How to lift European aviation out of crisis

Raine Luojus, CEO of ANS Finland and new Chair of CANSO Europe’s EC3, and Michiel van Dorst, CEO of LVNL and new EC3 Vice-Chair, outline their ambitions for their two-year term.

This month we assumed our roles as the new Chair and Vice-Chair of CANSO Europe’s CEO Committee. The timing could not be more critical.

Our members are currently faced with the challenge of surviving an unprecedented aviation crisis, caused by a global pandemic, while ensuring that they retain the ability to handle traffic volumes when they eventually recover. These twin challenges will dominate our mandate for the next two years.

Securing our future

In the short and medium term, CANSO will lobby the EU institutions to adopt a rescue package to support the whole aviation sector. This includes ensuring any change to the European Commission’s (EU) ATM Performance and Charging Scheme is financially and operationally viable for ANSPs. The Scheme is supposed to incentivise performance improvements, and also regulates how we are paid by airspace users (AUs). We have accepted the current regulation and acted on its terms, and we believe it should be for our members to decide how to achieve their performance targets. Furthermore, we are very clear that any solution for meeting these targets must also work for the whole aviation sector.

Demonstrating value

Part of our task is also to demonstrate the value ATM is delivering to the European transport network; from delivering a seamless service and cost-savings during the current difficult times, to the innovation and industry leadership we’ve shown in areas such as efficient routing and navigation, managing new airspace users, and improving environmental performance.

We will continue to highlight the ways in which the ATM industry is making a vital contribution to aviation, and how we’re working to build a stronger future.

Seamless service

As the industry continues to find its way on a pathway to recovery, CANSO remains committed to delivering seamless skies and the EU’s Single European Sky (SES) initiative.

The Commission is due to publish its legislative proposal to advance SES. CANSO will continue to support the development of SES, while ensuring ANSPs can respond to national requirements.

Your part in the vision

While we are looking forward to offering leadership in Europe, we also recognise that each and every member of the ATM community has a role to play in delivering CANSO’s vision for ATM and its place in the aviation value chain. We look forward to working with CANSO members to understand their challenges and harness opportunities, and help to deliver a high performance network for our stakeholders, and the businesses and flying public we all serve.

If you would like to find out more about what CANSO is doing to support aviation in Europe, please get in touch with our European office.