As Europe’s skies and major airports become increasingly congested, there is need for Air Traffic Management technologies to evolve from ground-based infrastructures to more advanced systems based on new technologies. Eurocontrol and the GSA have a shared objective in developing and exploiting European GNSS technology to improve accessibility, efficiency and safety to European operators, pilots and airports.

To accomplish this objective, the agreement focuses on a range of activities, including:

• Definition of aviation user requirements for EGNOS and Galileo
• Introduction of European GNSS services for aviation within the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) area
• Coordination in aviation research and development
• Aviation-specific GNSS performance monitoring
• Promotion of European GNSS aviation activities at the international level

“This is another example of European Commission support of the aviation sector,” says Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General of DG Enterprise and Industry at the European Commission. “I am confident that a strong cooperation between the GSA and Eurocontrol will benefit aviation, the European GNSS Programmes and indeed European citizens.”

“The full deployment of GNSS offers unprecedented opportunities to further improve air traffic management safety and capacity, while reducing costs at pan-European level,” says GSA Executive Director, Carlo des Dorides. “Eurocontrol’s activities in this field will complement those of the GSA to ensure that the development and implementation of satellite-based navigation.