet welcomed this part of the Declaration, saying: “The SESAR deployment phase will be a critical step towards a de-carbonised Single European Sky. Preparing properly the governance and financing of that phase is essential to ensure that the technologies and systems developed under the responsibility of the SESAR Joint Undertaking will be deployed timely and efficiently on a European de-fragmented market.”    

The Declaration also rightly stresses the importance of achieving interoperability between SESAR and NextGen, the new US ATM system. “Interoperability between SESAR and NextGen needs to be ensured, and cross industrial participation in both programmes is one of the tools to achieve this”, Mr Gayet declared. 

The Declaration of Madrid further calls for urgent action towards the implementation of a so-called ‘Performance scheme’, which aims at setting binding targets on Member States in the areas of safety, environment, airspace capacity and cost efficiency. It also calls for the implementation by Member States, by 2012, of functional airspace blocks (FABs), which will design the airspace in blocks corresponding to operational requirements and the needs of airlines rather than national borders.

For more information, please contact:

Alexandre Dossat (ASD PR & Communications Manager)

Alexandre.dossat@asd-europe.org    

Tel: +32 2 775 81 33 – Mobile: +32 493 09 79 87