AESA brings together the air sector to prepare the Performance Plan for air navigation services in Spain

Madrid, 24 July 2024 (AESA)

The Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea (AESA), as the national authority supervising civil aviation regulations in the whole of Spain's aeronautical activity, has brought together, on behalf of the State, the stakeholders in the aviation sector for the preparation of the Performance Plan for the fourth reference period. The new Performance Plan, starting from 1 January 2025 until 31 December 2029, should contain performance targets consistent with those set by the European Commission for the air traffic management network.

This performance evaluation system provides the framework for obtaining better results in the air navigation services of our country. The Performance Plan will set objectives around four key areas: Safety, Capacity, Environment and Profitability, over a five-year cycle. In addition, economic and quality of service incentive systems are included, the latter focused on reducing delays due to air traffic flow management (ATFM). 

In this sense, the European standard indicates the need to organize this consultation at national level, in order to ensure a space for the opinions and comments of interested parties prior to establishing the objectives and purposes contained in the Plan.

Photo caption: Patricia Alonso, Elena López and Luis Miguel González, technicians of the Directorate of Air Navigation of AESA; Patricia Nieto, Head of EASA’s Economic Supervision and Performance Service; Patricia Pérez, Director of Air Navigation at AESA; and Andrés López, subdirector of DGAC.

Representation of the aviation sector

The meeting, held at the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility and organized by AESA, was attended by representatives of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC); National Authority for Supervision of Meteorological Services in Support of Air Navigation (ANSMET), under the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge; and ANSMIL, the military authority of the Air and Space Army.

This meeting was also attended by air navigation service providers ENAIRE and Skyway; and of AEMET as a meteorological supplier; as well as airport manager Aena. In addition, representatives of airlines have also participated: IATA, the IAG group, Ryanair, Easyjet, KLM, Air France and Swiss; professional staff representative bodies: APROCTA, SPICA, APCAE, OCCA, SNCA; and the slot coordinator, AECFA.

CAs an international authority, it has been represented by the PRB (Performance Review Body), the Single European Sky (SES) Performance Review Body, which exercises an advisory role to the European Commission on the performance of air navigation services and network functions in the EES.

After this consultation session, the comments and suggestions made by the participants for the development of the Performance Plan of the fourth reference period will be evaluated and, once completed, will be forwarded to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, for adoption by the General Secretariat of Air and Maritime Transport (SGTAM), and subsequent referral to the European Commission.

About AESA

AESA is the State body, attached to the State Secretariat for Transport of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, which ensures that civil aviation rules are complied with in all aeronautical activity in Spain. The Agency has the missions of Supervision, Inspection and Management of Air Transport, Air Navigation and Airport Security. It assesses risks to transport safety and has the power to impose penalties for infringements of civil aviation rules.