FP10 and the strategic operating environment of European Civil Aviation

Civil Aviation is an indispensable part of the global mobility of passengers and goods in particular for remote areas, mid and long distances and thus contributing to the welfare of the entire European society, through and beyond its economy and industry. However, the civil aviation sector is confronted with major challenges of twin transition (green and digital) requiring huge efforts and investments. Reaching climate neutrality of the aviation sector is a public good and should be seen as such, benefiting not just the industry, but society as a whole, by reducing emissions, improving public health, and supporting long-term environmental sustainability. Past consistent and long-term EU support has been the basis for the current successful global position of the European civil aviation sector. Preserving this position can only be achieved through strengthened EU support.

The EU’s climate neutrality ambitions and willingness of de-risking the energy transition should be run in parallel to reinforcing its civil aviation industry technological strategic autonomy; climate neutrality and digitalisation together supporting competitiveness in all fields are the tryptic supporting Europe’s climate leadership in a politically tense international environment.

Civil aeronautics turnover, as part of the wider European civil aviation eco-system, reached €114bn in 2022, enabling €98.3bn of exports. Despite the challenges posed by a tight labour market and a shortage of high skilled workers, sector employment increased by 6.0% in 2022, reaching a total of 348,000 jobs. In addition to direct employment, the economic impact of the civil aeronautics sector in Europe was more than 3.5 million people in 2022, including direct, indirect and induced employment.

The civil aeronautics sector – in its entire value chain, from suppliers to aircraft and engine producers, ATM and airport ground system providers – is therefore also critical to ensure Europe’s strategic autonomy in terms of technologies for mobility and contributes to many advanced technologies with relevant spillover towards other sectors. This technology foundation, classified as “high-tech”3 in a recent analysis of EU Innovation Policy, is based on the reality that civil aviation and its products are among the most complex manufactured and integrated systems, with exceptionally high requirements on safety, efficiency, reliability, operating amongst increasing civil aviation traffic density and harsher environmental conditions throughout their life cycle.

In front of the huge challenges it faces, this unique truly pan-European industry built by Europe over past decades needs more than ever to be actively supported in the next European 10th Framework Programme for Research (FP10) with appropriate instruments and dedicated funding at European & national levels to preserve its global market share (among the leaders), in light of increased competition from other regions, to contribute to Europe’s strategic autonomy in terms of technologies and know-how, to safeguard its employment through competitiveness and leadership.

European civil aviation: a sector of great strategic relevance for Europe

Aerospace is identified in the European Industrial Strategy as a strategic industrial sector and significantly contributes to job creation in Europe, supporting 13.5m European jobs and supporting one trillion euros in European economic activity – equal to 3.6% of all employment in Europe and 4.4% of the European GDP. Civil Aviation also plays a critical role in retaining high qualified competences and jobs in Europe, essential for safeguarding European strategic research and engineering capabilities.
The European civil aeronautics sector is of paramount importance to contribute to economic growth and high-quality jobs within Europe; it provides an important contribution to Europe’s trade balance of €98.3bn exports in 20226. Additional to economic impact the products of this sector have global presence contributing to social cohesion and remain a major lever for global order in an uncertain world. The European civil aeronautics eco-system has a truly European footprint, enabling strategic autonomy, consisting of aircraft & engine manufacturers, large system integrators as well as many supply chain companies and SMEs with facilities across Europe. European civil aeronautics is the second largest in the world beyond the US industry but ahead, for the moment being, of other regions such as China, Canada or Brazil.

The European civil aviation sector is fully committed to support the ultimate objective of reaching, by 2050, a net-zero CO2 emissions aviation ecosystem in Europe and globally by appropriate political EU actions at ICAO level, together with the energy production and distribution sector making available the new energy sources. The civil aeronautics sector is also fully engaged in addressing non-CO2 emissions effects from civil aviation and their potential contribution to global warming. Notably, ASD together with the main players of the European aviation sector (including Europe’s airlines, airports and Air Navigation Service Providers) have laid out a joint long-term vision – Destination 2050 – to reach net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 and to substantially contribute to the EU 2030 targets.

The European aviation sector is fully embracing the twin transition, green and digital, to deliver in these ambitious timelines. This means that this competitive sector must rapidly develop and adapt cutting edge technology whilst also engaging a complex network of stakeholders, from certification authorities, regulators to operators and energy providers and the supply chain. This complex network being critical as the sector transitions into a broader range of energy sources necessary to decarbonise at a faster pace enabled by digital tools and methods across the life cycle.

Achieving climate neutral aviation is complemented by the commitment of the civil aviation sector to deliver the European ATM Master Plan (MP), which includes a vision for the Digital European Sky. The European civil aviation sector is also committed to make Europe the most efficient and environmentally friendly sky to fly in the world, simplifying aerial traffic and control, increasing safety, reducing traffic congestion and noise and being a key driver of citizen’s wellbeing.

In order to achieve this, it is harnessing, developing and accelerating the take-up of the most cutting-edge technological solutions to manage conventional aircraft, drones, air taxis and vehicles flying at higher altitudes as well as the new aircraft with low emissions. The 2024 edition of the ATM MP focuses on accelerating deployment of new technologies and innovation throughout the value chain, strengthening the links between low and high TRL phases. It is time to move forward with the transformation of the European civil aviation infrastructure through the Digital European Sky, to reduce the current pressure due to the increase in traffic demand.

Challenges and opportunities to R&T in European civil aviation

Global competition, strongly supported by governments, impacts European civil aviation. State aid in the US and China have large government funding schemes deployed to heavily finance R&T and aircraft developments. Strong governmental support, coupled with a lack of reciprocity limiting R&T participation of European headquartered companies, prevents European stakeholders from competing on an actual level playing field. This is difficult to illustrate with numbers related to investment implemented outside Europe as only Europe makes its support open and transparent, but it underlines the strategic importance of the sector at international level. Such non-level playing field state aid not only threatens the international competitiveness of European civil aviation, but also jeopardizes European sovereignty at a time where it is required. European territorial integrity must be preserved in the future, as well as aviation research and technological capacities, which will pull excellence in contributing sectors such as batteries, hydrogen, advanced materials and electronics, due to the stringent aviation sector safety and security constraints.

Experience has demonstrated that any technological leapfrog made by civil aviation delivering breakthrough innovation and creating new markets, generates a strong technological pull in other sectors because of the high-level safety and security requirements supported by uncompromising certification processes for civil aviation innovative technologies and applications. Additionally, weight reduction, compactness and efficiency, as well as autonomy are also essential features developed by the aviation sector that can spill over to other economic domains; what is good for aviation, is good for the supporting sectors.

Therefore, European civil aviation with its challenging requirements stimulates advanced solutions in high technology areas with sectorial cross-cutting synergies in for example, batteries, hydrogen, advanced materials, systems integration, certified/reliable electronics, critical equipment and components, digital technologies such as AI, Automation, Cyber-Security and Big Data Management.
The European civil aviation industry must maintain its leadership in the world in light of increased competition from other regions. Therefore, Europe must remain a strong centre of excellence in R&T to the benefit of its citizens, enabling R&T based progress, job provision, environment protection, safe, secure and convenient as well as affordable mobility for all, and in the interest of Europe’s sovereignty. This can only be done with the strong support of the European Framework Programme.

The need for a specific funding instrument for civil aviation

The EU research framework programmes such as Framework Programme 7 or Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe are unique and essential funding programmes for aviation R&T. They enable greater level of success for each Technology Readiness Level, and that in turn ensures a smooth deployment of mature technologies and services. Being all-encompassing and deeply integrated, relative to national funding, they facilitate collaboration across borders and alignment in time of objectives among multi-disciplinary partners and enable R&T projects contributing to global challenges such as climate change and decarbonisation. The civil aviation sector is hard-to-abate due to the complex technology solutions, infrastructure development and regulatory environment. Aviation technology is also a key enabler of Europe’s sovereignty, international technological leadership and competitive strength.

FP10: a proposed approach for a more efficient design 

Institutional partnerships dedicated to civil aviation in Horizon Europe (Clean Aviation, SESAR 3) are proving to be a valuable tool to address a highly integrated sector such as aviation. They allow focus on global climate challenges through participation in EU research projects. A new Competitiveness Joint Undertaking8 replacing the existing institutional partnerships will severely impact and reduce the ability of the civil aviation sector to innovate with confidence and long-term stability. Focused on Greenhouse Gas emission reductions, the instruments would gain relevance and effectiveness by expanding the climate-related coverage (non-CO2 emissions, noise, eco-design) to also strengthen industrial competitiveness, the synergy span (especially if instruments are dedicated to strategic sectors) and the instrument perimeter (inclusion of low Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and critical aviation native strategic technologies).

More specifically, FP10 approach should be based on:

• Dedicated funding instruments for civil aviation with an increased budget compared to Horizon Europe, commensurate with the EU’s and civil aviation sectors high ambitions to move to climate neutrality by 2050 and fulfil the Digital European Sky vision whilst fostering its strategic status;
• Additional public funds should be made available to launch any new research and technology project.
• Continued focus on excellence in R&T for civil aviation topics fundamental to European Society, European strategic leadership and European Competitiveness globally;
• Coherent strategic definition, focus and integration across both FP10 and the entire TRL spectrum, encompassing universities, research centres and industry (including SMEs), regulatory gap avoidance thanks to EASA’s early involvement. All of that fosters speed in the innovation cycle towards a smooth operational deployment;
• Scope addressing all civil aviation attributes: climate neutral, digital, strategic and competitive technologies;
• Steady funding mechanisms and implementation actions.- e.g. institutional partnerships (when relevant, Public Private Partnerships fostering collaborative ecosystems) – that foster high-quality collaboration, lasting multi-disciplinary cooperation, across national borders and funding optimization to deliver the complex products of civil aviation value chain and trigger private investment.
• Easy-to-use instruments with light administrative procedures throughout that enable efficient engagement and delivery with preservation of European Intellectual Property rights;
• Better alignment of the different European and national funding schemes in technology maturity and civil aviation specificities, as well.
• Cooperation with partner countries outside EU that share common views on R&T priorities, providing relevant and impactful capabilities;
• Continuous training of young and established generations of engineers to increase the sector attractiveness.

Conclusion

In order to implement the ambitious goals of the Destination 2050 roadmap as well as the EU Green Deal’s own goals, it is essential that the EU institutions provide the necessary supporting tools, which should include a substantial increased budget for civil aviation research within FP10. Continued investment in R&T is also pivotal for preserving the European civil aviation industry competitiveness and economical independence. In this context, it is also essential to provide increased and well aligned funding so that all elements of the civil aviation ecosystem can be supported (Universities, research centres, aircraft & engine manufacturers as well as system integrators and supply chain companies/SMEs).

Given international uncertainties and increased global competitive pressure, the political will expressed by the EU Commission with the adoption of the Green Deal and the Digital strategy, to lead the transition towards a sustainable and digital future should be aligned to maintaining the strategic autonomy of its strategic sectors.

While the proposal to set-up a new Competitiveness Joint undertaking replacing the current public-private partnerships is not a good avenue, the Draghi report highlights some other good points such as the need for the European Union to reinforce EU funding. The report also rightly states that conditional on reforms, the budget of the new Framework Programme should be doubled to EUR 200 billion per 7 years. It also raises the need to launch dedicated EU innovation projects leveraging public-private partnerships and cross-border cooperation for decarbonisation and automatisation challenges in different segments. One of these sectors is civil aviation. The European civil aviation sector, with its impact on economic growth, high-quality jobs and global market share, is by nature one of these. Hence the setting of European R&T for climate neutrality, competitiveness and strategic autonomy should define the conditions for the civil aviation sector to get its priorities reflected in the 10th Framework Programme.