On 26 November, Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport, visited the SESAR Joint Undertaking. This visit comes a month after her recent trip in the cockpit of a British Airways aircraft, experiencing SESAR Solutions in action in the flight from Brussels to London Heathrow.

The Commissioner and her Head of Cabinet, Matej Zakonjšek, as well as representatives from DG MOVE, were presented the SESAR Development story in more detail, as well as its role in delivering ready-for-market SESAR Solutions. Commissioner Bulc commented that she was proud to be overseeing this “boldly ambitious” programme and urged SESAR members and partners to continue to push the boundaries.

Florian Guillermet, SESAR JU Executive Director gave the Commissioner the chance to meet the people behind the SESAR Solutions “production process” as well as learn about aspirations for the new SESAR 2020 programme. It was clear that SESAR’s success is thanks to a strong European public-private partnership. Mr Guillermet also highlighted the JU’s good cooperation between the EU, US and other world regions, which is essential for achieving harmonisation and interoperability in ATM.

Commissioner Bulc went on to underline that SESAR’s role in the European aviation strategy was not only through the innovation pillar but also in “exporting” a single but nonetheless modular and flexible Single European Sky and SESAR beyond European borders.

She encouraged SESAR to focus even more on outreach and targeting SESAR Solutions to its stakeholders, mentioning airports (international and hubs airports, regional and small airports) in particular. The Commissioner also expressed her support to enhance SESAR’s research on the full RPAS integration into European aviation and ATM; this would not only facilitate safety, but support the growth of this innovative and expanding market in Europe.

Meanwhile, four floors down in the Brussels headquarters of SESAR, the SESAR Deployment Manager Managing Director, Massimo Garbini, was signing the first of the “CEF” grant agreements, awarding EUR 318 million to 84 SESAR deployment projects. It was good timing for Commissioner Bulc to witness the full circle of the SESAR innovation pipeline from inception to deployment.