European governments hand over airspace regulation

摘要

The entire basis of Europe's civil aviation industry is about to undergo a massive change―with major repercussions for the U.S. civil aerospace industry and U.S. airlines. At the end of 2002 the European Commission (EC) took over a host of regulatory responsibilities that had previously been held by European national governments. First came the formation in September 2002 of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to set out common European rules and guidelines for aviation safety in the European Union (EU). The organization will replace the current Joint Airworthiness Authorities, becoming a powerful EU aviation regulator. It will have the staff and legal powers to regulate flight safety at a European level, backed by the powers of the EC. EASA will start functioning in September of this year, initially developing common rules on aircraft certification. However, it will move swiftly into other areas such as air traffic management (ATM), which will transform the role and responsibilities of the national authorities.