SESAR overview

What is Single European Sky?

Single European Sky (SES) is an ambitious initiative launched by the European Commission in 2004. The idea behind SES is to restructure European airspace, create additional capacity and increase the overall efficiency of the ATM system.

The key principles of SES are to separate regulatory activities from service provision and to reorganise European airspace so that it is no longer constrained by national borders.

What is SESAR?

As part of the Single European Sky initiative, SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) is the technological side of SES.

The SESAR programme aims to develop the new generation air traffic management system capable of ensuring the safety and fluidity of air transport worldwide over the next 30 years.

The programme is being delivered in three phases.

1. The Definition phase (2004-2008) delivered the ATM master plan defining the content, the development and deployment plans of the next generation of ATM systems. This phase was led by Eurocontrol, and co-funded by the European Commission under the Trans European Network- Transport programme. It was delivered through the SESAME Air Transport Industry Consortium in which A6 partners played a major role.
2. The Development phase (2008-2013) will produce the required new generation of technological systems, components and operational procedures defined in the SESAR ATM Master Plan and Work Programme. This phase is being led by the SESAR Joint Undertaking of which the A6 partners are founding members.
3. The Deployment phase (2014-2020) will see the large scale production and implementation of the new air traffic management infrastructure, composed of fully harmonised and interoperable components guaranteeing high performance air transport activities in Europe. This phase will be delivered by the soon to be appointed Deployment Manager.

One of the key concepts of SESAR is 4D trajectory. 4D trajectory management is expected to improve air traffic operations, in particular to increase the overall predictability of traffic, with benefit to airlines and air traffic management.

The concept relies on a reference business trajectory (RBT) which the airspace user agrees to fly and the service provider agrees to facilitate (subject to separation provision). It implies a target time of arrival over a waypoint of the trajectory, e.g. the initial approach fix (IAF), within a time window tolerance.