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European Commission
To meet the future needs and challenges of a growing air transport industry, the European Commission launched the Single European Sky (SES), Europe’s air traffic management rationalisation programme, in 2004. The restructuring of European airspace into functional airspace blocks is the backbone of SES.
A functional airspace block is a portion of airspace extending over several countries that is managed in an integrated fashion, in line with the actual needs of the airspace users. In a FAB, the provision of air navigation services and related ancillary functions are optimised and/or integrated. Air traffic flows are not constrained by national boundaries. This leads to greater efficiency. FABs must demonstrate their overall added value on the basis of cost-benefit analyses. They will allow for flexible forms of cooperation between air navigation service providers. In a FAB, States retain their respective national sovereignty.
38 States are currently committed to the SES initiative: - the 27 Member States of the European Union;
- the 9 countries that form part of the European Common Aviation Area signed in 2005: Norway, Iceland and the states of the former Yugoslavia;
- Switzerland and Morocco, which have signed a bilateral agreement with the EU.
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