SESAR, the die is cast - Now it’s your turn! It´s about your performance as of 2021

EU Regulation 716/2014 kicked off the Pilot Common Project already five years ago to start deploying the European ATM Master Plan. Now, initial deadlines are approaching. In 2021 a first set of new ATM solutions matured through SESAR will be operational. Airlines decide: get the benefits or waste opportunities to save money. Ops control readiness is crucial, therefore meaningful action is required to prepare. As of now. But the benefit is vast:  fuel savings, cost savings, less delays, better management of disruptions. Understanding the frame is the first step to leverage all of these benefits, thus let´s learn more about SESAR and the Pilot Common Project!

SESAR, the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management research (and deployment) program

Driven by the European ATM (Air Traffic Management) Master Plan, the change roadmap, SESAR – namely, the Single European Sky ATM Research – aims at modernizing the management of air traffic across Europe. Typically seen as the technological arm of the Single European Sky, SESAR fosters many other dimensions as important as technology. Processes, organization and people: all of these are crucial facets to actually implement the changes envisaged by the Master Plan. Two bodies come under the SESAR umbrella: SESAR Joint Undertaking, responsible for Research & Development and for taking the ATM solutions to the appropriate level of maturity, and SESAR Deployment Manager, in charge of coordinating and synchronizing the deployment of the validated network-wide ATM solutions. Over 3000 experts from partners across the industry are working together: airport operators, airlines, air navigation service providers and manufacturers, all in a joint effort to realize the Single European Sky. 

The Pilot Common Project

The Pilot Common Project (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 716/2014 of 27 June 2014) - the PCP - is an act adopted by the European Commission that identifies a first set of 27 ATM solutions to be deployed in a timely, coordinated and synchronized way across Europe. It is a legal act becoming immediately enforceable as law in all member states. Indeed a point of no return for European aviation. Organized into six domains such as Airport Integration and Throughput, Network Collaborative Management and Flexible Airspace Management and Free Route, the PCP applies to the stakeholders identified in the regulation itself, according to the specific domain (e.g. ATS providers, the Network Manager and airspace users in this latter case). It means that the mentioned parties have an obligation to deploy the relevant ATM solutions. Not only: they have to implement the associated operational procedures for their seamless operation as well, by the dates set forth in the regulation. These target dates are staggered between beginning of 2021 and end of 2024.

The role of airlines

Many think that the PCP is something just relevant for Ops control system providers that – as such – have the obligation to implement. This is actually a misunderstanding.

Stay tuned! In the next blog post (“Your benefit, your role, your actions”) we will review this misjudgment and discuss why airlines shall care about the PCP. In our third post we will then talk about how to get ready (“The road to readiness”) to make the most out of it. We will finally see how Lufthansa Systems Airline Consulting helps you getting there (“Lufthansa Systems is set to support you”).