AIR NAVIGATION LICENCE APPLICATION

The purpose of the EU’s Single European Sky regulation is to improve air safety, reduce delays and reduce the costs caused by air navigation in European air space. In accordance with the regulation every organisation providing air navigation services must obtain an official national licence for its operations. In Finland the necessary licence must be obtained from a new official aviation body called the Civil Aviation Authority, which began operating at the beginning of 2006.

“The Civil Aviation Administration (Finavia) will apply for its licence during 2006”, said deputy divisional manager Matts-Anders Nyberg. “The Civi Aviation Authority will process the licence and the Council of State (the government) will appoint the service provider on that basis.”

Mr Nyberg said the joint requirements for air navigation service providers, as set by the commission for member countries, are of a fairly general nature. At present, national authorities are preparing their own, more detailed terms which will affect air navigation organisations, personnel, safety issues, finances and disclosure as well as questions of responsibility.

“It’s demanding work because each country should apply the terms of the regulation according to its own circumstances,” said Mr Nyberg, who is responsible for the preparatory work at the Civil Aviation Administration. “Air navigation supervision and reporting will become increasingly detailed and the aviation authority will have to audit activities more closely,” he said.

During the review year the branch was also occupied by cooperation with the Eurocontrol air navigation organisation. Finland and Eurocontrol have designed a set of licence procedure guidelines which may help other member states in their own preparatory work.

“I believe that air navigation and control services in Europe will become more uniform and more transparent. However, the financial benefits of the new practices will only become apparent later, perhaps in 5–15 years’ time.”