Europe’s Air Navigation Service Providers renew commitment to deliver SESAR

Members of the A6 Steering Group meet to sign the revised Memorandum of Cooperation

Leaders of Europe’s Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) have renewed their pledge to work together to help deliver the Single European Sky ATM Research programme (SESAR).

Members of the A6 Steering Group meet to sign the revised Memorandum of Cooperation

The A6 Alliance, consisting of leading ANSPs in Europe including ENAIRE (Spain), DFS (Germany), DSNA (France), ENAV (Italy), NATS (UK) and NORACON – a consortium including Austro Control (Austria), AVINOR (Norway), EANS (Estonia), Finavia (Finland), IAA (Ireland), LFV (Sweden) and Naviair (Denmark), originally signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in 2011 to help modernise Europe’s air traffic management system. The expanded agreement now welcomes other ANSP groupings including members the COOPANS Alliance (Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Ireland and Sweden) and the B4 consortium (Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia).  PANSA, of Poland, has in the meantime also become a full member of the A6 Alliance.

SESAR is the technology strand of the European Commission’s Single European Sky programme and is coordinating the development and deployment of new tools and concepts that will help improve the way Europe’s airspace is managed, making it safer, cheaper and more environmentally friendly. It will also help to increase capacity, paving the way for forecast traffic growth.

The revised agreement reflects changes to the external environment, as SESAR Phase 1 nears its conclusion, SESAR 2020 launches and shifts focus towards the operational deployment of technologies. Different groupings will participate in the A6 Alliance for different elements of the SESAR programme and the A6 Alliance is part of the Supervisory Board for the SESAR Deployment Manager.

“This revised agreement demonstrates the commitment of a strong coalition of Europe’s ANSPs to work together to ensure SESAR delivers real benefits”

Ignacio González, Air Navigation Director of ENAIRE and Chair of the A6 Alliance Steering Board, said: “SESAR is a crucial programme that will significantly improve the way we manage Europe’s airspace, making it better for passengers and citizens and modernising our ATM system to underpin the requirements of the European economy.

“The A6 Alliance is uniquely placed to help make sure this happens in the most effective way and I am delighted that more ANSPs are joining this cooperation. This revised agreement demonstrates the commitment of a strong coalition of Europe’s ANSPs to work together to ensure SESAR delivers real benefits to our customers and their passengers.”

The expanded  Memorandum of Cooperation sets out the arrangements under which Members will cooperate in areas such as identifying and adopting best practice across Members, agreeing common methods of operation, benchmarking performance and optimising resources.