Airspace Modernisation: Consultation on a proposed UK Airspace Design Service

Today the Department for Transport (DfT) and the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have launched a public consultation on plans for a UK Airspace Design Service (UKADS), previously termed the Single Design Entity (SDE), to deliver holistic and modernised airspace design for the UK.

Airspace modernisation will benefit UK consumers through greater system capacity and better resilience to disruption. Crucially, it will help aviation reduce its environmental impacts, contributing to achieving net zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. However, unlike in most other countries, UK airspace design is today delivered via a complex model, where multiple organisations, usually airports and air navigation service providers, individually sponsor and fund airspace change proposals. This puts at risk the ability to accommodate increasing demand for access to UK airspace and eventually innovative new technologies such as remotely piloted aircraft systems (drones).

This consultation proposes creating a UKADS as a single guiding mind to manage future airspace changes to deliver this much-needed modernisation at scale and at pace as envisaged by the CAA’s Airspace Modernisation Strategy published in January 2023.

Our proposals cover the role, scope and funding model for the UKADS as well as other policy and regulatory considerations. Our consultation proposes a two-phase approach:

• The first phase of the UKADS (‘UKADS1’) would be established as soon as possible and tasked to NATS (En Route) plc (NERL). UKADS1 would initially prioritise airspace change proposals to modernise the complex London TMA region of the airspace change masterplan. Subject to UKADS1’s capability and capacity, the co-sponsors may expand this scope in the future.
• The second phase, being developed in parallel but on a longer timeframe, would consider options for a broader-scoped UKADS (‘UKADS2’) which could eventually take over responsibility for all airspace change in the UK. This second phase would be conditional on a review of the success of the first phase to identify which policy, process or legislation changes would address any unfulfilled objectives. Given the significant lead time for developing UKADS2, the detail, including options for new legislation, would be subject to further consultation in the future.

Alongside our phased proposals for the UKADS, we also propose to reform the funding of airspace change proposals UK-wide by creating a new UK Airspace Design Charge. This new charge would:

• meet the efficient costs of NERL to provide an airspace design service through UKADS1, and
• capitalise a new UK Airspace Design Support Fund to cover relevant costs of the sponsors of eligible UK airport airspace change proposals that are outside the scope of UKADS1.

The consultation seeks views on the overall concept of a UKADS, including its responsibilities, governance and how it can be held to account for delivering modernisation. No final decisions have yet been made, including on the key question of who might take on this role.

Full details of the proposals, including how to respond to the consultation, can be accessed on the CAA's dedicated consultation page. Accompanying the consultation is an Impact Assessment, outlining the potential implications of our proposals, to be read in conjunction with the consultation document.

One message that came through strongly from our earlier engagement was that to progress modernisation of the complex London TMA region, UKADS1 needs to be in place as soon as possible. This is why we are asking for responses to the consultation within eight weeks, by 23.59 on 17 December 2024.

While the consultation is underway, we expect sponsors to continue to progress their airspace change proposals to established timelines. The plans for the UKADS aim, as far as possible, to avoid work already undertaken on airspace change proposals having to be redone.