Strategic and Socio-Economic Studies at EUROCONTROL
Synthesis 2010
Synthesis of Strategic and Socio-Economic Studies at
EUROCONTROL since 2003
November 2010
__________________________________________________________________________
The present paper summarises socio-economic and strategic studies in EUROCONTROL
that since 2003 aimed to raise Air Transport Awareness for the medium- and long-term in
view of better informed decisions and strategic orientation of research in EUROCONTROL.
It includes in Annex a synthesis of the socio-economic studies performed in
EUROCONTROL in the period 2003-2008. This synthesis aims to illustrate the extent of the
study field and to highlight the main findings and how it is contributing to better
understanding the context and challenges of air transport and its evolution.1
Thanks to Dave Young, Marc Bisiaux, Patricia Cauwenbergh for their contributions.
__________________________________________________________________________
1
The synthesis is follows the Air Transport Strategic and Socio-economic Studies web page
at: http://www.eurocontrol.int/eec/public/standard_page/proj_Strategic_soc_eco_studies.html.
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Socio-economic studies
The EUROCONTROL socio-economic research followed an exploratory process, looking at
air transport from the perspective of different categories of actors in society (customers,
politicians, press, neighbours, even air traffic controllers and pilots). It has also explored the
economic aspects from regulatory and business perspectives, looking at the economic
impact of air transport, and at the integration of sustainability and governance issues in air
transport.
Each study has been subject to a study report that can be found in the 2003-2008 EEC
reports list (sorted by year of publication):
EEC's technical/scientific reports
A synthesis of those studies (letting aside the environmental research part) is proposed in
the Annex of this document.
In addition, two events have been organised to raise awareness about the societal
challenges in air transport:
 A workshop on sustainability of air transport in 2005,
 A symposium organised with Sciences-Po Paris on sustainability of air transport in
2006.
The socio-economic knowledge gathered … also contributed to the SESAR Definition
Phase, mainly but not exclusively to D1.
The figure below results from this exploratory research phase and illustrates the factors
influencing air transport evolution, as perceived in 2006:
Fig 1: Factors influencing air transport evolution – 2006
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The exploratory phase have shown that the perception of air transport in society in Europe
has become progressively tainted with the rise of environmental preoccupations in society
both at local (airports neighbourhood) and global (atmospheric emissions) levels, combined
with the growing risk aversion in modern societies. Even if the willingness to travel doesn’t
seem to change, the awareness that flying is maybe not only good but has drawbacks, is
rendering the future of air transport demand less predictable that it has been in the past.
In this tainted picture, ATM is still rather unknown to the public, which may bear risks in
judicial and political contexts when arbitrations need to be made out of the ATM professional
sphere.
On the economic side, studies have confirmed and reinforced the positive impact of air
transport on economy both at regional and national (GDP) and more local (catalytic impacts)
levels.
At the same time, the economy of air transport is increasingly affected by its environmental
impacts, both by regulation (taxes, trading, restrictions, studies towards internalisation of
external costs etc) and also by the actors’ necessity to adopt sustainability strategies that
maintain their legitimacy to operate and the survivability of their business (energy,
nuisance,…).
In finding the right balance between its social, economic and environmental impacts, air
transport should benefit in a more integrated and collaborative common approach in front of
the increased public attention and regulatory pressure.
In this evolutive economy, the European ATM is reforming its governance under the Single
European Sky umbrella, towards better performance and cost effectiveness. Lessons can be
learned from exploring strengths and weaknesses in comparison with other networked
industries more advanced in the process: new services, actors, prices, congestion
management, and liability.
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Strategic Studies
In 2007, the socio-economic research evolved into the EUROCONTROL’s Strategic Studies,
as part of the CND Strategy and Stakeholder Relationship unit, aiming to raise awareness on
Air Transport evolution in the medium- and long-term.
The Strategic Studies have exploited and further developed the knowledge gathered in the
Society, Economy and Environment Unit (SEE) where they had been initiated, to analyse
challenges for the long-term of air transport in view of strategic orientation of research in
EUROCONTROL and in air transport in support of ACARE.
“Society challenges in air transport”
Investigative survey of the socio-political challenge of air transport included a survey of
high level experts’ view on the long-term challenges in air transport that accompanied the
EUROCONTROL Challenges of Growth 2008 study
 CG08, “Challenges in air transport 2030”, available for download on the STATFOR
web page: www.eurocontrol.int/statfor
, followed by the contribution of a Society section in the ACARE Background document
analysing challenges in Air Transport and calling for a new Vision for air transport and
Aeronautics at the horizon 2050:
 AERONAUTICS AND AIR TRANSPORT: BEYOND VISION 2020 (TOWARDS
2050): http://www.acare4europe.com/docs/Towards2050.pdf
“Air transport Policy support through ACARE”
Part of the support to ACARE has been a continuous contribution to monitoring research
achievements against the ACARE Vision 2020 goals and to future orientation of research
in Aeronautics and Air Transport, through the EC MEFISTO and AGAPE projects:
 MEFISTO
 AGAPE
More recently, support is provided also to the co-modality initiative led by ACARE under
the request of the EC.
“Airports network congestion”
Strategic studies have also developed an understanding of the drivers and consequences
of a possible future congestion at network level with the Mitigating Action against airport
congestion report that accompanied and fed into the EUROCONTROL Challenges of
Growth 2008 study
 CG08, “Mitigating against the Challenges for Air Transport 2030”, available for
download on the front STATFOR page: www.eurocontrol.int/statfor
, and the Network Congestion study that followed with a macro-level assessment of the
consequences of congestion in terms of performance coupled with a literature survey of
network congestion management approaches in other network industries:
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 Network Congestion Strategic Recommendations final report, to be published
“Air Transport economics”
Leading from the identified challenges in air transport, the impact of changes in costs to
airlines (Oil prices, ETS, charges...) on air ticket prices and air traffic has been performed
as part of a PhD research:
 ACCOUNT
More recently, the consequences of a potential Peak of Oil on the air transport demand
and supply, the ATM actors and EUROCONTROL have been explored through an
extensive literature survey and a risk assessment exercise in the Peak Oil study.
 Peak Oil: Litterature survey, scenarios and elements of risk assessment
“Institutional evolution in ATM”
A theme of continuing investigative studies has been the institutional evolution in ATM
which provides a wider understanding of the different options for the future of
EUROCONTROL:
 Potential: a step towards analysing the Agency’s evolving stakeholders’
expectations,
 Dynameat: analysis of the evolution of the European ATM governance in light of the
Single Sky objectives.
Conclusion
Starting with the recognition that air transport, whilst continuing to experience growing
demand, faces new societal challenges since the turn of the century, research in
EUROCONTROL for better understanding societal, economic, institutional and strategic
challenges has brought a wealth of knowledge on the socio-economic factors that influence
the future of air transport and ATM. This knowledge has influenced the evolution of strategies
within the sector, in EUROCONTROL and through ACARE.
EUROCONTROL, although not on the front-line of society relationships, has been
found an appropriate research platform for developing a holistic picture of the air
transport actors’ strategies and perspectives through research on transversal societal
issues such as environment, energy, demand, congestion, public opinion, for which
each actor would have his own strategy but none would have the capacity to develop
a global research perspective.
The following mind-map restitutes the understanding the Air Transport evolution challenges
from Societal and Business perspectives in 2010, resulting from the Strategic Studies and
the work with ACARE. It represents the strategic landscape for air transport research.
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Synthesis 2010
Fig 2: The strategic landscape for air transport research - 2010
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ANNEX – 2003-2008 Socio- Economic studies synthesis
“The Air Transport industry, as with other sustainable mobility sectors, faces the challenge of building
a constructive dialogue with stakeholders whose interests are not always compatible with the concept
of sustainable development. In this context, Air Transport stakeholders, such as users, customers,
citizens, decision makers, and sometimes ‘victims’, require Air Traffic Management (ATM) to show
more organisational transparency. Therefore, ATM is questioning its work practices, business models
and organisational culture.
In European ATM, and in line with the European community policy, Eurocontrol had, over the past ten
years, become progressively more active in taking account of environmental impact. Through the
continued development of analytical tools, together with environmental studies and research, the
Eurocontrol Experimental Centre (EEC) had become a focus of excellence in the modelling and
assessment of environmental impact, from a local as well as a global perspective.
In 2003, the search for strategic orientation had identified the need for enlarging research into the
societal and economic aspects of Air Transport. The Society-Economy-Environment (SEE) Research
Area of the EEC is in charge of looking at these societal, economic and environmental aspects. It
aims to provide the Air Transport industry and policy makers with an increased understanding of
these aspects and their evolution, in order to enable better informed decisions. “
General address of EUROCONTROL Society-Economics Research Workshop 2005
OUTLINE
SOCIETY STUDIES – SYNTHESIS ......................................................................................................... 9
1.
“PERCEPTION OF AIR TRANSPORT AND ATM” ................................................................................................. 10
1.
Survey of the public's perception of ATM (2004-05) .................................................................. 10
2.
Analysis of the Press' perception of ATM (2004-06) .................................................................. 11
3.
Analysis of Political personnel’s perception of ATM (2007) ...................................................... 12
4.
Airports residents’ perception: knowledge and indicators (2007) ............................................ 13
5.
Foresight of Passengers demand for air transport in 2025 (2007) .......................................... 14
“CHANGE IN ATM”............................................................................................................................................ 16
6.
Liability and legal issues in ATM (2005-06)................................................................................. 16
7.
Transparency in High Risk Organisations: the case of ATC (2007) ........................................ 17
8.
Attitudes to Change in ATM (2005-07) ........................................................................................ 18
2.
ECONOMIC STUDIES - SYNTHESIS................................................................................................... 20
“ECONOMICS OF AIR TRANSPORT” ................................................................................................................... 21
1.
Air Transport and Environmental Economics (2003) ................................................................. 21
2.
The Economic Catalytic Effects of Air Transport in Europe (2005) ......................................... 21
3.
Pricing and internalisation of external costs ................................................................................ 22
4.
Attitudes to Aircraft Annoyance Around Airports-5A (2003-05) ................................................ 22
“SUSTAINABILITY IN AIR TRANSPORT” .............................................................................................................. 24
5.
Defining Sustainability in air transport (2004) ............................................................................. 24
6.
Indicators for management of Sustainable Growth in air transport (2004) ............................. 24
7.
Energy Efficiency Strategies in Air Transport (2005-07) ........................................................... 25
“BUSINESS STRATEGIES IN AIR TRANSPORT” .................................................................................................. 27
8.
Trade-off methods in Decision-making (2006) ............................................................................ 27
9.
Multipoint competition in air transport in Europe (2005-07) ...................................................... 27
10.
Inter-modality at airports: MODAIR (2006) ............................................................................. 28
“GOVERNANCE EVOLUTION IN ATM” ............................................................................................................... 29
11.
ATM market evolution due to deregulation (2005) ................................................................ 29
12.
Institutional Evolution in ATM (2007) ....................................................................................... 30
3.
EVENTS ON SUSTAINABILITY OF AIR TRANSPORT - SYNTHESIS ......................................... 31
EUROCONTROL SOCIETY-ECONOMICS RESEARCH W ORKSHOP (2005) .................................................. 31
SCIENCESPO-EUROCONTROL SYMPOSIUM AIR TRANSPORT & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (2006) .... 31
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1. Society Studies – Synthesis
In a time of profound changes in ATM, both technical, operational and institutional which
make it more visible on the socio-political scene, technical competency is no longer sufficient
to assure ATM Organisations’ credibility but such competency needs to be recognised by its
stakeholders, including society.
In order to better understand the relationship between air transport, ATM and society, the
research on Society followed in two threads that explored:
 Thread “Perception of air transport and ATM”: the perception of ATM in society from
different perspectives,
 Thread “Change in ATM”: some aspects of the ATM organisations’s capacity to
change.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
The perception of air transport in society in Europe has become progressively tainted with
the rise of environmental preoccupations in society both at local (airports neighbourhood)
and global (atmospheric emissions) levels, combined with the growing risk aversion in
modern societies. Even if the willingness to travel doesn’t seem to change, the awareness
that flying is maybe not only good but has drawbacks, is rendering the future of air transport
demand less predictable that it has been in the past.
In this tainted picture, ATM is still rather unknown to the public, which may bear risks in
particular in judicial and political contexts when arbitrations need to be made out of the
professional sphere.
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“Perception of air transport and ATM”
In this context, what are the public expectations on air transport and ATM: professionalism,
safety, accessibility, security, quality of service, cost efficiency, transparency, environmental
improvements....? How is ATM perceived in the general public and even in air transport?
Should challenges, decisions and changes in ATM be understood by society, and why?
This thread has improved the understanding of public perception about air traffic
management. It followed an exploratory approach of a wide range of society segments, in
particular the media, political personnel, citizens and travellers, with dedicated analysis their
views through their production or through interviews.
1. Survey of the public's perception of ATM (2004-05)
The public perception of air transport and ATM has been studied in two steps, first
looking at public perception surveys performed by ATM organisations themselves, and
then directly asking citizens through Focus Groups.
 First, looking for public perception surveys about air transport and ATM carried
out in the period 1998-2003 across 81 organisations ranging from institutions
(national & European) to aviation bodies (ANSPs, airlines, airports) and from
research establishments to pressure groups.
Very few surveys were found, only three: from Transport Canada, from
EUROCONTROL / Human Factors, and from the DFS. The synthesis shows that
public awareness of ATM has rarely been addressed specifically other than for
safety perception or recruitment purposes.
A Synthesis of ATM Public Perception Surveys
 Then in 2005, the views of European citizens regarding the growth of air transport
have been explored through focus groups run in the United Kingdom, France,
Spain and Romania - interviewing people who did not live near airports. Citizens’
expectations of, and reactions to, air transport growth were explored, examining
the perceived benefits and disbenefits, with the following findings:
 Images associated with flying were mostly positive, although with several
references to delays and waiting, and only passing references to terrorism;
growth in air travel and airports was expected and largely welcomed. The UK
group saw air travel in a rather mundane light, whilst the Romanian groups (in
particular) saw it as a symbol of growth, development and aspiration.
 All groups mentioned the disbenefits of noise for those living near airports,
whereas only the UK groups expressed concern for air quality in the early
stages of the discussion: UK respondents felt that people would expect wider
social discourse with airlines in the future, and that carriers would adopt
greater responsibility for the control of noise and air pollution.
Environmental awareness levels were rather high in France, Spain and
(especially) the UK, and lowest in Romania (where other aspects of living
standards were of more direct concern). Quantitative understanding of the
contribution to GHG in comparison to other modes of transport was very low.
Regarding their opinion on the need to restrict air transport growth, whilst
various objections were raised to such restrictions, from arguments pertaining to
individual freedom, to a focus on alternative strategies to protect the environment,
other respondents were (throughout) in favour of restrictions, for reasons of
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environmental protection for some, and more for safety and security (as air
transport still plays a very special rôle in the European mindset, above and
beyond that of its more utilitarian function as a means of transportation. )
“Citizens” Study - Results of European Focus Groups Examining Public Perceptions of Air
Transport.Growth and ATM..
2. Analysis of the Press' perception of ATM (2004-06)
At a time when European ATM is in profound changes leading it to be exposed in the
political arena, it is important to understand the opinion of the European written press
about ATM through an analysis of messages and representations. The image of ATM in
the press has been approached in two steps:
 An initial press review analysis in 2004, limited to 7 national written
newspapers in 4 countries, revealed a very limited interest for ATM/ATC, and
highlighted the following findings:
i. a far more national coverage than European coverage of ATM/ATC
matters
ii. although ATC rarely appears as a separate topic, an apparent
correlation between an accurate portrayal of controllers job, and
objectivity of opinion, on specific events such as Lake Constance
iii. regular report in the newspapers on environment problems caused by
air traffic never call ATC in account.
This first exploratory work showed that there are only few initiatives to improve
the image of ATM/ATC and the need for a better account of society in the
ATM community.What Image of ATM? An Analysis of 2002-2003 European Press
 A wider and more complete analysis of the European press in 2005 focused
on the safety of air transport through the analysis of accidents involving ATM
the media coverage of events questioning the air traffic safety in newspapers
from 5 European countries in the period 2000-2004: the Linate accident
(2001) in Italy, the Uberlingen accident (2002) in Germany and Switzerland,
the Roissy accident (2000) in France and the technical incidents affecting
NATS (2002) in the UK. A complementary study has been performed in 2006
to analyse the press coverage by the French press of the Mont Sainte-Odile
accident trial. In total, almost 30 newspapers have been analysed – daily
press, regional press and magazines- representing a potential audience of
more than 50 million readers.
This study raised the risk of increasing legal prosecution of individuals in air
transport/ATM accidents in Europe and the necessity for ATC service
providers to communicate with the press over time. Main findings include:
i. The low profile image of ATM in Europe. The image of air traffic control
and of safety is globally imprecise (no complete vision of technical,
organisational and human aspects of its national ATM). It is also not
attractive: accidents highlight the difficulties of the air traffic control
jobs, and descriptions of controllers able to create vocations are
extremely rare. Finally, this image is not really European: the national
perspective mainly prevails in press coverage.
ii. The attitude of newspapers in covering accidents and in setting
responsibilities largely depends on their editorial and ideological line. If
systemic explanation of accidents, in use in the professional world of
ATM, generally prevails –a cascade of human and technical failures in
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an ultra-safe system that render air transport the safest transport
mode-, it should be noted that more conservative press tends to point
out individual responsibilities in accidents (pilots or controllers) and to
question ATM organisations, looking for bureaucratic failures.
iii. The question whether conclusions such as the judges’ in the case of
the Linate accident (in 2004 and in 2005) are likely to flourish
elsewhere in Europe. The debates revealed, in contradiction with
current conceptions of air safety, conceptions of air accident
responsibilities where:
 technical complexity is not an attenuating factor anymore, and
 The non-respect of safety rules, directly or indirectly, is now
attributed to individual faults rather than being a systemic
collective responsibility.
 The collective dimension still exists through conclusions
affecting all levels in the ATM organisation.
Finally, it should be noted that the lexical way the press speaks about the
accident –dramatic (catastrophe, tragedy, drama) or more from a distance
(accident, collision)- prefigures judges’ conclusions. This would constitute an
interesting way forward in ATM: its safety conceptions could be refined and
influenced with involvement of communication with media actors.
Reports with restricted access:
Safety of Air Traffic as seen by the press – Edition 2007:
EEC_SEE_2005_007_EN; EEC_SEE_2005_007_EN_edition2007
3. Analysis of Political personnel’s perception of ATM (2007)
How the political actors are made sensitive to the problem of air transport growth and the
subject of sustainable development? Do they constitute one and the same problem? If
so, what issues make up the various facets of this problem?
The views of the European political personnel about air transport growth in political
parties, governments, parliaments in 5 countries, namely the United Kingdom, Germany,
France, Italy, Spain and in the European Institutions have been analysed in 2006 in a
survey of "official" political products only:
 All the political programmes of the parties were studied at election time as well as
in the normal course of a parliament. A sample of political parties was taken in
each country to give a full overview of the electoral issues.
 Parliamentary debates were then examined separately with a view to grasping the
diversity of the topics discussed in the course of legislative procedures.
 Lastly, government projects were summarised and analysed in order to compare
the public policies pursued.
The main findings relate to the specificities of the air transport as a niche in European
politics. The report shows that air transport is a relatively low-profile topic in most political
arenas, and is addressed by a population of non-specialist political personnel.
It also shows that the air transport political niche functions as a hollow-core, meaning that
it is almost impossible for anyone to be aware of all what happens on the subject matter.
In such a situation full of complexity and uncertainty, discussing and elaborating
consensus solutions is not easy. Such complexity is illustrated in the UK by the difficulties
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of structuring the debate around the White Paper. The British debate around the White
Paper can be seen has a tentative to work around this ‘hollow core’: efforts to overcome
the fragmentation of interests regarding air transport by promoting a national debate
involving all stakeholders imply initiatives, conflicts and very long debates potentially
carrying political risks for the governments in charge. Confronted with such political risks,
governments sometimes prefer to wait for and follow European initiatives on the subject.
The report finally shows how the European institutions and in particular the European
Parliament have extended their competence over air transport and, while increasingly
involving interest groups –between those who present the arguments of ecologists
against nuisance and those of groups of public actors or industrialists, there is a whole
range of negotiations and tensions-, the European institutions are progressively
reshaping the evolution of this industrial sector. The process of reshaping the air
transport industry has already started at the European level and decisions on new
measures should be expected.
Politis Study: The Growth of Air Transport as Seen by the Political Actors in Europe (2000-2006)
4. Airports residents’ perception: knowledge and indicators (2007)
Everywhere around the world, the population’s environmental well-being and quality of
life appears to be a central issue in debates on air traffic and airports. The environmental
capacity of airports is a major constraint on their development (EUROCONTROL, 2001),
and "Air mobility increases faster than industry today produces and introduces
technological and operational advancements to reduce emissions at source" (European
Commission White Paper, 2001, p. 6).
Research has been carried out for many years to measure noise and gaseous emissions,
investigating their effects on humans. At a time of growing residential dissent, ever
greater volumes of information on the environmental effects of airports and the
emergence of a new role for more shared and co-built indicators, the various research
activities and results have been collected in a synthesis report aiming to constitute and
structure the corpus of knowledge worldwide.
The report provides an overview of current scientific findings on the territorialized
environmental effects of air traffic and airport activities: noise annoyance, health effects
of noise and pollution, socio-spatial environmental effects around airports. It also
highlights the shortcomings and advances made by research with the aim of enhancing
any future airport related initiatives.
In particular, it highlights a new role for indicators on air transport and airports,
understood as a key moment in the inclusion of local areas, their stakeholders and the
effects. They determine the involvement of local governments and communities in
decision-making processes, in the name of social acceptability and sustainable
development of airport activities. Active tracers of territorial negotiations, they provide:
 at the time of their elaboration an opportunity for debate between multiple
stakeholders with diverse interests (Zaccaï and Bauler, 2000), and
 through their scientific design, an extensive knowledge basis and different
disciplinary analyses, on the multiple and complex environmental effects.
“The most influential, valid, and reliable social indicators are constructed not just through
the efforts of technicians, but also through the vision and understanding of the other
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participants in the policy process. Influential indicators reflect socially shared meanings
and policy purposes as well as respected technical methodology” (Innes cited in
Boulanger, 2004).
Given the increasing demands and tensions, the co-building of complementary indicators
must increasingly include the territorialized environmental effects of air traffic and airports
activities.
The report is a summary of a study completed in 2006 by the Centre for Research on
Planning: Land use, Transport, Environment and Local Governments – CRETEIL
(Université Paris XII) for the Autorité de Contrôle des Nuisances Sonores Aéroportuaires
– ACNUSA (French Authority on Airport Noise Nuisances), the Aéroports de Paris - ADP
(first French airport operator) and the French Civil Aviation Administration – DGAC DSNA (French Ministry of Transport).
Environmental Effects Around Airports: Towards New Indicators?
5. Foresight of Passengers demand for air transport in 2025 (2007)
Finally, the expected evolution of demand for air transport in Europe at the 2025 horizon
has been studied in 2007, using the EUROCONTROL STATFOR scenarios for the
description of the general context in 2025. The development of competition between
airlines which followed air transport deregulation, coupled with more efficient and less
costly aircraft technologies led to the democratisation of the air transport mode. In 2003,
69% of the total numbers of air trips made by Europeans are leisure trips.
The purpose of the DEMAND 2025 study was to explore what can be assumed today
about the main features of the demand for leisure air transport in 2025 – leisure meaning
all travel purposes except business, i.e. when the expense is a discretionary choice.
Determining how leisure air travel demand will evolve in the future requires an
understanding of how passengers make their decisions to travel and how their behaviour
and needs will evolve. An original methodology combining an economic approach and a
sociological approach has been devoted to the study and applied to the case of the
French population, one of the top 5 European populations for leisure air traffic in EU15 in
2003. This innovative methodology has provided two categories of answers:
 Regarding the main characteristics of air travel demand in 2025 be in the
considered scenarios, the study foresees a likely increase in the level of air travel
demand for:
 the purpose of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR)
 retired people;
 as a way to escape from the very fast rhythm imposed by society
In addition, it foresees that:
 demand for individualised travel would increase;
 only higher air fares or regulation measures limiting supply levels will lead
people to reduce their air travel demand. How to improve long-term
demand analysis methods in general?
 Regarding the way to improve the long-term demand analysis methods in general,
the study has highlighted the importance of further exploration of some aspects
addressed in the study. It revealed the lack of understanding of current demand
features and of the expectations of potential travellers, although such information
is essential for long-term demand analysis.
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Evolution of Demand for Leisure Air Transport in 2025
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“Change in ATM”
In the context of growing demand for air transport, experienced from the beginning and
forecast to continue, the provision of air traffic management services has to develop new
solutions and to adapt to change. At the same time, the public is becoming more and more
aware of the impacts of aviation on the environment, and increasing pressure is being put on
the aviation system to reduce its adverse impacts. In Europe, the Single European Sky
legislative initiative has triggered a large process of change, integrated with the ATM
modernisation project, SESAR. Understanding and managing change and transition in
organisations is, therefore, a cornerstone of the success of SESAR, and of the ability of ATM
to allow air transport growth in Europe.
This topic has been addressed by the SESAR Definition Phase, the EUROCONTROL human
factors SENSE Programme, and the EEC in Society research, recognising the importance of
this issue and the need to overcome the reputation of resistance to change from the ATM
professions. This thread focuses on ATM attitudes and its capacity to change. It explores the
legislative context of ATM safety liability, beliefs and attitudes about new rules at different
levels in ATM, and conditions for acceptability of change ranging from transparency in safety
management to noise reduction demands at airports.
6. Liability and legal issues in ATM (2005-06)
All changes in the ATCOs working methods or airspace organization impact the legal
aspects linked with the controller's job. Studying, with the help of IFURTA students
(Institut de Formation Universitaire et de Recherche du Transport Aérien), the impact of
ATC legal issues on ATM operations has shown the necessity to take legal aspects in
consideration in the definition of new ATM systems and procedures.
 In 2005, an analysis of the consequences of ATC penal liability on innovation in
ATM was performed in conjunction with the INO Research Area (2005 INO
report). It proposed an overview of the actual regulation applied to ATCOs and try
to tackle two innovative projects, Supersector and Paradigm Shift, with this
juridical view.
The study highlighted the benefits of increasing controllers’ awareness of their
civil and penal liability: transparency on such information and clarity of penal
liability increases ATC controllers’ trust and therefore their acceptability of new
concepts.
It also highlighted that penal liability seems to pose difficulties to controllers
whereas it is considered appropriate by judicial professionals, who dont’ see the
need for specific legislation for controllers even if the job specificities and the
impossibility to apply all of the abundant rules should be considered. For
controllers on the contrary, the legal system is perceived as not adapted to their
profession, with too rigid liability and job specificities not recognised enough.
All deplore the lack of ATM Judicial Experts in Courts, whereas Airlines
Experts exist.
Impact de la Responsabilité Juridique dans le Domaine du Contrôle du Trafic Aérien
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 In 2006, a survey of penal liability frameworks in a number of European
countries was performed together with an inventory of legal cases in France.
The survey concentrated on the technical and judicial procedures immediately
following an accident and on the applicable law in different European countries. It
describes the procedures of technical inquiries launched immediately after an
accident by the country in which the accident took place, in Germany, Spain,
France, Switzerland and UK, and shows important similarities in technical
inquiries across countries (ICAO recommendation). It also presents the judicial
inquiry procedure, which allocates penal responsibilities in case of death, in
France. It finally describes and compares the penal system applicable to
controllers in Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Sweden and
Switzerland.
Reports with restricted access: Legal issues in ATM
EEC_SEE_2005_011; EEC_SEE_2005_012
7. Transparency in High Risk Organisations: the case of ATC (2007)
Safety is a cornerstone in the Air transport industry, recognised to be one of the safest
transport modes. With the continuous traffic growth increasing efforts are devoted to
maintaining the level of safety in each component of the industry. The complex Air Traffic
Management system, that combines technical components, procedures and humans, can
be qualified as a high risk organisation. In Europe, the ATM system has strengthened
safety through the establishment of the EUROCONTROL Safety Regulation Unit in 1998
issuing harmonised EUROCONTROL Safety Regulatory Requirements ESARRs, and
through more explicit safety management. The European Union, with the establishment
of the EASA and the Single European Sky regulation endorses and reinforces those
dispositions that are an integral part of SESAR.
Safety reporting is an essential component of the safety system in ATM. Given the low
number of accidents where ATM is a contributing factor, enlarging its scope to include
incidents is necessary to further improve the system and potentially increase the quality
of the whole safety management system. This is the purpose of ESARR2 on safety
reporting obligations for ANSPs. Safety incident reporting includes human reporting,
which rely upon the willingness of the operators to report on non-nominal cases or
incidents even when there is no legal obligation to do so. The level of such voluntary
reporting, that involves notions of trust and culture in different countries and
organisations, characterises what some call the ‘transparency’ of the ATM system.
For the sociologist, the concept of “Transparency” raises many questions; especially
when applied to so-called High Risks or High Reliability Organisations, it raises new
stakes in the relationships between those organisations and civil society, and in the
relations between high risk organisations and regulation authorities. Research on the
concept of ‘Transparency’ was performed between 2001 and 2005 in the context of a
PhD research in sociology in the CETCOPRA laboratory in La Sorbonne University
The research explored the role and limits of culture and the relations between trust and
transparency to explain differences in voluntary reporting levels between Air Navigation
Service Providers. It used a socio-anthropological approach to explore, through the
perception of more than 70 operational ATM professionals in different positions and
different countries in 5 ANSP, the sense such a demand for transparency actually makes.
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However, when trying to understand the role of ESARR 2 in the ANSP’s reporting of
incidents, it appears that many other factors influence the number of incidents reported
by ANSPs, calling into question the concept of "safety data” itself. This calls for a much
more complex understanding of what “safety data” or “incidents” really are, and questions
the role and limits of quantitative “safety indicators” for complex notions such as safety,
when organisations are accountable to other parties for what they do.
Transparency in High Risk Organisations: The Case of Air Traffic Control - A Comparative
Research in 5 European countries
8. Attitudes to Change in ATM (2005-07)
In order to improve the understanding of attitudes to change in ATM, an exploratory study
was launched in 2004 to better understand, through case studies, how changes can be
successful in the operational context of ATM. The case of the introduction of noise
abatement procedures at three European airports - the Basic Continuous Descent
Approach (B-CDA) project at Manchester, Arlanda and Bucharest airport - was chosen to
support the ‘Attitudes to Change’ study. The study was based on 82 structured interviews
with controllers and pilots, airline managerial / training captains, controller supervisors,
CDA designers and airport authority representatives. It aimed to delineate the barriers to,
and drivers of, such change, within the societal context. For example: how directly and
how intensely do ATC personnel and pilots feel community pressure and through what
processes?
The University of Westminster’s Seven Stages of Change model, integrating the Theory
of Planned Behaviour constructs under funding from the EU’s TAPESTRY project, has
been used. These seven stages represent the theoretical, cognitive and conative
‘process’ through which an individual may move, from one type of behaviour (e.g. not
performing CDAs) to another type (e.g. habitually performing CDAs).
In all three case studies, controllers had a poorer perception of the capacity effects of
CDAs, compared with the pilots. Controllers declared that CDAs increased their own
workload more than pilots declared that CDAs increased pilot workload. Across all sites,
controllers cited traffic volumes and sequencing considerations above all others, with
pilots often focusing on fuel savings and technical issues. Regarding inclusion in the
consultation process over the introduction of the CDA trials, there was a consensus that it
had been adequate, with scope in all three case studies to offer better internal feedback
to the pilots and controllers.
Summarising some key findings, behavioural change appeared more correlated with
perceptions of benefits (‘halo effect’) in the case of the pilots, maybe partly because of
the greater external constraints on controller behaviour in the case of CDAs. Looking at
the relationships between perceived societal and system benefits, however, these
particular aspects of this ‘halo effect’ were fairly similar when comparing pilots with
controllers.
The Seven Stages of Change model stresses that changes in attitude can be brought
about regarding the importance of elements of change to people (e.g. “I think it is very
important to control noise levels”), the perception of elements (e.g. “But I think noise
levels here are very low”) and the respondent’s perceived responsibility for the element
(e.g. “But noise levels are nothing to do with me anyway”).
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The Seven Stages of Change model has effectively contributed to an increase in the
understanding of the associated complex psychological constructs, and their
relationships: determining the perception of benefits, and how these are linked to
behavioural change through acceptance of change. It has established a framework both
for gaining deeper insights into the process of motivation, which may be used in the wider
context of change implementation, for example within SESAR. Critically important in
effectively managing the challenging transitions of behaviour and attitude which will be
required within the Single European Sky context, is the need to identify factors which
promote change and the key barriers to change: both physical and perceptual. The
change process through the Seven Stages of Change model may be viewed as a
successful implementation of change, and constitute a valuable framework for developing
an understanding of attitudes and beliefs which determine behavioural change.
Introduction of a B-CDA trial at Manchester Airport
Attitudes to Change in ATM Operations: Introduction of CDA Trials at Manchester, Bucharest and
Stockholm
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2. Economic Studies - Synthesis
In support of Society studies, an understanding of the economic weight and challenges in Air
Transport and ATM was essential. The economic studies followed research threads that
explored:
 “Economics of air transport”: the economic contribution of air transport to
European economy and the emergence of environmental priorities in the air
transport economy;
 “Sustainability in air transport”: the meaning and impact of “sustainability”
objectives for the air transport actors;
 “Business Strategies in air transport”: the factors influencing business strategies,
with studies analysing competition and alliance strategies in airlines and
methodologies for complex decision-making;
 “Governance evolution in ATM”: the possible institutional evolutions in ATM,
looking at analogies with other industrial sectors.
Such exploration of the economic and business perspective in air transport aimed to
contribute to long term planning of future ATM investments.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
Air transport has a positive impact on the economy both at regional and national (GDP) and
more local (catalytic impacts) levels.
At the same time, the economy of air transport is increasingly affected by its environmental
impacts, both by regulation (taxes, trading, restrictions, studies towards internalisation of
external costs etc) and also by the actors’ necessity to adopt sustainability strategies that
maintain their legitimacy to operate and the survivability of their business (energy,
nuisance,…).
In finding the right balance between its social, economic and environmental impacts, air
transport should benefit in a more integrated and collaborative common approach in front of
the increased public attention and regulatory pressure.
In this evolutive economy, the European ATM is reforming its governance under the SES
umbrella, towards better performance and cost effectiveness. Lessons can be learned from
exploring strengths and weaknesses in comparison with other networked industries more
advanced in the process: new services, actors, prices, congestion management, liability.
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“Economics of air transport”
1. Air Transport and Environmental Economics (2003)
As presented in the European Commission’s 2001White Paper, there is an increasing
interest for the harmonisation of the pricing mechanism both across the different
European countries and across the different modes of transport for an "internalisation of
externalities". The motivations for this harmonisation are twofold: first, to obtain
conditions allowing for a fair inter-modal competition; second, to obtain a pricing as close
as possible to the real social marginal cost, including inter-alia environmental costs, with
more and more emphasis on the "user pays", and "polluter pays" principles while the
space left for a purely public financing of transport will be reduced to specific cases.
A synthesis of the various institutional studies on environmental economics has been
produced in 2003 in order to provide a synthetic vision of their likely application in the air
transportation sector. It appears that:
 The Green Paper from the European Commission -(1995) Towards Fair and
Efficient Pricing : Policy Options for Internalising the External Costs of transport in
the European Union. Green Paper. COM(95)691- and the INFRAS report Maibach, M. (2000) External Costs of Transport: Accident, Environmental and
Congestion Costs in Western Europe- have defined the concept of externalities
for the whole transportation sector. INFRAS concludes to a total value of transport
externalities in the EUR17, excluding congestion costs, around 530 Billions €
(equivalent to 8% of the GDP).
 According to IPCC in 1999 , the environmental impact of aviation emissions
represented 3.5 % of radiative forcing effects world-wide in 1992 and were
expected to reach 5% by 2050 (IPCC ’99).
 Out of the range of possible economic actions, the three main candidate options
to curb aviation environmental impacts are fuel taxation, emissions trading,
and environmental charges.
Air Transport and Environmental Economics
2. The Economic Catalytic Effects of Air Transport in Europe (2005)
Air transport is a rapidly growing sector across Europe’s economies. The growth in air
transport has a wide range of associated benefits and costs for the economies
concerned.
The economic impact of air transport is traditionally estimated in terms of direct, indirect
and induced impacts, that don’t reflect the effect on economic dynamism –appeal for
business decisions, level of investments, and level of jobs- that the presence of an airport
brings to a region, as for example:
 the 2001 ACI Europe study estimates that European airports directly contribute to
around 2% of total employment in Europe.
 the report cites research that estimates the overall contribution of air transport to
GDP in the range 1.4% to 2.5%.
 the ACARE study (ACARE, The Economic Impact of Air Transport on the
European Economy, September 2003) estimates that air transport contributes
2.6% of EU GDP.
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The ‘economic catalytic impacts’ of air transport are defined as “The net economic
effects (eg on employment, incomes, government finances etc) resulting from the
contribution of air transport to tourism and trade (demand-side effects) and the long run
contribution to productivity and GDP of growth in air transport usage (the supply-side
performance of the economy).”A proposed methodology for measuring the ‘economic
catalytic impacts’ of air transport has been developed in 2005 with Oxford Economics
Forecasting, ACI Europe and others.
According to the research, the economic catalytic effects of air transport in Europe are
already substantial, and are set to increase in years to come. The study estimates that
the catalytic effect of air transport usage over the last decade has been to increase
European GDP by approximately 4% in the long run, which is €410 billion at today’s
prices. By 2025, growth in air transport is forecast to lead to a further GDP growth of
1.8% in the long run, or €200 billion at today’s prices, in particular to the supply-side of
the European economy. This catalytic impact on the supply-side is even more
pronounced in the ten accession economies, where the current provision of air transport
services is least developed, and the growth in air transport is most rapid. These
economies have the most to gain from improvements in air transport services – nearly
twice as much as the fifteen more-developed economies with mature air transport
sectors.
The economic catalytic effects of European air transport should be seen as part of the
total contribution that air transport makes to European economies it should be
emphasised that the economic catalytic contribution of air transport to GDP is
bigger than its combined direct, indirect and induced impact.
The Economic Catalytic Effects of Air Transport in Europe
3. Pricing and internalisation of external costs
Participation to the EC Thematic Network IMPRINT-2 has allowed sharing understanding
on the issues of pricing transport services and internalisation of external costs from the
air transport perspective.
IMPRINT-EUROPE served as a link between research and policy development and
implementation, with the aim to assist the implementation of pricing reform in transport
based on marginal cost principles.
The key areas in which IMPRINT-EUROPE reached conclusions regard:
 Measurement of marginal social cost
 Impacts, acceptability and phasing of pricing reform
 Key Issues for Newly Associated States
 Priorities for action
 Priorities for future researchRef IMPRINT web site
Socio-Economic Projects In Energy, Transport and Environment - REC ...
4. Attitudes to Aircraft Annoyance Around Airports-5A (2003-05)
The environmental impact of aircraft and the valuation of such impacts are areas of
growing policy concern against a background of rapid growth in demand for air travel.
Values are required for three main reasons:
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1. In setting prices and taxes: The view in Europe is that the external costs of
transport should be internalised via charging mechanisms. The 2001 EC White
Paper “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide” discusses two options
for air travel, removing the fuel tax exemption and the introduction of differential
navigation charges which take into account the environmental impact of aircraft.
2. Values may be used in Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) of transport projects.
3. Values are needed in determining the appropriate levels of regulation, mitigation
and compensation.
 The initial step in 2003 has been an exploratory study applying attitudinal and
stated preference techniques to the issue of aircraft noise and annoyance
valuation around airports in three European countries. Three different types of
stated preference experiments (SP) were designed to enable methodological
issues to be tested and a range of values to be estimated:



SP1: embeds aircraft noise nuisance within a broader quality of life context.
SP2: offers changes in aircraft movements by aircraft type within specific time
periods.
SP3: offers changes in generic aircraft movements by time of day.
Our conclusion is that the preferred way forward is to use the quality of life form of
SP to establish the absolute valuations and then to use SP approaches which
focus on aircraft annoyance to obtain valuations according to factors such as time
of day and aircraft type.
Attitudes Towards and Values of Aircraft Annoyance and Noise Nuisance - 5A Survey Report...
 The final report in 2005 fully exploits the existing social survey and stated
preference data set obtained in the previous phase. By establishing a monetary
value for aircraft noise per db(A) as an indicator of annoyance it explores
variations in such values. It also identifies factors that influence the response to
noise and subjective response variables.
It presents the informed conclusions about the test for the presence of threshold
effects and non-linearities in response and examines the performance of different
indices.
Further Analysis of the 5A Attitudinal and Stated Preference Data Sets - Final Report
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“Sustainability in air transport”
This important research in the field of economics and sustainability imply a focus on the
long-term equilibrium between society, environment and economics. Driven by the
growing attention in society to broad sustainability issues and debates, sustainability has
progressively risen as a shaping factor in air transport.
5. Defining Sustainability in air transport (2004)
Research started in 2004 with a survey of the different meanings of “sustainability in air
transport and the analysis of possible growth scenarii implementing the notions of
sustainability. It reviewed how the three fundamental pillars of sustainability - namely,
society, environment and economics - are interpreted by a range of key actors, including
international and inter-governmental organisations, airlines, air navigation service
providers, the ATM Industry, aircraft and engine manufacturers. It has become clear from
the study that no commonly agreed definition is currently used in the aviation sector or by
the stakeholders related to the sector. Most organisations use limited definitions, which
meet the organisations’ political ability or the operators’ commercial objectives.
Whilst recognising that air transport is a driver for economic and social development, the
weight given to each of the three pillars by the different actors largely reflects the
“political” message that they wish to disseminate. A Stakeholder Viewpoints Score Card
model has been developed to include the overall and subordinated objectives for each
group of players in the aviation sector. It is a good illustration of the difficulties faced in
identifying a common view of sustainability.
Defining Sustainability in the Aviation Sector
6. Indicators for management of Sustainable Growth in air transport (2004)
This following project aimed at the development of an initial set of indicators defining the
impact of air transport on Society, Environment and the Economy. The report investigates
the definition of such indicators for trend evaluation of the aviation sector impacts on
society in Europe, as a step towards assessing its sustainability. Three domains of
impact were identified in accordance with the literature: economic, environmental, and
social. Similarly seven principal stakeholders were used to define the air transport
activity. Those were the air navigation services providers (ANSPs), aircraft and engine
manufacturers, airports, civil airspace users, military airspace users, passengers, and
finally citizens.
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Indicators for the Management of Sustainable Growth in the Air Transport System
7. Energy Efficiency Strategies in Air Transport (2005-07)
A PhD research explored sustainability management in air transport from the angle of
energy efficiency strategies in airlines, airports, manufacturing industry and ATM.
Conference papers allow following the progression of the research.
 AIMS 2005 –Aix: The paper « Développement Durable et Entreprise
Responsable: Formation des Politiques de Développement Durable et Cohérence
des Stratégies » set the scene of how companies integrate sustainability in their
strategies and policies.
Développement durable et entreprise responsable : formation des politiques de
développement durable et ... :
 ATRS 2006-Nagoya: The paper “The Energy Dilemma: European Air Transport
Growth Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” explored the air transport
actors’ sustainability strategies from the particular angle of energy efficiency
strategies. The starting point is the unsustainable pathway of Air Transport
summarized by two main energy related constraints: the Peak Oil and the Kyoto
protocol.
“When thinking about air transport and sustainability, many problems come to
mind. The multi-dimensionality of sustainability brings about rational conflicts
between the short term goals of the economic development of air transport
(enhancing the capacities, maximising the yields of industrial and economical
assets...) and the need to find ways of rational development in the long term
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(mainly based on increasing quality of life and preserving natural resources). The
research analyzed the position of the air transport network regarding its energy
consumption patterns: it summarizes and discusses the main operational,
organisational and institutional levies that could enhance the energy efficiency of
this network. It was found that building up an “environmentally sustainable
transport” requires to mobilize each actor within the network but also to elaborate
a cohesive institutional framework to enforce effective co-ordination. “
The energy dilemma: European air transport growth between the devil and the deep blue sea
GARS 2007: The paper “Are energy efficiency strategies in air transport a matter
of social contestability? », using the theoretic framework of institutional
economics, analyzes a survey of energy efficiency strategies of 25 air transport
actors (airlines, airports, and manufacturers). The results of that survey show
some variations in the implementation of the environmental strategies and
especially in the energy efficiency strategies. To explain such heterogeneity,
several hypotheses developed by the institutional economics are enounced,
between which the social contestability model that describes the implementation
of environmental strategies as a trade off between economical and social
contestability. It shows that heterogeneous implementation of energy efficiency
can be induced by the fact that stakeholders have to face various degrees of
critics upon their contribution to climate change.
“Airlines seem to invest less in their environmental strategies than airports
because they are more constrained by economic contestability, whereas airports
have more elaborated environmental strategies because they must produce some
compromise with their social stakeholders in order to protect their social license to
operate.
Moreover, if airlines are more concerned by the energy efficiency issues, it is for
three majors reasons:
- Complementarities exist between economic competition and reduction of
energy consumption, despite the lack of institutional rules.
- There is a risk of generalized social critics upon the environmental impact
of airlines’. To avoid it, airlines must adapt their economic strategies, to show
that they are still legitimate to operate.
- Being efficient is perceived as a performance indicator and a way to
enhance the quality of products. This environmental differenciation is also a
way to reduce the economic contestability of their activities (this factor is
particularly true for Full Service Carrier that are more engaged in quality
competition than other airlines –Regional Carrier or Low Fare Carrier).”
This heterogeneity across air transport actors in dealing with environmental
impacts and energy efficiency could be a potential weakness of the sector in
defining and implementing common air transport sustainability strategies.
Are energy efficiency strategies in air transport a matter of social contestability?
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“Business Strategies in air transport”
Understanding business strategies in air transport is an important source of insight into
the evolutionary trends in the sector. After a general state-of-the-art on multi-stakeholders
decision-making methodologies, the research has focused on airlines and airports
strategies.
8. Trade-off methods in Decision-making (2006)
In preparation for detailed policy decisions, part of the Single European Sky definition
phase, this initial research into methods and tools to support trade-offs in ATM
(applicable to performance, environmental measures ...) has been commissioned to the
London Business School with the aim to support trade-off evaluation of alternative air
traffic management systems among objectives such as capacity, safety, environment and
efficiency. The methods described are applicable in cases with multiple stakeholders, so
they can serve in such cases where many perspectives and interests must be taken into
consideration. The proposed methodology has been tested using a case study on
decisions related to ATM improvements suggested to the management of arrival and
departure of aircrafts to and from airports. The major benefits of the approach are:
1. Enhancement of communication (transparency) amongst multiple stakeholders by
creating a shared language,
2. Ability to identify sources of agreements but also of disagreements,
3. Traceability and credibility of decisions,
R&D requirements can be derived through this approach and the R&D results be used in
clear support of decision making.
Project decision support using performance driven trade-off analysis
9. Multipoint competition in air transport in Europe (2005-07)
A PhD research on airlines competitive strategies was launched to analyse the rivalry
and forbearance behaviours of competing airlines on market segments such as
connecting flight between origin-dectination airport pairs. The research has provided
empirical evidence for the inverted U-shaped relation between the level of multi-territory
contact and the level of forbearance as measured by entries into and exits from rival
territories in the European airline industry context between 2002 and 2006. Combined
with Baum and Korn (1999) findings in the context of California commuter carriers, our
results open the path towards further support for the universality of forbearance within
competition. We also found that the magnitude of forbearance is higher between
European airlines than between California commuter carriers. We explain theses
differences by higher cultural propensities of European to forebear due to a dissimilar set
of educational Institutions and particular taboos against competing on the home sphere of
influence of historical national carriers. Our results also suggest that cultural explanations
are superior to calculus based explanations in this instance.
paper:“Rivalry_and_forebearance_within_American_and_European_airline_industries”
31 March 2008
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10. Inter-modality at airports: MODAIR (2006)
In a context of fast evolution of the air transport market, the future of the ATM will not only
be linked to the improvements in technologies, but also to the evolution of traffic flows.
Despite recent hurdles in air transport, forecasts still mention strong traffic growth for
years to come. One of the main axis chosen by the EC for coping with airport congestion
problem and transports’ pollution is to foster intermodality in transports. This is an
important objective of the EC since intermodality and multimodality are at the heart of the
2001 EC White Paper on transport.
Following the study “The Airport of the future: Central link of intermodal transports?”, the
study “MODAIR: Measure and development of interMODality at AIRport” , performed in
co-operation with the INO Research Area in the context of CARE, aimed at measuring
intermodality and determining what could be the development of intermodality at airports,
often considered as a way to increase airport attractiveness and ease air congestion, by
evaluating how a development in intermodality could impact airport attractiveness.
Impacts of the development of air/rail intermodality on airport attractiveness are analysed
through factors of airports attractiveness for passengers. 3 types of airports were
identified based on the nature of traffic:
 Outbound traffic airport: local attractiveness in terms of air trips production (high
proportion of passengers starting round trip); no management of connections.
 Inbound traffic airport: local attractiveness in terms of air trips attraction (high
proportion of last destination passengers); no management of connections.
 Pure hub airport: operating only as a medium/long-haul hub on which passengers
are mostly connecting passengers
Airports can also have mixed traffic: inbound, outbound and/or hub traffic, which tends to
reinforce their attractiveness for passengers.
Impacts of intermodality on airport attractiveness may change a lot between the different
categories of airport, and between the two types of intermodality considered in MODAIR:
 Airport access: access to/from the airport from/to the city centre;
 Airport integration: feeding airport flights with other transport modes (either
regional or high-speed trains)
Whilst never decreasing airport attractiveness, both types of intermodality do not increase
airport attractiveness for passengers in the same way. Local outbound passengers (i.e.
resident passengers) at outbound airports look for airport access intermodality whereas
other passengers are likely more interested in airport integration in the wider transport
network. Airport access intermodality may have no impact on inbound traffic airport
attractiveness while airport integration intermodality may increase the airport
attractiveness for all passengers. Mixed airports can expect increased attractiveness for
connecting passengers; as opposed to pure hub airports, they may find in airport
integration a way to increase their attractiveness as a hub by becoming a multimodal
hub.
http://www.eurocontrol.int/care-innov/public/standard_page/innov2_modair.html
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“Governance evolution in ATM”
11. ATM market evolution due to deregulation (2005)
The Single European Sky (SES) legislation sets out regulatory principles with a view to
improve the overall efficiency of the ATM system. In this context, the ATM market
structure, its actors, and the services provided to users may experience significant
changes. The European Commission launched studies addressing the legislative and
regulatory dimensions able to generate the right incentives for meeting the SES
objectives, but no exploratory work on the shape of a future ATM organisation was done.
The study described some of the major services provided by “Air Traffic Management”
with a market oriented vision. The structure of the ATM market was partially analysed in
terms of demand and supply –with emphasis on Air Navigation Service Providers
(ANSPs) and EUROCONTROL units in charge of these services-, with the view to
identify possible discrepancies. The aim was to investigate how the current ATM markets
may evolve through time and as consequences of Single European Sky projects, in light
of the evolution happening in other network industries such as the internet, mobile
telecommunications, and passenger air transport sectors.
3 scenarios were explored for the future of the ATM market, in line with the SES initiative
and aiming to address ATM scarce capacity and need for greater efficiency, introducing
significant attributes of the three networks compared with ATM, such as “backbone”, “flat
rate as pricing mechanism”, “guaranteed flows”, etc.
1. Introduction of intermediate organisations, comparable with the travel agencies in
the passenger air transport market, between the airspace users and the ANSPs.
These would deal with the ATM issues (e.g. obtaining the capacity that the airlines
need, billing procedure for the ATM related charges, etc.) in the name of their
member airlines. The aim is to introduce a more service-oriented approach to the
ATM market.
2. New capacity management, using slot mechanism for airports and ATFM that
would be based on economic incentives.
3. Vertical unbundling of the national ANSPs in order to create international
“backbones” for control of the upper airspace by re-bundling the related business
units at European level.
Although a total comparison between ATM and the selected network industries is not
possible due to the safety factor in the ATM market, some general consequences of the
deregulation in the three markets can be determined which give an idea of the possible
results of the deregulation of ATM:
 Fast development of the technology
 Introduction of new services types
 Lower prices that result in increased demand and high penetration rates
ATM Market Evolution due to Deregulation
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Strategic and Socio-Economic Studies at EUROCONTROL
Synthesis 2010
12. Institutional Evolution in ATM (2007)
Over the past years, major changes have occurred in the governance of the European
ATM system. A key feature has been the evolution of the institutional setting (PRC, SES
initiative, Single Sky Committee, Industry Consultation Body, SESAR, NRAs etc).
However, the institutional dynamics is still burgeonning. It does not entail particular future
outcomes for the ATM governance.The study focuses on this issue.It daddresses the
institutional dynamics according to three main perspectives: industrial organisation
economics; economics of law; economics of institutions.
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Strategic and Socio-Economic Studies at EUROCONTROL
Synthesis 2010
Events on sustainability of air transport - Synthesis
EUROCONTROL Society-Economics Research Workshop (2005)
Initial exploratory research over the last few years has produced a better understanding of
issues relating to society, economics and sustainability in Air Transport Management. These
results are presented at the first SEE annual workshop, on 5th December 2005.
The workshop included an adversarial debate, with invited speakers from AEA, Green Skies
Alliance, UNEP and the French DGAC, on the sustainability of Air Transport. The vote that
followed the debate showed the audience didn’t believe that “Air Transport can be socially,
economically and environmentally sustainable in the short and long term “.
The workshop aimed, in particular, to point out to decision-makers that a common effort
should be made in order to better understand and adapt the changing world of Air Traffic
Management to the challenge of sustainability. By doing so, the SEE Research Area seeked
to actively contribute to identifying new synergies and foster cultural change within ATM.

the SEE workshop on the sustainability of air transport (held at the EEC in
December 2005)
SciencesPo-EUROCONTROL Symposium Air transport & sustainable
development (2006)
A symposium on air transport and sustainable development organised by the Chair of
Sustainable Development, Sciences-Po Paris with the assistance of EUROCONTROL was
held in Paris on 1 and 2 June 2006.
The development of air transport since 1945 has been based on the objective of
strengthening international trade, and the rate of development has been governed by
numerous technological advances. Political, economic and social representations in relation
to this mode of transport have been translated into State implementation of a regulatory
framework intended to support this objective of growth. Continuous liberalisation of this
sector of activity since the early 1980s and the ongoing privatisation of a number of the
actors involved have considerably reduced the autonomy of the said State regulatory
framework. However, although the system of standards and rules governing the development
of air transport now largely issues from Brussels, the system itself is still based on the
representations inherited from the post-war period, which we might refer to as the reference
framework for the problem of the "development of air transport", to use social science
terminology. This reference framework would appear to have been weakened in the course
of the 1990s by the growing tide of separate demands centred around the idea of controlled
growth of this mode of transport, or in other words readjustment of the economic, safetyrelated, technical and environmental criteria.
These demands, combined with the eagerness of governments to avoid the proliferation of
disputes about airports and to reassure a general public increasingly sensitive to
environmental issues, have gradually resulted in the emergence of an alternative reference
framework in terms of "sustainable development of air transport". This prompts us to explore
the representations and values linked to this mode of transport, such as mobility and growth.
The purpose of the symposium was therefore to reflect on how the air transport sector in
Europe, faced with continual growth in demand for transport on the one hand, and increased
questioning of the effects of such growth on the other, can respond to this challenge with a
view to sustainable development.
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Strategic and Socio-Economic Studies at EUROCONTROL
Synthesis 2010
Four areas were singled out for reflection:

the construction of the "air transport" problem: the requirements linked to growth,
focussing on public action and the response of society at local, national and
international level. The discussions also covered the challenges posed by growth for
infrastructures and changes in decision-making were demonstrated as regards the
development of the sector in recent years under the impact of both local mobilisation
and institutional developments at national and European level.
 the conditions for mobility: the social and environmental impacts of air transport, and
the conditions governing the political, environmental and social acceptability of
developments in air transport was raised. In the light of the increase in risks,
uncertainties and public awareness, it was important to be able to discuss in a public
forum, outside the realm of a debate between experts, the risks associated with air
transport and its viability.

the governance of air transport: the challenges posed by the distortion of territorial
scales. Multi-level governance interacts with the large number of different actors and
creates new opportunities for the representation of interests and lobbying
(transatlantic agreements with the gradual withdrawal of the States, and the loss of
control of the airlines; territorial reference framework around airports). In this context,
the question arises of the construction of general interest in a framework in which
interest groups will be called upon to play a more important role, deriving from the
concepts of sustainable development and participatory democracy. It is through this
research work that the question has been asked "indirectly" of a possible confluence,
with the relative disappearance of the national level, of the local and European levels,
focussing on challenges which would be shared.

the sustainable development of air transport: representations and values linked to
mobility. Looking at air transport growth from the perspective of transport in general
and its role in the consumption of oil (a non-renewable resource) and greenhouse gas
emissions questions the fact that economic development is finite and that the world is
shrinking. This question is centred on the confrontation of two fundamental principles
and rights: freedom and safety; on the one side freedom, and above and beyond the
placatory nature of transport, the freedom to meet one another at planetary level; on
the other side, the right to safety, to the quality of the air.
The question of the right to mobility and the challenges this poses for society were discussed
by way of conclusion.
Sciences Po-Paris conference on air transport and sustainability (held in Paris in June
2006)
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