Region V: Europe
Regional Leads
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- Region V (EUR) Lead: Steven K. Thorpe, Merck & Co., Inc.
New European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) CEO, Fabio Gamba, is matter-of-fact about it when he says there's no denying that "2012 will be a pivotal year" for business aircraft operators in the European theater. They face a myriad of complex, high-stakes issues that range from the new European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) for aviation to a new passenger duty tax, and an onerous slot-reallocation program confronting operators from one end of Europe to the other. These challenges are detailed in this week's edition of the NBAA Flight Plan podcast. Learn more.
Shannon Airport is more than an important access point for Ireland and a convenient pre-clearance point for entry into the United States. "Shannon Airport is an uncongested airport," said, Joe Buckley, airport Business Development Manager. "You can leave the terminal and be at your desk within 10 minutes." Local officials, who are working to increase the presence of business aviation at the airport, understand the economic value of business aviation activity. In 2010, companies using Shannon generated over 3 billion euros in revenue, with 600 million euros returned to the community surrounding the airport. Learn more.
As NBAA members confront a number of contentious issues here at home, so are EBAA members facing similarly difficult issues in Europe. Now, the European Business Aviation Association has taken on a new leadership strategy, designed to highlight the abilities and relationships that organization's new CEO, Fabio Gamba, brings to the group. Read the full article or listen to the podcast.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is warning operators to be on the lookout for fraudulent invoices that are being sent to users of IATA products and services. Any legitimate invoices from IATA will always be sent from the “iata.org” e-mail address and be accompanied by a digital signature. Any operators that receive an invoice and are in doubt about its authenticity should forward the information on to IATA at information.security@iata.org or visit the IATA website for more details.
The UK government is in the process of developing airspace restrictions that will be in place during the London 2012 Olympics. The major restrictions will be centered on London and the Olympic Park and will run from July 14 to August 15. A smaller set of airspace restrictions will in place for the London 2012 Paralympic Games from August 16 to September 12. From July 21 to August 15, all aircraft arriving or departing from the coordinated UK airports will also be required to have an arrival and/or departure slot. To help operators planning flights to the London Olympics. Those registered for NBAA2011 in Las Vegas also are invited to learn more at an education session titled “Flying to London Summer Olympics 2012, What’s Involved?” on Monday, October 10 at 1:00 p.m. Visit NBAA’s London Olympics resource page.
As part of a fact-finding mission about business aviation in the U.S., British Conservative Party member and European Parliamentarian Jacqueline Foster visited NBAA Headquarters on July 21. Foster, who also is the conservative party spokesperson on the EU Transport & Tourism Committee, discussed issues such as the EU-ETS and decreasing access at smaller European airports with Doug Carr, NBAA vice president of safety, security & regulation. Learn more.
The decision by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to ease restrictions on the use of auxiliary power units (APUs) during radiation screening of business aircraft is already leading to faster pre-clearances at Ireland's Shannon Airport (EINN). The new APU policy followed nearly two years of work between NBAA and CBP to find ways to expedite pre-clearances. "We appreciate the hard work from NBAA to make this change happen," says Joe Buckley, Business Development Manager at Shannon. "It really is a fantastic achievement for NBAA as a representative in the industry." Learn more.
As part of the transition to Mode S, NATS radars were configured so that Mode S equipped aircraft would respond with both a Mode S and a Mode A/C reply as a failsafe to protect against possible transponder anomalies. However, this configuration places the radio spectrum under much greater strain increasing the risk of corruption or reduced detection and it causes a number of false targets to be presented to controllers. In response, NATS has started to reconfigure its radars so that Mode S equipped aircraft will only respond to Mode S interrogations. This will be completed by December 31, 2011. View the UK NATS Mode S Interrogation Pattern Operator Fact Sheet (173 KB, PDF)
A deadline looms for operators flying to Europe to comply with new data link communications standards between aircraft and air traffic control, but how concerned should the business aviation community be? At issue is the January 2014 target date for "harmonization" between Link 2000+, EUROCONTROL's solution for handling Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC), and existing technologies referred to as the Future Avionics Navigation System (FANS) 1/A. Learn what it means for your international missions.
A report last month from Eurocontrol shows that as the European economy is recovering, businesses there are starting to fly again. Eurocontrol's analysis shows the number of 2010 business flights in Europe rose by 5.5 percent over 2009 – travel that largely takes place among small and mid-sized communities. The value of business aviation in serving communities with little or no airline service is one of the main themes of the No Plane No Gain advocacy campaign, which is jointly sponsored by NBAA and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Learn more.
Many flight departments that had previously flown in the U.S. only are starting to see destinations whose ICAO identifiers do not begin with “K.” “Flying to Europe is not particularly complex,” said Nancy Pierce, a business consultant for Jeppesen. “But there are specific operational requirements, regulations and potential ‘gotchas' for flying to Europe that flight crews and schedulers need to be aware of well before engine start.” Learn more.
In Europe, EU-OPS and other state regulations require that some non-precision approaches be flown using the continuous descent final approach (CDFA) technique. In support of these CDFA procedures, Jeppesen is replacing previously charted minimum descent altitude (“MDA(H)”) minima with decision altitude (“DA(H)”) minima on non-precision approach procedures. Unlike DA(H) minima published on an ILS, LNAV/VNAV or LPV procedure, the DA(H) minima for the subject non-precision approaches do not provide an allowance for momentary altitude loss during the transition to the missed approach climb. Therefore, when a DA(H) is shown on a non-precision approach chart, it is critical to safety that crews account for loss of altitude in order to avoid descent below the published DA(H). Review the notice.
A campaign to curb illegal charter flights in Europe was launched this month by the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), NBAA's "across the pond" counterpart. "It's a safety issue," said Pedro Vicente Azua, COO of the EBAA. "If…the flight is not performed by a duly certified and licensed operator (it)…may be operated to considerably less-demanding standards than those for certified public transport flights." Learn More.
