FAB CE CEOC Committee discusses COVID-19 recovery, elects new chairman and progress smart procurement

Planning a coordinated response to a traffic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the election of a new chairman, the successful completion of the NAVAID optimisation project and the launch of the communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) equipment common planning project were some of the key highlights of the FAB CE CEO Committee (CEOC) meeting of 23 June 2020.

The CEOC elected Vlado Bagarić, Director General of Croatia Control (photo), as chairman of the committee for 12 months. Vlado Bagarić is a former Commander of the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence and previously held the position of Assistant Director for ATM/ANS at the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency. He is taking over the chairmanship from Valerie Hackl, Managing Director Austro Control (photo), who held the position since July 1 of last year.

FAB CE air navigation service providers (ANSP) CEOs discussed strategies for taking an aligned approach to developing cost-containment measures while ensuring the preservation of critical ATM infrastructure. “As part of our plans to ensure we can provide capacity ahead of traffic recovery we are developing a new set of short-term, weekly forecasts so we can plan for an upturn in a coordinated manner,” said Matej Eljon, FAB CE Programme Manager, Director of FAB CE Aviation Ltd.

The committee also welcomed the final delivery of the NAVAID optimisation project. The aim of this programme was to develop processes for coordinated NAV infrastructure and maintenance planning. Significant potential for cross-border use of NAVAIDs was identified - for example, the use of Slovenian or Hungarian VORs to cover parts of Croatia - and decommissioning of redundant equipment has been recommended. New NAVAID acquisition planning will take place on a cross-border basis and FAB CE ANSPs shared their approach on how to mitigate the existing vulnerabilities of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) dependent capabilities.

The CEOC also gave its approval to the CNS common planning project. While the decision on CNS/ATM equipment procurement will remain with individual ANSPs the programme will identify opportunities for alignment of ANSP plans and smart procurement methods. A proposal of the cost-sharing arrangement of cross-border services will be developed along with a joint CNS investment plan to be used as an input into updating of national CNS investment plans.