Supplementary memorandum submitted by
BAA plc (U5a)
When BAA gave evidence before the Committee
on 12 January, we promised to provide you with further detail
on the EU SESAME air traffic management research project.
SESAME builds upon the Single European Sky initiative
and seeks to define the vision for air traffic Systems for the
year 2020.
The first phase of the project is a two-year
scoping study, which will define the roadmap to enable aviation
to get from where it is today, in air traffic system terms, to
where it needs to be in 2020. The main driver for the project
is the need to increase capacity to manage the forecast growth
in demand.
The study phase is to be fully funded by the
European Commission, from the TEN-T budget and the total cost
is estimated to be around
60m. This figure includes cash and payment in-kind
from Eurocontrol, which is coordinating the tendering for the
project on the European Commission's behalf
BAA, BA, easyJet and NATS are all involved in
a major international consortium bidding for the study contract.
The draft documents that we have seen from Eurocontrol, which
describe the current thinking on the required scope of works,
include the following key objectives:
— define European air transport system
performance up to 2020
— identify globally interoperable and
harmonised solutions
— produce the detailed research and
technology
— establish a detailed phased implementation
plan
— propose the legislative, financial
and regulatory framework
Although "enabling the sustained development
of air transport and aviation" is discussed in the documents,
environmental issues do not feature very highly, nor are they
specifically referred to under the heading of "Deliverables".
BAA has therefore raised this issue with our
other prospective consortium members and this will be discussed
at the next consortium management meeting.
As Mike Clasper said when we gave evidence last
week, we believe that this study, and the detailed work that will
follow, should give more priority to potential environmental improvements
as part of air traffic management, especially in terms of using
air traffic systems to avoid the creation of condensation trails
by aircraft in flight. Any pressure that the Committee can bring
to bear on the European Commission to ensure that the important
environmental elements of the study are given more weight will
be very welcome.
On a separate matter, I am sure that you will
be interested to hear that on 19 January the Board of ACI Europe,
the trade association representing 450 airports across 45 European
countries, formally approved a public policy position supporting
long-term commitments to resolving aviation's climate change impacts.
This position includes a specific call for aviation's carbon dioxide
emissions to be included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme from
2008. While individual companies, such as BAA, BA and Virgin,
are already publicly committed to such a policy, this is the first
time that a representative aviation industry body has publicly
agreed to it. This effectively means that the whole EU airports
industry now supports the UK Government's aim to bring aviation
into the EU ETS. I attach a copy of ACI Europe's position paper[7].
30 January 2005
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