The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) today confirmed that all UK Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) that were compliant with new European Common Requirements in advance of the 21 June 2007 deadline have been certified in accordance with the Regulation. ANSPs provide air traffic services, meteorological and aviation information and aviation communications, navigation and surveillance services. Although UK ANSPs are currently approved against relevant national safety standards for the provision of air traffic services, the Common Requirements, which are part of the Single European Sky (SES) initiative, will introduce new areas of oversight in the form of economic, security and quality management that apply throughout the European Union.

The work covered 67 ANSPs (operating at 106 locations in the UK) that are now compliant with the European standard.  There are also two applicants that had not started services by the time the deadline came into effect.

Included in the European regulations is the need to certify providers of navigational aids such as Non-Directional Beacons (NDB). There are 17 smaller airfields in the UK that have a navigational aid but do not provide an air traffic service. The CAA has provided these airfields with support in meeting the ANSP requirements. Of the 17 airfields, 14 have attained certification, one airfield is working towards certification, one beacon has been withdrawn as unserviceable and one operator has elected not to proceed to ANSP certification at this stage.

Richard Taylor, the CAA’s Head of Air Traffic Standards, said: “We’re pleased that all compliant ANSPs have now been certified by the European deadline and that almost all navigational aids at small aerodromes will remain in service.”

Phil Roberts, Assistant Director of the CAA’s Airspace Policy Directorate and co-chair (with Richard Taylor) of the CAA’s Single European Sky Working Group, said: “All UK service providers have shown great commitment to the certification process, from NATS, the country’s largest ANSP, to the small part-time flight information units, working together with the CAA certification team.”

In the late 1990s the EC began to study the problem of increasing air traffic delays. It found that the growth in low cost airlines and the fragmentation of the air traffic management system meant that a major review was required. The result is the SES initiative, which aims to reform the current air traffic management architecture in Europe to provide improvements in the efficiency of air travel.

Source: Civil Aviation Authority UK
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