Heading:
POINTS FROM THE ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE HON. CENSU GALEA, MINISTER
FOR COMPETITIVENESS AND COMMUNICATIONS, AT THE CONFERENCE ON THE
EUROPEAN SKY NETWORK
www.mcmp.gov.mt
Sub heading:
To an airline, delays mean money - As air traffic
volumes increase relentlessly and airspace becomes ever more sparse,
action has to be taken to address the situation
European Air Traffic increasing by 4% a year, and
set to double by 2020 - Minister Censu Galea
Various participants from national civil aviation authorities,
including Malta’s Department of Civil Aviation, have together
with members of the EU Commission convened in Malta to discuss the
concept of a ‘single European sky.’ The conference organized
by the European Commission was hosted in Malta by the Ministry for
Competitiveness and Communications together with the Department
of Civil Aviation, which falls under the responsibility of the same
Ministry.
INTRODUCTION
Around sixty years ago Europe was enclosed within insurmountable
walls of divide. Its sky was the field of battle between the allies
and the axis. Thousands of war planes flew across the continent
chasing others and bringing them down to the land battlefield below.
Millions lost their lives, across a European sky shattered by borders,
hate, and death. Today, half a century later you are gathered in
Malta to discuss the same sky, the same continent, but with different
visions in mind – that of bridging it as one sky, broadening
its horizons, and facilitating its operations throughout.
In the words of Loyola de Palacio, Vice-President of the European
Commission and Commissioner for Energy and Transport, “Airspace
is a valuable but finite resource. Due to the ever-increasing importance
of air travel, inefficient use of its airspace has become a real
constraint on Europe’s economic growth and international competitiveness.
Therefore, the time has come for Europe as a whole to create the
single European sky.”
A SINGLE EUROPEAN SKY
With this in mind it is therefore with great pleasure,
that I welcome you for this Seminar on the Single European Sky that
is being organised by the European Commission, and which my Ministry
and the Department of Civil Aviation, for which I am responsible,
are hosting in Malta. We are committed at providing our support
for the Commission’s initiative to provide EU member States
with an opportunity to discuss in an informal manner various aspects
of this matter.
European air space is one of the busiest on the planet, and the
current system of air traffic management suffers from several problems,
which threaten the future of the airline industry. These include
inefficient air traffic control boundaries which follow national
borders, and large areas of European airspace reserved for military
use, often without any real need for this reservation. In October
2001, the European Commission adopted proposals for a Single European
Sky, to create a Community regulator for air traffic management
within the EU, Norway and Switzerland. It is being proposed that
the Community regulator will merge upper European airspace, currently
divided into national regions. It will organize this airspace uniformly,
with air traffic control areas based on operational efficiency,
not national borders.
The concept of a Single European Sky is a long-standing.one EUROCONTROL
was created in 1960 for the express purpose of creating a single
upper airspace by its six founding Member States. The convention
establishing EUROCONTROL has since been amended on a number of occasions
in order to allow the European Community to accede to the Organisation,
with the aim of creating a joint synergy between the two bodies
in the field of air traffic management.
AIR TRANSPORT TODAY
Air traffic in Europe is projected to increase by around
4% a year for the next fifteen years, and it is expected that today’s
air traffic will have doubled by 2020. Current systems, with ongoing
improvements, should be able to handle this increased load until
2015.
The air transport industry in Europe requires the provision of extra
and more efficient airspace capacity in order to successfully encounter
this future growth. But at the same time, air transport has to be
both safe and economically viable. The European Single Sky initiative
represents a regulatory approach to solving the issues that affect
air transport now and in the future.
Another important point to be mentioned is the fact that the Single
Sky Initiative recognizes that Air Traffic Control is a service
provided in the general economic interest and which has as its primary
concern, the maintenance of air traffic’s safety. It is therefore
not intended to promote competition or privatisation in Air Traffic
Control.
After many discussions, the four Regulations concerned with the
Single European Sky were enacted last March and through the Single
Sky Committee the Commission has already launched a number of actions
aimed at implementing the Single European Sky concept and it is
now well under way to meet the deadlines that have been set.
A COMMON AND MUTUAL EUROPEAN SUPPORT
It is to be noted that there is a wide support for this
initiative throughout the European Union. The regulations were adopted
unanimously by the Council of Ministers and by an overwhelming majority
in the European Parliament. Adopted by the European Parliament in
March 2004 and coming into force in April 2004, a number of mandates
for the development of implementation rules have already been forwarded
by the European Commission.
This shows that there is widespread understanding and agreement
that the problems of safety, capacity and efficiency are ones that
can no longer be resolved solely by national measures, but demand
a broader European perspective and common action by all of countries
of the now enlarged European Union.
WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED
The Single European Sky will lead to more transparency,
and improved communications through technical inter-operations complimented
by a more efficient flow and capacity management. This will benefit
both the service providers and the airspace users through lower
investment and operating costs, as well as a more efficient utilisation
of resources.
The reduction of fragmentation in technical systems and the harmonisation
of controller licensing will lead to lower costs both in investment
and in the flexible use of the workforce for the service providers
and ultimately to a safer environment for airspace users and controllers
alike.
Air Traffic Control will continuously require a sustained effort
to improve safety, increase capacity and enhance efficiency it is
hoped that the Single European Sky will provide the tools to meet
that challenge. We hope that all interested parties will continue
working together closely to fully exploit the opportunities that
have been created.
European aviation has today become an important tool for the transportation
of passengers and merchandise. More and more flights are flying
to more destinations, whilst competition has led to even cheaper
prices. It has, however, to be ensured that this development continues
to take place without jeopardizing the industry’s excellent
track record. These factors will continue to encourage more and
more people to fly and make business through aviation. This should
lead to the concept you will be discussing today.
Success stories can only continue to take
place through the correct use of facilities, and efficient regulations.
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