Remarks of Simon Hocquard, Deputy Director General CANSO, to ENAIRE 2019 Annual Day in Madrid on 12 March 2019

In his remarks to the ENAIRE Annual Day in Madrid on 12 March, CANSO Deputy Director General, Simon Hocquard, spoke about the future of air traffic management (ATM) in Europe. He started by addressing the current capacity challenges in Europe. He said there were many reasons for delays and that air navigation service providers would continue to focus on reducing those delays that are genuinely addressable by ATM. He acknowledged that was room for improvement in certain areas but the majority of air navigation service providers (ANSPs) in Europe were performing well.

ANSPs were taking steps to reduce delays and improve efficiency, such as collaborative decision-making; air traffic flow management; providing more flexibility for planes to fly their chosen routes; and implementing new technologies and procedures such as time based separation. States and industry partners also had an important role in taking the steps needed to address the capacity and delay challenges by removing the present constraints to a true pan-European approach to airspace management, with a greater sense of urgency.

Turning to the future, Simon Hocquard looked at the role and importance of aviation to Europe in the mid-2030s; what aviation might look like then in terms of traffic and types of airspace users; and what ATM needs to do now and in the future to prepare for the challenges and demands. He focused on four areas: operations, technology, business models, and people. He saw ATM operating more as a network across Europe with greater collaboration; new technologies enabling a digital, data-driven ATM system with a high degree of automation and machine learning; changing business models with greater emphasis on air navigation service provision offered ‘as a service’; and ensuring air traffic controllers are well prepared and trained for these changes.