[Avionics Today February 21, 2014] The U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority and Ireland’s Irish Aviation Authority Safety Regulation Division (IAA SRD) have finished drafting a joint performance plan for combining Air Traffic Control (ATC) services between the countries under the European Union’s Single European Sky (SES) performance scheme.
The U.K.-Ireland draft plan is part of the second reference period of SES, which is designed to improve the current segmented complex air navigation service network across Europe. With its SES initiative, the European Union is looking to create Functional Airspace Blocks (FAB) where airspace is grouped into regions rather than controlled by the Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) of individual states.
The drafted plan is now open for public consultation, as the CAA and IAA SRD look to receive input from stakeholders by April 4, 2014. Following the consultation, the U.K. and Irish governments will have to agree on the plan prior to submitting it to the European Commission. If approved, the U.K.-Ireland FAB will begin deployment in January 2015.