The single European sky SES2+ – quo vadis?

The first Single European Sky package (SES1) was adopted in 2004 with the aim of addressing the fragmentation of European airspace. It was followed in 2009 by the second Single European Sky package (SES2), which had a new focus on the performance of air navigation services providers (ANSPs). 15 years later, the EU proceeded to a recast in the form of an SES2+ Regulation. In this, the Commission enshrined both its performance-based approach and a parallel approach focusing on Europe-wide network functions, not least because digitalisation had given rise to new technological possibilities. This issue of Network Industries Quarterly aims to untangle the SES2+ Regulation and assess its potential for moving forward. In her contribution entitled ‘Shaping the future of European ATM: lessons from a decade of deployment,’ Mariagrazia La Piscopia sets the context for the deployment of SES technological innovation. Tânia Simoes Cardoso, in her article entitled ‘Modernising Europe’s Air Traffic Management System: The Future of Innovation and the Role of EUROCONTROL,’ situates technological changes in ATM in the larger context of the transformation of the European aviation system. In a third contribution entitled ‘A mindset dedicated to the evolving aviation imperative to harness SES 2+,’ Achim Baumann assesses the SES2+ Regulation from the perspective of airspace users. Two articles follow from the ANSP perspective, authored by Ivan Arnold and Daniel Ivan (entitled ‘Network governance and the law: How to govern the execution of Network Functions?’) and Ivan Arnold (entitled ‘The New Service Delivery Model in the Single European Sky: a paradigm-shift in Air Traffic Management?’). In his contribution, ‘The art of modernising European air traffic management,’ Andreas Boschen explains the needs to both master technology and adapt to transforming frameworks. In his concluding contribution entitled ‘European ATM in a pivotal moment,’ Matthias Finger situates SES2+ in the broader historical context of the SES project and vision.