Transport ministers from across the EU, as well as members of the European Parliament and key stakeholders from the European aviation industry, are today meeting at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to discuss the future implementation of the EU’s Aviation Strategy.

Released just before Christmas, the EU Aviation Strategy is the European Commission’s vision for generating growth for the aviation sector, fostering innovation and improving passenger safety, comfort and connections.

The European Aviation Summit itself is a chance for discussion and debate on what the Aviation Strategy means for the future of the European Aviation industry, and a chance for the Dutch Presidency of the Council of Europe to set out their timetable for action.

Key to the strategy, and of importance to ADS members in particular, is the proposal to revise the Basic Regulation of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The Basic Regulation is the underlying legislation that gives EASA its roles, responsibilities and duties in the field of civil aviation safety across Europe.

With EASA as an agency entering into force over a decade ago, the EC’s recent proposals represent an important opportunity to update the regulation to respond to new challenges and the development of future technologies, whilst continuing to maintain the high standards of aviation safety across the EU. And with the Aerospace industry funding around 70% of the agency’s activities through the Fees and Charges levied on product certification, changes to the regulation will have an important impact on the future of our industry.

For the Aerospace industry, some of the key principles behind reforming EASA’s responsibilities must be:

  • Encouraging EASA to adopt a performance based approach where necessary, as a key enabler to improving regulatory oversight and targeting resource to tackle risk.
  • Greater regulatory flexibility in responding to the challenges and opportunities from new technology set to be introduced into the sector over the next decade.
  • Improved resource flexibility in order to respond to the expected increase in demand from industry for certification of products – helping to boost Europe’s global competitiveness and productivity.
  • An enhanced role in international decision making – promoting European safety standards around the world and encouraging developing countries to enter in bi-lateral safety agreements.
  • Increasing EASA’s collaborative role into Aviation research and other EU legislation such as REACH – to ensure both innovation gets quicker to market, and the important safety standards complied with by Aerospace manufacturers are recognised.

With important stakeholders from both government and industry together in Amsterdam today, the Aviation Summit presents an important opportunity to begin putting the EC’s proposals and goals for the Aviation industry, into practice.