EUROPEAN COMMISSION
PRESS RELEASE
Brussels, 27 November 2013
EGNOS safer landings scheme extended to Ukraine
Ukraine will be able to benefit from the European EGNOS scheme, which will make air
transport safer, will open up business opportunities and will improve the GPS signal for
private users. In this context, European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani and
Ukrainian Vice-Prime Minister Oleksandr Vylkul signed a Joint Statement in Brussels today
declaring both sides' intention to include the Ukrainian territory in the coverage of EGNOS
(the European Geostationary Overlay Service).
The EU-Ukraine Cooperation Agreement in the field of Global Navigation Satellite Systems
(GNSS), concluded in November 2013, will be a win-win arrangement for both sides. It will
increase the robustness of the EGNOS performances in the Eastern part of the EU and will
allow the provision of the services over Ukraine. The utilisation of EGNOS services in
Ukraine is also contributing to the creation of a Single European Transport Area covering 1
billion people in the EU and the neighbouring countries.
As member of Eurocontrol, Ukraine is in the process of adopting the Single European Sky
legislation. EGNOS is a catalyst for the Single European Sky and the arrival of Ukraine will
contribute to the defragmentation of aviation navigation services across the continent.
European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, responsible for industry and
entrepreneurship said: “I welcome Ukraine on board of this European flagship initiative.
This co-operation will provide better results of the EGNOS/Galileo navigation services and
will also open up a series of business opportunities for SMEs both from Ukraine and the
EU. The full benefits of what we are offering in this key strategic sector will however only
be available through the signature of the Association Agreement including its Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Area, as it is precisely this that would further enhance
industrial cooperation and offer to Ukraine’s space industry full access to the EU markets."
More information
Galileo and GPS join forces to increase flight safety
IP/13/1171
Background
EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, is a Satellite-Based
Augmentation System (SBAS) that improves the accuracy and provides integrity to the
GPS signal over most of Europe. It is Europe's first venture into satellite navigation and a
major stepping-stone towards Galileo, Europe's own future global satellite navigation
system.
EGNOS delivers more accurate positioning data, for improving existing services or
developing a wide range of new services for different market segment such as aviation,
mapping, precise agriculture, road, and location-based services (LBS).
EGNOS is made up of transponders on board three geostationary satellites, and an
interconnected ground network of forty positioning stations and four control centres which
cover most of the territory of the EU.
EGNOS offers three high-performance navigation and positioning services:

EGNOS Open Service increases the accuracy of the current GNSS and enables
the use of applications requiring higher precision by correcting errors caused by
atmospheric disturbance factors. Citizens can profit from better personal GNSS
navigation provided that they use an EGNOS-enabled receiver (as most recent
models do). This Open Service is also already widely used in agriculture for high
precision applications such as the spraying of fertilisers and in mapping (for an
accurate measurement of areas).
 The Safety-of-Life Service enables precision landing approaches and renders air
navigation safer as well reducing delays, diversions and cancellations of flights.
EGNOS also enables the planning of shorter, more fuel-efficient routes which
reduce the CO2 emissions of the aviation industry. EGNOS is currently available
over more than 80 airports (details on http://www.essp-sas.eu), while other
European airports should also soon be equipped.
 The Commercial Service or EDAS provides a terrestrial commercial data service
which offers professional users ground-based access to EGNOS data.
Background info
EGNOS is owned by the European Commission and was launched in 2009 to be part of the
Galileo global satellite navigation system. The European Space Agency designed EGNOS
under a delegation agreement with the Commission.
EGNOS is the first pan-European satellite navigation system. Similar services are provided
in North America by the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), in Japan by the
Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS) and in India by the GAGAN System.
Other similar Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) are under study or
development in other regions of the world.
Contacts :
Carlo Corazza (+32 2 295 17 52) @ECspokesCorazza
Sara Tironi (+32 2 299 04 03)
2