The Single European Sky (SES) is a European Commission initiative that seeks to reform the European air traffic management system through a series of actions carried out in four different levels with the aim of satisfying the needs of the European airspace in terms of capacity, safety, efficiency and environmental impact.
NATS Holdings, formerly National Air Traffic Services and commonly referred to as NATS, is the main air navigation service provider in the United Kingdom. It inherited the traditions of UK air traffic control, which was the world's first air traffic control regime. It provides en-route air traffic control services to flights within the UK flight information regions and the Shanwick Oceanic Control Area, and provides air traffic control services to 14 UK airports.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is a commercial semi-state company in Ireland responsible for the regulation of safety aspects of air travel. It is also responsible for providing air traffic control services to Ireland's three main airports, namely Dublin, Shannon and Cork. Its head office is in The Times Building in Dublin.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitoring. It collects and analyses safety data, drafts and advises on safety legislation and co-ordinates with similar organisations in other parts of the world.
ENAIRE is the air navigation manager in Spain and Western Sahara, certified for the provision of en route, approach and aerodrome control services. As a public corporate entity attached to the Spanish Ministry of Public Works, it is responsible for air traffic control, aeronautical information and the Communication, navigation and surveillance networks - these are all necessary so that air companies and their aircraft can fly safely, fluidly and in an organised format within Spanish airspace.
The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, commonly known as Eurocontrol, is an international organisation working to achieve safe and seamless air traffic management across Europe. Founded in 1960, Eurocontrol currently has 41 member states and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. It has several local sites as well, including an Innovation Hub in Brétigny-sur-Orge, France, the Aviation Learning Centre (ALC) in Luxembourg, and the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The organisation employs approximately two thousand people, and operates with an annual budget in excess of half a billion Euro.
Airservices Australia is an Australian Government owned corporation, responsible for providing safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible services to the aviation industry within the Australian Flight Information Region (FIR). Some of Airservices responsibilities include air traffic control, airways navigation and communication facilities, publishing aeronautical data and airport rescue and fire-fighting services. Airservices Australia has international partnerships with ICAO, CANSO and IATA.
Skyguide is an air navigation service provider which manages and monitors Swiss airspace. The company, which was formerly known as Swisscontrol, changed its name to skyguide in 2001. Skyguide is a joint-stock company under Swiss private law which is responsible, on behalf of the Swiss Confederation, for ensuring the safety of all Swiss airspace and of adjoining airspace areas in Germany, Austria, France and Italy that have been delegated to its control. For Swiss airspace, this duty extends to both civil and military air navigation services.
In aviation, an air traffic service (ATS) is a service which regulates and assists aircraft in real-time to ensure their safe operations. In particular, ATS is to:
Transport in the European Union is a shared competence of the Union and its member states. The European Commission includes a Commissioner for Transport, currently Adina Ioana Vălean. Since 2012, the commission also includes a Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport which develops EU policies in the transport sector and manages funding for Trans-European Networks and technological development and innovation, worth €850 million yearly for the period 2000–2006.
The Schengen Area is an area comprising 26 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice policy of the EU, it mostly functions as a single jurisdiction under a common visa policy for international travel purposes. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement and the 1990 Schengen Convention, both signed in Schengen, Luxembourg.
Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) is a collaborative project to completely overhaul European airspace and its air traffic management (ATM). The actual program is managed by the SESAR Joint Undertaking as a public–private partnership (PPP).
GCAA or Ghana Civil Aviation Authority is the civil aviation authority and regulatory agency of the Republic of Ghana for air transportation in the country. It has its headquarters in Kotoka Airport in Accra.
The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was established in 1996 by Federal Cabinet Decree to regulate Civil Aviation and provide designated aviation services with emphasis on safety and security and to strengthen the aviation industry within the UAE and its upper airspace. The main office is located in Abu Dhabi and the regional office is located in Dubai to serve the northern Emirates. The GCAA, which is the sole authority for the control and regulation of civil aviation in the UAE, is responsible for the provision of en-route air navigation services and all aspects of flight safety. In late 2009, the GCAA opened its new Air Navigation Centre, The Sheikh Zayed Centre, which is considered the largest and busiest air traffic management facility in the Middle East as well as one of the world's most technically advanced centres in terms of its design.
Borealis Alliance is an alliance among the north-west European Air Navigation Service Providers. Three Functional airspace blocks are part of the Alliance - IRL/UK, DK/SE & NEFAB - most members already coorporates in Noracon.
National identity cards are issued to their citizens by the governments of all European Economic Area (EEA) member states except Denmark, Iceland and Ireland. Ireland however issues a passport card which is a valid document in the EEA and Switzerland. Denmark and Iceland issue simpler identity cards that are not valid as travel documents. From 2 August 2021, new identity cards are harmonized as a common identity card model replaced the various formats already in use.
skeyes, officially called Belgocontrol or in its complete form the Authority of airways, is the Belgian air navigation and traffic service provider for the civil airspace for which the Belgian State is responsible. It was created in 1998.
Estonian Air Navigation Services, abbreviated as EANS, is a modern, rapidly developing company operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia. It is a business entity, the major function of which is to provide services to air traffic in accordance with international standards as well as to ensure flight safety in Tallinn Flight Information Region. The sole owner of the company shares is the Republic of Estonia.
Unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) is an air traffic management ecosystem under development for autonomously controlled operations of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by the FAA, NASA, other federal partner agencies, and industry. They are collaboratively exploring concepts of operation, data exchange requirements, and a supporting framework to enable multiple UAS operations beyond visual line-of-sight at altitudes under 400 ft above ground level in airspace where FAA air traffic services are not provided.
Jan Klas is a Czech aviation expert and Director General of the state-owned enterprise Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic.
