Feb 1, 2019
After 6 years leading CANSO, what is your view of it as an organization?
JP: First of all, it is a great privilege to be the Director General of the organisation for air traffic management (ATM) at such an exciting times in the evolution of the industry. CANSO is unique in representing the ATM industry as a whole: not just the 90 air navigation service providers (ANSPs) that are Full Members representing over 85% of global airspace but also the 95 Associate Members who are industry suppliers. That is why we say that CANSO is “The Global Voice of ATM”. I am particularly proud that in the past six years, CANSO’s reputation and credibility has grown significantly and we have earned a rightful seat at the industry top table with ACI (airports), IATA (airlines) and ICCAIA (manufacturers) in discussions with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) and States. We have achieved that by being not only a strong and responsible advocate for the interests of our Members and ATM in general but also by delivering on some important work programmes and on our commitments to our Members and other stakeholders. As such, CANSO is a trusted partner, which is absolutely essential as we work in partnership with others on the changes and challenges that lie ahead.
So, what do you see as the main challenges for air traffic management in the coming years?
JP: I often say that ATM has always been an exciting industry – due to its very nature, what we do and how we do it, using such fantastic technologies and harnessing the skills and capabilities of so many people. But right now is a particularly exciting time as we are deploying technologies, tools and processes that have been developed over recent years in SESAR, NextGen and other programmes. These are too many to mention here but they represent an alphabet soup of acronyms in in an industry that is itself an acronym – ATM. They include space-based ADS-B, SWIM (System Wide Information Management), TBS (time-based separation, A-CDM (airport collaborative decision making), extended AMAN (arrival manager), AI (artificial intelligence) as well as the likes of big data, digitisation, automation and free route airspace. These technologies are genuinely transforming ATM but although we can be very proud of achievements to date, the harsh reality is that the industry continues to face many challenges as well as opportunities. We are all aware of the huge growth in air traffic that is expected in all regions of the world. Furthermore, we need to integrate the entry into airspace of users, not so ‘new’ anymore, such as drones, high altitude balloons, autonomous aircraft and other vehicles. If we do not manage these challenges well, there will be more congestion, more fragmentation and more delays. Overlaying all of that, of course is the need to maintain safety as our number one priority, and not forgetting the escalating cyber threat to our systems.
The ATM industry in Europe has already seen quite a lot of criticism this year from airlines, airports and others over increased delays and congestion in Europe. It is easy to point to this as a failure but that in itself fails to recognise the enormous investments that have taken place and the improvements in capacity and performance that have been achieved. The traffic growth has quite simply outstripped all forecasts and expectations and it is not possible to significantly increase ATM capacity at short notice, particularly in the present European regulatory and institutional framework. That is not an excuse, it is a reality. But pointing fingers does not help - it is only by all stakeholders (airlines, airports, ANSPs, European Commission, States, etc) working closely together and recognising such realities that we will be able to address the capacity issues in European ATM. There are good examples of this same spirit of partnership working well in ATM both in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
Many of the most difficult challenges we face in ATM are political and institutional, not just operational, because the technologies and procedures that improve the efficiency of airspace rely on a high degree of cross-border and cross-aviation industry cooperation. So, the capacity and delay challenges can only be truly addressed by removing the present interoperability and institutional constraints to managing airspace on a pan-regional approach rather than national silos. Suffice it to say here that CANSO believes that there is huge scope for regulatory and institutional improvements that would facilitate improved ATM performance.
So, what is CANSO itself doing to improve ATM performance?
JP: Transforming global ATM performance is the over-arching goal of CANSO, to achieve a globally harmonised and interoperable air navigation system that is capable of delivering a safe, efficient and seamless service. In support of this, CANSO launched Vision 2020 in 2013 as the strategic framework for ATM, based on a substantial work programme of more than 120 initiatives with clear deliverables, responsibilities and timescales in the fields of safety, operations, policy/regulation and partnership. We have delivered a great deal in terms of implementing new technologies, developing new processes and techniques to improve safety and efficiency, sharing best practices and benchmarking, providing implementation guides as well as pushing for better, performance based regulations.
What changes would you like to see in ATM to encourage greater efficiency and enable the growth in capacity that is needed?
JP: If ATM is to best serve passengers and our aviation partners, we need to ensure that we have the right governance and regulatory frameworks to do so. A global industry requires global standards that will further help achieve the goal of harmonised airspace worldwide. We are working closely with ICAO on this to lay the essential foundations on which to build strong regulatory frameworks at national level.
Air traffic management is often faced with prescriptive, inefficient and conflicting regulations that add cost and undermine the ability to innovate and perform effectively. Instead, it needs regulations to be sufficiently flexible to allow the safe introduction of new technologies such as digitisation for remote towers and space-based ADS-B, as well as new entrants to airspace like drones.CANSO is therefore calling for regulatory approaches that emphasise what must actually be achieved, focusing on agreed, measurable outcomes and placing more of the responsibility and accountability with the service provider in how the performance requirements will be met. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for ATM regulation as there is a great disparity among States in terms of oversight capabilities, maturity and culture. But all can adopt regulations that follow the key principles of being proportionate, accountable, consistent, transparent and targeted.
Investment in ATM infrastructure is critical and we need to do a better job of organizing ourselves, our projects and our business cases in order to secure funding for investments – whether from governments, institutions or the private market. In ATM, that means allowing ANSPs to act and behave like normal businesses. There are many different models of ANSPs from privatised and corporatised to separated government agencies to normal government departments. It is nonsense to believe that investments can be properly justified and financed if there is a complete separation between ATM revenues and expenditures. So, States need to ensure proper governance of stand-alone ANSPs. But they also need to ensure clear strategy and policy for aviation and ATM at national and regional level, together with long-term planning not short-term budgeting. This should not be difficult but it requires political will and deliberate efforts to change.
How do you see the impact of all of this on air traffic controllers and other ATM staff?
JP: With all of the changes and challenges that I have outlined, a high level of performance of the humans in the system has never been so important, as the digital age requires people to adapt to new technologies and ways of working. Safely implementing the latest technologies, such as automation and artificial intelligence, does impact air traffic control staff so they need to be proactively involved. Adaptation and flexibility are necessary to keep ATM safe, efficient and effective at global, regional and national levels. But actions speak louder than words so we are building a clear vision on how humans can ensure safe and seamless transition. CANSO is launching a Standard of Excellence in Human Performance Management to help ANSPs top manage these changes and improve human performance.
What do you see as being critical for CANSO itself moving forward?
JP: The most obvious point is that CANSO needs to remain highly relevant to its Members and to other stakeholders in ATM. That in turn means that CANSO must continue to speak responsibly and authoritatively as the global voice of ATM and be a powerful advocate for positive change and transformation. CANSO has been actively consulting its Members over the past two years to ensure that it is ‘fit for the future’ and we have identified some key initiatives to ensure that this happens.
At the overall industry level, much remains to be done. This is perhaps highlighted well by the nine CANSO papers that were all approved at the recent ICAO 13th Air Navigation Conference. These included enabling investment in ATM infrastructure, harmonizing the approach to standards around the world, adopting a performance-based approach to regulation, enabling new technologies and new airspace users, and tackling cyber security. CANSO is fully committed to working with States and industry partners to implement these Conference decisions.
Finally, how do you personally view Hermes and how would you like to see it develop?
JP: I am very happy and proud to be a member of the Hermes Board. We have made good progress to date, in particular by becoming a formal association with its own initiatives, events and magazine. As Hermes members are individual people of note in the aviation industry rather than companies or associations, I believe it is important and appropriate for Hermes to focus on people issues in aviation rather than duplicate the existing work of others. I look forward to working with Hermes members on the theme for 2019 of “Education and Performance in Aviation: Realizing and Sustaining Benefits”.
Interview courtesy Hermes - Air Transport Organisation
Source:www.atn.aero
