EAD: 5 successful years centralising European aeronautical information

When EAD was launched, all States in Europe maintained and updated their own individual record of pan-European aeronautical information. In effect, it meant that all States were carrying out the same task, maintaining a database of the same information. Today, after five years of operation of EAD, more than 39 States are contributing to the database, and 75% of participating States maintain their aeronautical information directly in the database for the benefit of the continually growing number of recognised professional Data Users (80 today). In addition, the public website, EAD Basic has become a well known and established source of aeronautical information for the world-wide general aviation community with more than 39,000 registered users. "The EAD was launched after years of intensive development and testing together with the different industry partners who are playing a key role in the daily operations," said Sylviane Wybo, Manager of the EAD at EUROCONTROL. "It is an ideal communication platform between providers and users of aeronautical information and will continue to be at the forefront of quality digital aeronautical information services today and in the future." The success of EAD means that there is now a growing interest from outside of the European Civil Aviation Conference ECAC area, with many Data Users and the first non-ECAC Data Providers connecting to the database.