"The Commission opens a formal enquiry into restrictions to air services to Sardinia"

According to the EU Press Room, "The Commission has decided to open a formal investigation into the rules imposed by Italy on 2 May 2006 on 16 air routes between three Sardinian airports and important airports on the Italian mainland. The Commission has serious doubts as to the conformity of the Italian public service obligations with the aviation market rules and considers that they may close the market to Sardinia. Italy has to react within two months upon receiving the Commission's notice.
'This possible abuse threatens the principle of public services that I strongly support. The European Commission must ensure that public services are not used to close a profitable market from competition', said Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of transport. 'This is what the European Commission must check in this case'."

This Press Release is available in full text.

European " Community code on short-stay visas"

As stated by the EU Press Room, "The European Commission has adopted today a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community Code on Visas.
This proposal incorporates all legal instruments governing decisions in relation to the conditions and procedures for issuing visas into one Code on Visas. This contributes to enhance transparency and to clarify the existing rules, increases the harmonisation of procedures and strengthens legal certainty and procedural guarantees.
The proposal is part of the objectives of the Hague programme to facilitating legitimate travel and to tackle illegal immigration through further harmonisation of national legislation and handling practices at local consular missions."

This Press Release is available in full text.

European "Cooperation agreement with the USA on modernising air traffic management"

According to the EU Press Room, "Vice-President Jacques Barrot, the Commissioner responsible for transport, and Marion C. Blakey of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), recently signed a cooperation agreement that will ensure coordination between their respective programmes for the modernisation of air traffic control, SESAR on the European side, and NGATS ('Next Generation Air Transport System') on the American side.
'We must have compatible technologies and standards between Europe and the United States. This is obviously a question of good economic sense but also a safety issue: you cannot ask an aircraft to change over its equipment in the middle of the Atlantic depending on whether it is being controlled by the USA or Europe', said Jacques Barrot. 'With this agreement, we will be sure that the technological choices made on the two sides of the Atlantic are coordinated for the benefit of the aviation industry'.
'As FAA moves forward its aggressive air traffic modernization efforts, it’s vital that we coordinate with our global partners,' said Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Marion C. Blakey. 'This memorandum provides the framework for a more effective, performance-based air transportation system between the United States and Europe.
'As FAA moves forward its aggressive air traffic modernization efforts, it’s vital that we coordinate with our global partners,' said Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Marion C. Blakey. 'This memorandum provides the framework for a more effective, performance-based air transportation system between the United States and Europe.'
SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research Programme) is currently in its definition phase which has been entrusted to a consortium of 30 companies. On 9 June 2006 the Council of Ministers adopted general guidelines for the next phase of SESAR, the 'development phase', during which all the new technologies and systems will be constructed. Ministers approved the principle of creating a 'SESAR Joint Undertaking' which will be responsible for managing the development phase.

The cooperation agreement signed by the Commission and the FAA at the Farnborough airshow will not only make it possible to put in place the mechanisms for coordinating the two programmes but also includes a reciprocity clause that will allow European industry to participate in the American programme and American industry to participate in SESAR.

For more information, see:
- 'MEMO' SESAR :
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air/single_sky/sesame/doc/2005_11_memo_sesar_fr.pdf

- Air Transport
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air/single_sky/sesame/index_en.htm"

DG SANCO publishes industry questionnaire on timeshare

The questionnaire is designed to collect the views of industry stakeholders on the administrative costs of current legislation, as well as the impacts of possible forms of future legislation in the field of timeshare. The aim of DG SANCO in distributing the questionnaire is to elicit a large range of industry views on the topics asked, and use the responses received as evidence in the impact assessment, which will accompany a possible proposal to revise the directive. The questionaire is available here Submissions to sanco-b2@ec.europa.eu are welcome by 11 September 2006.


(Originally posted by Michael Wukoschitz)

Union workers threaten with airport strike

Union workers are threatening with strike action at the country's national airport on 14th July, demanding airport management offer more overtime pay and better working schedules in new contract talks.

(Originally posted by Michael Wukoschitz)

"Interoperability of European air traffic management systems: towards a Single European Sky"

As stated by the EU Press Room, "The European Commission has adopted two Regulations concerning the interoperability of European air traffic management systems. The two actions aim at modernising air traffic management systems.
Vice-President Jacques Barrot, Commissioner in charge of Transport said: 'These legal instruments are milestones in the implementation of the Single Sky, as they establish clear interoperability requirements for the systems used by service providers to run their business to high safety and efficiency standards; for civil and military airspace users to make best use of congested skies, and for the air traffic controllers who handle over 27,000 flights a day.'
The 'co-ordination and transfer' Regulation establishes the requirements for automatic systems for the exchange of flight data that notify, co-ordinate and transfer flights between air traffic control units. The aim is to ensure a high level of safety and efficiency of the systems located in the same or in different Member States.
This regulation also applies to flight data exchange systems supporting the co-ordination procedures between air traffic services units and controlling military units, in accordance with the 'flexible use of airspace' Regulation.
The ‘flight plans’ Regulation sets out the procedural requirements for flight plans in the pre-flight phase. The aim is to ensure that all parties involved in submitting, modifying, accepting and distributing flight plans (i.e. aircraft operators, pilots and air traffic service units) will have the same flight plan before take off. It defines the obligations of a centralised flight planning processing and distribution service, provided through the Integrated Initial Flight Plan Processing System (IFPS), established under the authority of Eurocontrol.
The Regulation also defines the obligations in the case of flights entering European airspace without a flight plan.
Further Information on the single European sky is available on:
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air/single_sky/index_en.htm"