PURPOSE: to
revise the single European sky legislation in order to improve the safety of
aerodromes, air traffic management (ATM) and air navigation services (ANS).
BACKGROUD: the
European Commission adopted the second package of legislation for a Single
European Sky (SES II). The proposals included in the package aim to improve
the performance of the European aviation system in key areas such as safety,
capacity, flight and cost efficiency and environment within the overriding
safety objectives (see COD/2008/0127).
The SES II
package is based on four pillars: updates to existing legislation from 2004;
the SESAR (Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research) Master Plan
or 'technological pillar'; the 'safety pillar' and an airport capacity action
plan.
CONTENT:
Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 extended the EASA’s tasks to air operations,
pilots’ licences and, within the limits set by the Chicago Convention, the
safety of third-country aircraft. They include standardisation inspections
and safety oversight, with particular responsibility for ramp inspections.
This proposal
aims to extend the responsibilities of the EASA to ensure precise, uniform
and binding rules for airport safety, air traffic management and air
navigation services, as well as sound oversight of their implementation by
Member States.
Aerodromes: to improve safety in aerodromes and in their surrounding, the
proposed Regulation would extend the common rules to aerodromes. The main
points are:
- all
aerodromes open to the public which can serve IFR traffic or aircraft
above a certain weight must be subject to Community legislation;
- dedicated
common essential requirements (ERs) covering physical characteristics,
infrastructure, aerodrome equipment, operations, management and
mitigation of hazards in the immediate vicinity of aerodromes must be
introduced as an additional Annex to the basic Regulation;
- aerodrome
owners, aerodrome operators, organisations or personnel providing
services or equipment which can affect the safety of aerodrome
operations would be responsible for implementation of these essential
requirements under the supervision of Member States;
- aerodrome
operators would adopt and implement management systems, including the
safety aspects;
- draft
implementing rules and certification specifications, safety analyses and
standardisation inspections would be amongst the tasks of the Agency;
- the
Commission would be given powers to adopt implementing rules defining
the detailed requirements with which the above-mentioned organisations
and persons would have to comply and the applicable certification
processes;
- powers shall
be given to the Agency to adopt certification specifications to be used
in the certification process;
- operators of
multiple aerodromes which have established appropriate central
operations may request a single certificate covering operations and
management at all aerodromes under their responsibility;
- verification
of compliance of aerodrome equipment would be part of the certification
of the aerodrome design or operator, depending on the intended use (but
safety-critical equipment may be subject to dedicated certification
schemes).
ATM/ANS: the proposed Regulation should provide the legal basis for
ensuring that the safety of air traffic management, of air navigation
services and of air/ground interoperability is organised under the aegis of
the EASA system. In order to do so, the proposal is that:
- all the
airspace to which the Treaty applies, along with any other airspace
where Regulation (EC) No 551/2004 applies, would be subject to Community
legislation;
- dedicated
common essential requirements (ERs) mitigating all safety hazards
relating to use of airspace should be introduced as an additional Annex
to the basic Regulation;
- use of any
block of airspace would be governed by a operational concept designed to
mitigate the risks of collision both between aircraft and between
aircraft and the ground;
- airspace
users would comply with the rules issued to implement the operational
concepts applicable in the airspace in which they operate and make use
of the services responsible for use of that airspace;
- organisations
and personnel involved in provision of ATM/ANS would be responsible for
implementation of the applicable essential requirements;
- air traffic
controllers and organisations involved in their training would be
subject to certification;
- systems and
constituents used for provision of ATM/ANS would have to comply with
appropriate safety requirements when called for by their criticality;
- the
Commission would be given powers to adopt implementing rules defining
the detailed requirements with which the above-mentioned organisations,
personnel and systems and constituents would have to comply and the
applicable certification processes, when relevant;
- such
implementing rules would be proportionate to the level of complexity of
the regulated activity or of the criticality of the system and
constituent concerned. They would be based on the existing SES
provisions, in particular the transposed Eurocontrol Safety Regulation
Requirements (ESARRs). To this end, transitional mechanisms would be
designed to provide for the continuity of approvals already granted
under the SES rules.