Single European Sky: does SES need another SOS as the European Commission tries again?

On 12-Jun-2013, European Commission Transport VP, Siim Kallas, likened the Single European Sky (SES) to a mirage in the desert - "each time you get close, it seems to move further away". Initiatives since the late 1990s, including two packages of EU rules (in 2004 and 2009), have so far failed to see SES fully implemented. On top of the EUR8.3 billion air navigation services fees, inefficiencies resulting from the fragmentation of European airspace cost airlines a further EUR4.6 billion in 2012.

A new package of EC proposals aims to reinvigorate the project, allowing for better safety oversight, strengthened performance monitoring, the opening to competition of air traffic management support services and a more flexible approach to the Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs). Airlines broadly welcomed the proposals, but called for greater urgency in their implementation.

Nevertheless, member state intransigence, rooted in the vested interests of labour and the revenue streams generated by national air traffic management bodies, may remain a significant brake on more rapid progress. The cost will be borne by the airlines, the public and the European economy.