2020 Single European Sky 2+

Key points:

• The European Economic and Social Committee values the efforts of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the specialized EU institutions to find new legal and administrative solutions that can ensure the sustainable development of the air transport system for the benefit of all citizens, airspace users and the environment. We all agree that it is necessary to ensure air traffic safety, to improve the overall performance, scalability and resilience of air traffic management and air navigation services (ATM/ANS), and also we support the aim of the Single European Sky (SES) for a coherent pan-European network and a progressively more integrated and technologically modernised ATM/ANS.
• The Single European Sky amended recast proposal presented is an updated regulatory framework that attempts to achieve the original SES targets on reducing CO2 emissions, reducing delays and improvements in the cost efficiency of the ATM service provision. However, even if the Commission’s proposal is an improvement compared to the existing regulation, it remains unclear whether the draft is sufficient to achieve the original SES goals. Therefore, the EESC suggests initiating a discussion to clarify the ambition of the new SES regulation.