Airlines concerned over size of the bill

Date: 03/09/1998

By Chris Johnstone

THE question of who pays for and who controls the new generation of satellite systems in the stratosphere is far from settled.

For some, the European Commission's enthusiasm and arguments in favour of this massive infrastructure project are a cautionary and uncomfortable echo of its past attempts to intervene in industrial planning. They cite the efforts made in the early 1990s to set Europe's high-definition television as the global standard as the last ill-fated experiment.

The Commission is paying for the development of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), but what proportion of public and private funds will be sunk into the project thereafter is anyone's guess.

European airlines, among the main beneficiaries from such advances, are already concerned that they will be milked to pay for later developments and running costs before new commercial applications are brought on board.

“The European Commission makes no secret of the fact that, once the service is operational, one of the likeliest sources of funds would be the airlines, whose established means of paying for navigation systems make them a soft target,” says the airline lobby, the Association of European Airlines (AEA).

Supporters of the project criticise the airlines for wanting the long-term benefits without paying the short-term price. “They want the final system but don't like the stepping stones,” commented one official.

The Commission would like to see a single European body take charge of managing the future navigation system, to simplify the current confused situation, and find a new institutional formula to pilot the transitional phase when existing radio navigation and satellite services exist side by side.

However, the Commission is not the only player on the pitch. The European Space Agency and pan-European air traffic control body Eurocontrol are also contributing to the shaping of Europe's satellite navigation future and funding framework.