IFATCA, with the collaboration of GATCO and other member associations of IFATCA, has sent a letter to the States around the world calling upon them to safeguard the provision of air navigation services and its critical infrastructure status amidst the current pandemic.
For the European States under the Single European Sky in particular, IFATCA is calling for:
- Recognising that the provision of air navigation services is a critical infrastructure which plays a key role in the resolution of crisis situations.
- Ensuring that the provision of air navigation services is financially supported to overcome this crisis and ensure that sufficient essential qualified staff is available when commercial air traffic returns.
- Stopping the Single European Sky performance scheme until the wider implications of this crisis are fully understood and it is possible to evaluate the suitability or not of the scheme going forward.
- Implementing airspace management measures to enable much-needed coherent and coordinated responses to future crises, be it humanitarian, cyber or financial.
In addition, IFATCA is asking to involve the key operational staff it represents in the decision-making and the work carried out to address this crisis.
You can read the full letter here.