Interview with the Lufthansa Chief Pilot

Airspace users are a central part of the SESAR programme. More efficient ATM will help save fuel, increase predictability of flight arrivals and departures, and help reduce flight times. As so many SESAR improvements will affect airspace users, it is important to ensure that they are closely involved in the programme. In a special interview Flight Captain Werner Knorr, Lufthansa Chief Pilot, explains how he sees the role of the airspace users in SESAR, and in particular what Lufthansa and its staff hope to gain from working with SESAR.

1) We now have the permanent airspace users’ office at the SESAR JU in Brussels. Is this another sign of your strong commitment to SESAR?

The Lufthansa Group operated more than 1 million flights – carrying more than 91 million passengers – in 2010 and continues to be a growing company. To stay successful we have a strong interest in implementing the highest safety standards, an efficient ATM system and capacity enlargements with the lowest possible environmental impact. This is what SESAR stands for and this is why we support its goals. The answer therefore is Yes, and we are happy that Manfred Mohr – a very experienced Instructor and A380 project leader - was selected by the European airspace user community for this important position.

2) Concretely, what are your top three priorities for Lufthansa in SESAR for 2011/12?

In the next 2 years we really want to take a step forward in progressing SESAR’s more than 300 projects from ideas on paper to our daily operations. We also want to make sure that all SESAR partners keep up the pace of change, and that developments on board our planes are aligned with those on the ground. Thirdly, we have to find ways to shoulder the large investment in SESAR, without harming the opportunities of the airline industry, and in particular without making air travel unaffordable for European citizens.

3) How challenging is it to manage the partnership among the different airspace users, as they have different business models (e.g. low fare airlines, leisure carriers, business/general aviation)? Do you manage to easily find common ground for your work with SESAR?

Certainly we have different opinions about some questions. But all airspace users share the same desire for a strong, efficient and safe ATM system. We all have to operate efficiently and safely – of course within different business models – in the same European environment and the same sky. The major carriers are mostly facing the same problems: the small but major bottlenecks of the airspace structure (the FAB initiative) and the airports, where efficient European terminal area management is needed.