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Funding opportunities for ATM modernization projects: 2023 CEF 2 Transport Call for Proposals launched

Today, the European Commission has launched the 2023 CEF 2 Transport Call for Proposals with a total budget of 7 billion euro to support modernization in European transport and open to all modes.

One of the core areas covered by the Call is Smart and interoperable mobility with an overall budget of 400 million euro for all modes of transport including aviation and covering also SESAR Common Project One Implementation projects.

This is a unique opportunity for SESAR Deployment ATM Modernisation stakeholders to submit projects since the Call objectives include supporting timely and synchronized implementation of Common Project One (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/116 of 1/02/2021).

CLEAN ATM initiative – selected by EC for CEF funding – as next step for ATM modernisation

On June 22, the CLEAN ATM initiative, prepared and coordinated by the SESAR Deployment Manager in response to the CEF Transport Call for proposals 2022, was selected as one of the transport projects to receive EU grants from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the main instrument to support strategic transport investments in the European Union.

The initiative, which engages over 40 civil and military operational stakeholders (Airlines, ANSPs, Airports, MET providers, NM and military authorities) from the whole pan-European network, is a key step forward for modernizing and decarbonizing the aviation industry in the coming years.

SESAR Deployment Manager visits Nice Airport

Today SDM visited Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur and their operational facilities.

SDM stated: It was great to see and discuss live their contribution and involvement in delivering the Digital European Sky.

“We would like to thank the SESAR Deployment Manager very warmly for their unfailing support, which has already enabled us to carry out 5 of the 9 deployment projects. More than ever, airports are committed players in the realisation of a more efficient, safer, more fluid and therefore less energy-intensive Single European Sky.”
stated Franck Goldnadel, Chairman of the Board of Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur’

SESAR Deployment Manager visits Brussels Airport

Today SDM visited Brussels Airport Company and their operational facilities.

Mr Piet Demunter, COO shared:
“It was an honour to welcome Mariagrazia La Piscopia and her team from SESAR Deployment Manager to Brussels Airport Company. We value the collaboration very much. We are fully committed to remain at the forefront of innovations to further streamline operations across all ATM stakeholders, resulting in more resilient, efficient and sustainable operations.”

SDM Executive Director Mariagrazia La Piscopia stated:
“This visit to Brussels Airport Company was very insightful and further strengthened our cooperation with a key operational stakeholder located close to the SESAR Deployment Manager headquarters. Great to see how, despite the enormous impact of the tragic attacks in 2016 and the covid pandemic affecting the entire aviation industry, Brussels Airport Company managed to be compliant with the CP1 regulation 2022 deadlines. 🤝 Many thanks Piet Demunter and his engaged team for all efforts an for having us today and let’s keep on modernising ATM #AsOne team.”

New consortium behind SESAR Deployment Manager appointed

Modernising Air Traffic Management As One

Brussels, Tuesday 31 May 2022 – Today the new consortium behind the SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM) was officially appointed by the European Commission and will start on 1 June. This new consortium takes over from the SESAR Deployment Alliance, who has been successfully executing the role of SESAR Deployment Manager since 2014. The new consortium (SDIP – SESAR Deployment & Infrastructure Partnership) with the EUROCONTROL Network Manager as the consortium coordinator, will be located in Brussels at EUROCONTROL’s headquarters. On this occasion, the SESAR Deployment Manager launched its new credo: ‘Modernising Air Traffic Management As One’ set out for this new mandate until 31/12/2027.

European Commission Director-General for Transport, Henrik Hololei, said:

“Modernising Europe’s air traffic management infrastructure is central to meeting our sustainability objectives, and ensuring long-term resilience within the aviation sector. The success of the SESAR project depends on strong partnerships, which, in these challenging times for aviation, have also helped to strengthen resilience. I would like to offer a warm welcome to the new SESAR Deployment Manager, the renewed and highly motivated partnership, working alongside the EUROCONTROL Network Manager and bringing together innovation and operational needs.”

Mariagrazia La Piscopia, Executive Director SESAR Deployment Manager:

“I am very thankful that we received the trust of the European Commission today by signing this Framework Partnership Agreement. Together with the buy in of our stakeholders and the commitment of our members, I truly believe we have created the necessary framework to continue, strengthen and improve Air Traffic Management modernization through SESAR deployment as one team.”

“My first priority will be to further build this solid and durable partnership starting from our stakeholders, the people involved in ATM, based on respect, transparency and fairness. Working as one is the only way to create a digital and sustainable ecosystem that can meet up to the expectations and challenges ahead in aviation.”

“We now have one complete partnership, which is a key instrument to transform the vision of the Single European Sky into an operational reality. The strengths of the four parties involved in European Air Traffic Management modernisation (Airlines, Air Navigation Service Providers, Airports and the EUROCONTROL Network Manager) have been put together ensuring trust, consensus and buy-in from the investing stakeholders.”

“After 7 years of intense work, for which I want to personally thank my predecessors Massimo Garbini and Nicolas Warinsko in leading the way, it is now time to embrace the lessons learned and continue to strengthen and improve the SESAR deployment function to the benefit of all.”

“By securing the full involvement of the EUROCONTROL Network Manager which will enable us to use the full potential, strength and skills of this new partnership to make the difference in ATM modernization and digitalization, we have now closed the loop which creates the necessary framework to ensure permanent commitment to a timely and synchronized SESAR deployment in Europe. All acting as one team to the benefit of European passengers, citizens, economy and environment.”

Eamonn Brennan, Director General at EUROCONTROL said: “I am delighted to welcome the new partnership for the SESAR Deployment Manager with EUROCONTROL as consortium coordinator to our premises. EUROCONTROL forecasts predict 13.8 million flights in the Network by 2030 – a development that urgently needs us to accelerate the deployment of new technologies that can modernise and digitalise air traffic management to increase capacity and make aviation in Europe more efficient, resilient and more sustainable.”

Modernising Air Traffic Management As One is not only the new tagline but also the credo of the new SESAR Deployment Manager, one team standing ready to continue Air Traffic Management modernisation to the benefit of all.

The new consortium behind SESAR Deployment Manager represents all perspectives and standpoints of the stakeholders involved in SESAR deployment:

4 Airlines: covering 3 million flights with around 500 million passengers per year (one third of the overall European passengers);
14 Air Navigation Service Providers: controlling around 80% of flights in the European Union, as well as all major traffic flows operated in Europe, so around 8 million flights per year;
Airports: ACI Europe representing over 500 airports across 55 countries, able to provide the full airport operational perspective;
EUROCONTROL Network Manager: the best placed to provide a network-wide view, both in terms of technological deployment but also in terms of operational interoperability to ensure seamless functioning of the European ATM network.

Please find here the news release of the European Commission:
https://transport.ec.europa.eu/news/sesar-deployment-and-infrastructure-partnership-takes-over-new-sesar-deployment-manager-2022-05-31_en

ADR: SESAR Projects at Fiumicino airport

Fiumicino,31 March 2022 – The European Commission launched the Single European Sky project in 1999, which aims to better organise air traffic to make it more efficient, competitive and safe, reducing the fragmentation that follows the borders of national states. SESAR – “Single European Sky ATM Research” – a research project for the management of air traffic in the Single European Sky, is the enabler of this ambitious goal.

SESAR aims to achieve the following results:

· to develop systems for reducing air traffic management costs, fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and flight time;

· to increase operational efficiency for airspace users, reducing delays and increasing the range of air capacity, considering that many European airports will face possible congestion problems at the current rate of air traffic growth.

Aeroporti di Roma has been very committed in recent years to be at the forefront of innovation and environmental protection, contributing to SESAR with projects of the highest technological level in the airport sector:

the APOC Room (AirPort Operations Centre)
the Airport Operation Plan (AOP) and Network Operations Plan (NOP) systems
the Advanced-Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (ASMGCS)
the Visual Docking Guidance System (VDGS)
the System Wide Information Management (SWIM)

ADR’s overall investment for these projects amounts to over €30, of which €10 million have been funded by the European Union. All projects are following the plan shared with the SESAR deployment manager. Specifically: the APOC room, the AOP systems, the VDGS and SWIM are 100% complete, the ASMGCS is 98% complete and the integration between the AOP and NOP systems is currently 70% complete. The latter are both scheduled by 2022.

Let us look at some details below:

1. AirPort Operations Centre (APOC)

The centralised control room AirPort Operation Centre (APOC), inaugurated last November at the Fiumicino airport, includes 16 control rooms hosting 110 workstations. The new hall is the vital centre of airport operations and allows for faster and more effective communication, facilitating decision-making processes thanks to the latest generation of IT systems and innovative tools. The APOC guarantees the continuity of airport operations, ensuring the highest levels of safety and quality.

2. Airport Operation Plan (AOP) and Network Operations Plan (NOP).

We then have the Airport Operation Plan (AOP), quipped with information and data from airport systems and, in particular, from the A-CDM (Airport Collaborative Decision Making), which allow for the monitoring of the status of resources in real time and of airport operations and to re-plan the airside and landside infrastructures according to operational needs, optimising traffic in the airport and minimising delays. The system “communicates with other systems”. In fact, the Airport Operation Plan (AOP) exchanges its data with the Network Operations Plan (NOP), a central planning system managed by Eurocontrol. The integration of these systems allows for the capacity to be increased on a European level and for the improvement in the performance of the air traffic management network.

3. Advanced-Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (ASMGCS)

ADR, in partnership with ENAV, is also finalising the implementation of the ASMGCS system at Fiumicino Airport, with the aim of improving the surveillance of vehicles and aircraft operating within the airport manoeuvring area. Through the installation of a modern antenna park on the airport grounds and the use of software, real-time information is available on traffic trends, thanks to a map that monitors the presence of vehicles and aircraft in real time. manoeuvring area and the status of operations in progress. This entails significant benefits in terms of safety in the airport manoeuvring areas.

4. Visual Docking Guidance System (VDGS)

The VDGS optical guide system has been operational since December 2021 on 90 lay-bys at Fiumicino airport. The system provides support to the pilot in the parking phase of the aircraft, through an accurate monitoring of the status of the parking areas, signalling the presence of any obstacles on the ground and guiding the pilot from the phase of entering the apron up to the moment in which the aircraft is parked.

5. System Wide Information Management (SWIM)

Aeroporti di Roma conducted an assessment of the internal IT architecture and the implemented cybersecurity measures, in order to identify the possible gaps to be filled for the implementation of the System Wide Information Management (SWIM) protocol at Fiumicino. The introduction of SWIM has brought tangible advantages to the airport, in terms of efficiency and continuity of airport operations, through the adoption of the highest levels of IT security, in order to protect the IT infrastructure of the airport from possible attacks by cybersecurity.

ADR, the first Italian airport hub and the best in Europe in the last three years, has chosen to focus on digitalisation, safety, innovation and environmental sustainability and has long since started a process aimed at zeroing CO2 emissions in 2030, in advance of targets set by the European airport sector, in addition to being Carbon Neutral for ten years, confirming its determination in terms of sustainability and in particular in the fight against climate change. With the ever-constant and maximum commitment aimed at the goal of the full recovery of a strategic sector for our country.

Note: This press release exclusively reflects the opinion of Aeroporti di Roma S.p.A. and the European Commission is not responsible for any use made of the information contained therein.

2021 Action Status Report – Submission to INEA

The SESAR Deployment Manager has informed all implementing partners of the fact that the 2021 Action Status Reports for the following six Actions, covering the reporting period 1st of January 2020 – 31st of December 2020, have been successfully submitted to INEA on 29th of March 2021*, together with all collected Member States certifications through the TENtec tool:

SESAR Deployment Programme implementation 2015 – Cluster 2 (No. 2015-EU-TM-0196-M)
SESAR Deployment Programme implementation 2015 – Cluster 3 (No. 2015-EU-TM-0197-M)
SESAR Deployment Programme implementation 2016 – Cluster 1 (No. 2016-EU-TM-0117-M)
SESAR Deployment Programme implementation 2016 – Cluster 2 (No. 2016-EU-TMC-0113-M)
SESAR Deployment Programme implementation 2017 (No. 2017-EU-TM-0076-M)
Implementation of Voice over IP (VoIP) in Barcelona ACC (No. 2017-EU-TM-0004-W)

*ASR for the Blending Call was submitted on 26th of March 2021.

We would like to thank you for your support during this process and will keep you informed on the next steps.

Common Project 1 – a new European regulation ensuring the continuation of sustainable ATM modernisation and digitalization through SESAR deployment

European Commission Implementing Regulation no. 116/2021, Common Project 1 (CP1), amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 409/2013 and repealing Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 716/2014 known as the Pilot Common Project was published today into the EU Official Journal. CP1 aims to steer Air Traffic Management (ATM) modernisation in Europe. The SESAR Deployment Manager will now break down the CP1 into a brand new SESAR Deployment Programme 2021, turning the regulation into a concrete manual to guide operational stakeholders on what has to be done, how, where and by when, with the aim to accelerate the digitalisation of the European ATM towards a greener aviation.

The CP1 Regulation is entering into force on the 20th day after its publication into the EU Official Journal, meaning on 22/02/2021.