Welcome address during the ATC Global conference
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The leading role of the government in the future of air-traffic management
It is November 2007, near here on the border of Amsterdam and Amstelveen. After thirty years, I meet Alex Hendriks at my secondary-school reunion. We were both once on the student council. He is now in senior management at Eurocontrol and I am secretary-general of the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. We got to talking. I visited Eurocontrol. And now I stand before this important conference arranged by him and his colleagues.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am honoured to welcome you all to the Netherlands. For most of you, this will not be the first time that you are visiting our beautiful country. It always makes an ordered, well-organised impression from the air. On the ground it is busy and in motion, especially in this part of the country.
You are all professionally involved in mobility and much is changing in the Netherlands in this area. The high-speed train to Brussels, Paris and London will be operating within a year. The Betuwe route – the new transport line from Rotterdam to Germany and the rest of Europe – was opened last year. We are building more and more road and rail connections underground. Amsterdam is working on a new long north-south metro line. We are preparing for road pricing. We have a growth ambition of five per cent annually in railways and are investing heavily. In short, we are making every effort to fulfil our position as a European node and logistical hub as best we can. I am convinced that logistics organised on the basis of sustainability principles will give us a significant competitive advantage.
Before I continue, I would like to welcome some people specially. In particular, I would like to welcome the management and employees of our host, CMP, which is organising this leading conference together with Eurocontrol, represented here by its director-general, Mr McMillan. The other co-organiser is the Civil Air Navigation Service Organisation, whose Secretary-General, Mr ter Kuile, is present. I would also like to welcome the Aviation Director of the European Commission, Mr Calleja and Mr Krakowski, chief operating officer of the Federal Aviation Authority.
I am particularly proud that the organisers have traditionally arranged for this largest and most important conference in Europe to take place in the Netherlands. For years, you met in Maastricht, but the convention centre there has become too small for you. Fortunately, Amsterdam is very beautiful as well, and the city, located so near Schiphol airport, has fine facilities. I strongly support the organisers’ ambition to allow this event to grow into the world’s largest annual trade fair. They can count on our full cooperation.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Air-traffic management is undergoing tumultuous changes these days. It is a crucial service provider in a world where air traffic is growing strongly year after year and where international cooperation is in constant motion, not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world. In this complicated context, air-traffic management is an important tool serving various higher goals. These include economic development, sustainability, and particularly air-traffic safety.
On many continents, airspace design and air-traffic control are still approached from national perspective. I admit that this issue is different in Europe as compared to continents such as North America and Australia. Fragmentation of airspace in national compartments results in unnecessary costs for users, sub-optimal performance and unnecessary burdens on the environment. For that reason, in Europe at least, we are working with a complex but inevitable process of relinquishing national borders and organising airspace more in line with functional units.
I believe we can be proud of the progress that is gradually being made. The first Single European Sky legislative package has made some tools available to create a single borderless airspace in Europe. In that sense, this year, 2008, is an important year. There are several studies in progress on functional airspace blocks, including studies for Europe Central. National borders in air traffic will gradually disappear, which is a milestone in European cooperation.
Last year, the European Commission received a report from the high-level group it instituted, chaired by Ms Tammenoms Bakker. The group assigns clear responsibility to European leaders. The European Union must become the dominant regulator in air traffic in Europe. But, as the report warns, this must happen in close cooperation with other parties. Effective interaction is required between the EU as the regulator and Eurocontrol as the organisation with the knowledge and expertise for pan-European regulation.
The high-level group therefore points out to the governments that they must assume their responsibility. The governments will have to create a framework in which the market becomes the guiding principle for non-monopolistic services. For services with a natural monopoly, such as air-traffic services, performance will need to be encouraged by means of regulation.
This approach is supported by a study carried out for the Netherlands by Roland Berger into the future of air-traffic management. The study points to the importance of a performance-driven approach, for our country and others. The Dutch government has followed this recommendation. I do realise that a performance-driven approach is sometimes easier said than done. We will need to work out with air-traffic control organisations and stakeholders how this can be applied.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The goals set by the European high-level group also require great efforts from the suppliers of future systems: industry. How can governments and business ensure that they work together on the most promising technologies? Can we arrive at solid solutions to increasing fragmentation and complexity?
New technological ideas will enable us to accelerate the trends in air-traffic control. These ideas will increase capacity, reduce emissions and continue to guarantee safety.
To achieve all these changes, we need leadership in coordinating and determining the right steps in Europe and the world. In terms of Europe, strong synergy between the European Commission, and Eurocontrol, will be particularly significant. The leaders of these institutions and organisations will have to bring the parties and states together. It will be truly collaborative decision-making between governments, users and providers. Joint planning is the key to capacity. The experience we will acquire may deliver useful insights for comparable processes that may begin in other parts of the world.
It is very urgent that results be achieved. There is growing consensus on the strategy we must follow. This is also very necessary, as we are approaching the limits of capacity at airports, in the airspace and in emission restrictions. I hope this conference will help to bring governments, market parties and service providers together in the interests of growth, sustainability and safety.
I wish you all a pleasant and productive stay in Amsterdam and in the Netherlands.