5 November 2010
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published its draft ‘Future Airspace Strategy’ (FAS) for consultation (1 Nov. 2010 – 7 Feb. 2011). The CAA has revisited its airspace policy due to increasing activity in UK airspace that has lead to a complex and capacity constrained network.
Tony Rapson, Airspace Policy Coordinator at the CAA, will kindly be joining us at our SASIG meeting on 26 November 2010, to give a presentation on the FAS, answer questions, and discuss airspace policy management in general.
The CAA has indicated that this strategy will need to address the development of UK airspace to 2030. The strategy is intended to provide options to assist in determining how the operation, management and regulation of UK airspace should evolve depending on the circumstances. The final, agreed strategy will be the ‘road map’ for development of new technology and its introduction into the UK’s air traffic management system over the specified period. The CAA recognises that the recent decrease in demand for airspace is expected to be short-term and that following previous trends that a long-term plan is needed to provide for the upturn when it begins.
The FAS will be the UK’s national input into the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) Programme, and has considered alignment with the main Single European Sky (SES) development and implementation work. It will also support European Aviation Safety Aagency (EASA) rule-making work.
The FAS proposes four high-level characteristics of the UK’s airspace in 2030 that will guide the modernisation of the system over three periods (2011-14, 2015-20 and 2021-30).
The three drivers for modernisation of the UK airspace system are set out as the goals of the FAS:
1 Safety – the need to continuously improve safety levels, particularly in light of the forecast growth in demand for airspace, the expected adoption of new technology and new operational concepts across the system;
2 Capacity – along with the expected return to increasing levels of demand, it is expected that the profile of demand from different users in some geographical locations at certain times will further pressurise the balance of airspace supply and demand. The FAS identifies some such areas that could be made safer and more efficient.
3 Environment – more environmentally efficient means if flying aircraft need to be devised, that also maximise capacity benefits and improve safety. The environmental impact of air travel, both locally in terms of noise and air quality, and globally in terms of climate change, plays an important role in development of the UK airspace system. The FAS will inform the regulatory framework needed for implementation of air traffic management improvements that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft and contribute to minimising aviation’s environmental impact.
The FAS does not provide a detailed roadmap or plan for the implementation of changes to the UK’s airspace system. Similarly, it does not provide a blueprint, or future design for the UK’s airspace structure. However, it is envisaged that the final version of this strategy will set the direction for future detailed pieces of work to be progressed in these areas.
The CAA’s draft FAS document has been produced with support from NATS Plc – the UK’s major airspace management company, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Department for Transport (DfT). The work has been progressed within 5 workstreams: ‘Policy and Regulation’, ‘Technology and Operations’, ‘Environment’, ‘Safety’, and ‘Capacity and Demand’.
The work has now reached a stage where the CAA needs the contribution of other members of the aviation community in order to ensure that the strategy covers all the aspects of UK airspace, to gain stakeholder buy-in to the strategy and agreement on what the final version should look like.
The main consultation body will be the National Air Traffic Management Advisory Committee (NATMAC) but individual organisations are also invited to respond. The NATMAC was briefed on its role at their meeting on 28 October 2010. A stakeholder forum was held at the RAeS on the day of the consultation launch.
The consultation period will run from 1 November 2010 for 14 weeks until 7 February 2011. The SASIG office will produce a draft response, circulate this to the group for comments and amendments, and submit a final response to the CAA by 2 February 2011.
Once the consultation is closed the responses will be considered and the draft updated accordingly with a view to producing and publishing the ‘Future Airspace Strategy’ in the second quarter of 2011. Should the consultation responses result in the need for a fundamental change to the proposed policies then CAA may consider it necessary and appropriate to consult further.
http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1350&pagetype=90&pageid=11717