Towards highly developed and truly European ATM

The 22nd Florence Air Forum, ‘Towards highly developed and truly European ATM – bringing Europeans together by enabling all journeys’, will explore the future of Air Traffic Management in Europe, assessing SESAR’s achievements, remaining challenges, and the reforms needed to deliver a safer, more efficient, and sustainable Single European Sky.

The aviation industry is leading the technological revolution in transport, focusing on improved safety, efficiency, and sustainability. SESAR is the European Union’s flagship project for modernising Air Traffic Management (ATM), and since 2007, it has developed into a major innovation framework. It supports the Single European Sky strategy by uniting EU institutions, industry, and academia, aligning investment and priorities with nearly €4.8 billion in research funding and an additional €3 billion for deployment through the Connecting Europe Facility. Out of 137 SESAR solutions delivered, 70 have been implemented, improving arrival and departure procedures at busy airports, enhancing airport integration, and enabling more efficient upper airspace routing. SESAR has also tackled structural challenges by reducing technological fragmentation, promoting shared standards, and aligning national and industry priorities through the European ATM Master Plan.

Although SESAR’s evolution, the implementation of new ATM solutions faces delays, often because of structural weaknesses in the innovation process at key transition points. Air traffic in Europe is projected to increase 44% by 2050 from 2019 levels, reaching over 15.4 million IFR flights annually. This growth will introduce new airspace users like drones and electric vertical take-off aircraft, which in turn will necessitate changes in airspace design and coordination. At the same time, it is vital to ensure the EU’s technological sovereignty and safe airspace operations amid the current geopolitical instability and disruptions.

ATM modernisation relies on the goals established in the European ATM Master Plan to ensure Europe remains the most efficient and environmentally friendly airspace. SESAR has proven effective in facilitating coordinated innovation in air traffic management, overcoming barriers, and delivering performance and sustainability gains while reinforcing Europe’s autonomy and industrial leadership. Although reforms are needed, particularly for smoother development to deployment transitions and stronger industrialisation, these can be achieved with targeted enhancements. Alternative governance models may offer benefits but also pose high transition risks that could delay the rollout of the ATM Master Plan.

The 22^nd Florence Air Forum aims to delve into the critical issues shaping the future of ATM, with the goal of bringing Europeans together by enabling all journeys. The Forum, co-organised by the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation together with the EC’s DG MOVE, will tackle the following questions:

• The Evaluation of the SES2+ Package: In which manner has the recent adoption of the SES2+ package NOT taken care of all the challenges facing European ATM? Which elements in the SES2+ package create the most severe implementation challenges? How can we use soft law in the implementation phase?
• The Future of European ATM: the New Service Delivery Model: How will the vision of the new service delivery model become a reality? What is the stakeholders’ desire to invest in this initiative?
• Organising SESAR: Stakeholder Engagement and Next Steps: Does the ATM community actually care how we organise the SESAR in the next planning period? How to best organise it?

Kindly note that this event is by invitation only.