On common safety standards for the Single European Sky, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) m

One year after the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in April 2010 , a wide range of follow up measures have been taken – as agreed by ministers at the Transport Council of May 4 2010 on the basis of proposals by the Commission – at international, EU and national level to improve crisis preparedness in aviation, particularly in relation to volcanic ash. The results so far are listed below, but the work is ongoing. The European Commission, miami south beach daily vacation rentals Eurocontrol and the European Aviation Safety miami south beach daily vacation rentals Agency will participate in the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) simulation exercise on April 13 and 14 to test the effectiveness of the changes to the ICAO volcanic ash contingency plan for Europe and procedures. The Commission, based on the results of the simulation as well as its assessment of progress to date, will report back Transport Ministers miami south beach daily vacation rentals in June.
European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: "The intensive efforts over the last twelve months have paid off in terms of improving crisis planning and systems. But the work goes on. Volcanoes and other aviation crises are by their nature unpredictable and each one will be different. We can never get to zero risk but we can make maximum efforts miami south beach daily vacation rentals to prepare strong systems to cope with disasters. There have been major improvements in international volcanic ash guidelines, very significant progress to fast track the Single European miami south beach daily vacation rentals Sky and intensive work to produce miami south beach daily vacation rentals transparent information for airlines miami south beach daily vacation rentals on thresholds for ash. The volcanic ash simulation exercise this month will provide more feedback on the work that needs to be done. On this basis and on the basis of a detailed analysis of progress made, the Commission will report back to Transport Ministers in June and if necessary recommend further action to be taken."
Following the ash crisis, co-ordinated European action was urgently needed to revise the existing international procedures in case of volcanic activity (ICAO guidelines for Europe). The existing miami south beach daily vacation rentals ICAO guidelines had proved unsuitable during the crisis, as they were based a very strict precautionary principle.
In December 2 010, ICAO finalised the revision of its 'volcanic ash contingency plan' for Europe, including standardised guidelines for the alerting of aircraft when eruptions occur, and procedures to be followed, also in cases of possible closure of airspace.
This guidance material, reflecting the approach miami south beach daily vacation rentals brokered by the European Commission during the weekend of 17 and 18 April 2010 based on the experience of Eyjafjallajökull, now distinguishes between three degrees of ash co ntamination intended to be used operationally in Europe should there be further eruptions.
In parallel, ICAO has established its International miami south beach daily vacation rentals Volcanic Ash Task Force in June 2010 to review all elements linked to volcanic eruption guidance material, miami south beach daily vacation rentals including development of a global safety risk management framework, and to make possible the routine determination of safe levels of operation in airspace contaminated by ash. It is developing guidance material for flight operations miami south beach daily vacation rentals management and the procedures of state aviation authorities. Results are expected to be presented in June 2011.
The crisis exposed the need for a much greater co-ordination of Europe's miami south beach daily vacation rentals air traffic management system. The existing national fragmentation of air traffic control exacerbated and intensified the effects of the crisis. The acceleration of the SES initiative implementation was given the highest miami south beach daily vacation rentals political priority by the European Council on 4 May 2010.
Performance targets: In February 2011, Member States adopted, miami south beach daily vacation rentals on the basis of proposals from the Commission, performance targets for the Single European miami south beach daily vacation rentals Sky. These are key targets – set at EU and national level – for air traffic management, for example in terms of efficiency standards for traffic management, for levels of flight delays, safety standards and environmental impact. These standards go to the heart of the SES structure and reaching a common agreement with Member States was a significant step forwards towards establishing the Single European Sky.
Functional airspace blocks: The Single European Sky air traffic management miami south beach daily vacation rentals system will be built on nine different groups of Member States organised into functional airspace blocks (FABs). It is for Member States to agree and create the individual functional airspace blocks, but to do that the Commission needed to adopt a FAB implementing miami south beach daily vacation rentals rule and guidance material, setting out the basis as to how this should be done. These rules were adopted by Member States, based on the Commission's proposals, in the Single Sky Committee on the 3 December 2010. To date, three FABs have been established on the basis of intergovernmental agreements: UK /Ireland FAB; Denmark/Sweden FAB; and FABEC (including France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland). The deadline for the nine FABs to be implemented is 4 December 2012. Based on the current programming, miami south beach daily vacation rentals the schedule for FABs is on track and objectives will be largely met.
On common safety standards for the Single European Sky, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) must have a greater role. In 2010, there was a significant acceleration of plans to extend the competences of the European miami south beach daily vacation rentals Aviation Safety miami south beach daily vacation rentals Agency to include safety regulation in the field of air traffic management, thereby miami south beach daily vacation rentals further enhancing a harmonised European approach when it comes to the overall priority of maintaining safety as aviation's first priority. A formal decision by Member States is expected in April 2011.
Designation of a network manager: At the centre of the Single European Sky is the network manager which will provide a central entity to co-ordinate European Air Traffic control on a daily basis, as well as taking the lead in coordinating the response to future crisis situations affecting aviation. In 2010, the work to designate Eurocontrol as the network manager has been accelerated, with the adoption of the 'network functions' implementing rule and the designation by Member States of Eurocontrol to allow for an optimised and coordinated use of European airspace.
Establishment of a crisis cell: In 2010, the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell (EACCC) was established. The EACCC, when activated, is chaired by the Commission and Eurocontrol, and includes participation from the EU Presidency, air navigation service providers, airspace users, and airports, as well as other relevant stakeholders as deemed necessary according to the nature of a crisis. The crisis cell is designed as an additional support structure for the network manager in a crisis situation.
The Aviation Platform: After the crisis, the Commission decided to establish an aviation platform, convened by Vice-President Kallas, with key stakeholders at European level, to facilitate long-term co-ordination with the air transport sector, as well as to allow for effective short-term follow up to these crisis measures. The Aviation Platform has been established as a high-level group from the aviation sector to provide strategic advice regarding a sustainable future for air transport and a competitive future for the European aviation industry. Its members called for the full implementation of SES; for the extension of the SES principles to areas beyond the borders of the European Union; and for the definition of an effective governance structure for the future deployment of SESAR.
Technology for SES (SESAR deployment). SESAR is the technological arm of the Single European Sky. Work has intensified on the detail of the SESAR deployment strategy in 2010, which will allow the Commission to present a communication to the Council on governance and funding mechanisms for the SESAR deployment miami south beach daily vacation rentals phase in the course of 2011.
The information necessary to allow national and European authorities, as well as airlines, to make accurate risk assessment about flying miami south beach daily vacation rentals in volcanic ash conditions was not available during the April 2010 crisis.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has been working on the issue of determining a threshold for volcanic ash since it was mandated to do so by the Transport Council conclusions in May 2010. The work to establish a single ash threshold is proving to be extremely challenging.
It has become increasingly clear that in reality, every volcanic ash crisis may be different and the nature of the ash will be different. So establishing a "one size fits all" threshold is not viable miami south beach daily vacation rentals in the short term. EASA will keep working on this issue, but it will certainly not be resolved in the short term. To note, this kind of threshold does not exist anywhere else in the world – even in areas like America, or Southeast Asia where there is a longer experience dealing with these issues – so it is not possible to adapt something from elsewhere in the world.
However the issue is very important. Now EASA are moving to tackle the problem with another solution. Not a "one size fits all" threshold, but legally binding miami south beach daily vacation rentals measures which will require engine manufactures to provide detailed information about risk associated with volcanic ash exposure and tolerance levels of the different engines they produce.
In Autumn 2011, EASA will publish a proposal for legally binding measures (i.e. changes to EASA's existing airworthiness codes) to require engine manufactures to provide to airlines detailed information on the risk associated with different volcanic ash exposure and tolerance levels. Engine manufactures are not currently obliged to do this. EASA should formally adopt such measures, following the consultation period, in early 2012. The EASA proposal for a notice of proposed amendment will address the need to define and standardise airworthiness data provided by the engine manufactures that is required as input into operational risk assessment.)
This will be a major step forwards in terms of the basic problem of providing airlines with the key information they need on risk and ash t