Air Traffic Management

Air traffic management (ATM) is linked to the complex ground and airborne systems used to safely guide aircraft and manage the airspace to accommodate the needs of air traffic. As an essential part of European aviation, ATM assists aircraft from departure from the airport, through transit in the airspace and until reaching the gate at destination.

Modern ATM allows interoperable and harmonised systems that ensure that aircraft can operate with the same performance from one airspace to the other (e.g. flying transatlantic routes). Indeed, the air traffic can only expand if the air traffic control system can safely and expeditiously handle increased movement of aircrafts, whilst making best use of the current infrastructure capacity.

To update the ageing technology and procedures being used today, and enable safer, cleaner and quicker flights, the European Commission set up a Public-Private Partnership called the Single European Sky ATM Research Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU).  Guided by the European ATM Master Plan, SESAR aims to transform EU ATM into a more automated system through advances in digital and virtualisation technologies, and aims at addressing new challenges such as cybersecurity or the integration of drones in the airspace.

ASD members of the ASD ATM Committee are key stakeholders for the SESAR JU, and together they examine how new technologies and different operational concepts can expand the capacity of the Single European Sky. The Committee also cooperates with international partners, reunited under the International Coordinating Council of AeroSpace Industries Associations (ICCAIA) to insert these concepts under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) umbrella.