Voices for a Digital European Sky: Invest now, lead tomorrow

Europe's air traffic management (ATM) is a strategic infrastructure that underpins the continent's competitiveness, security and connectivity. To secure its future, continued investment is essential - not only to manage rising traffic and meet climate commitments, but to reinforce resilience and maintain Europe's global leadership. This view is shared across the Europe's leading ground and airborne manufacturers, who stress the need for sustained investment, coordinated action and a strong deployment strategy to ensure that Europe continues to lead in ATM.

In a video series "Voices for a Digital Sky: Invest now, lead tomorrow" industry leaders Airbus, Frequentis, Indra, Leonardo and Thales, all members of the SESAR Joint Undertaking, have reaffirmed their support for the public-private partnership, outlining the critical role it plays in pooling resources and expertise to deliver next-generation ATM technologies. By accelerating innovation and market uptake, they say, SESAR can further strengthen Europe's industrial leadership and strategic autonomy and safeguard its technological edge.

Ensuring Europe's competitive edge

"SESAR is our strategic advantage," stresses Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus."For Airbus, it ensures our aircraft operate at their full potential, ultimately bringing more connectivity and growth to Europe and cementing our industrial leadership for the decades to come."

"To remain competitive in the future, Europe must succeed on three fronts: investment, coordination and global ambition," says Patrice Caine, CEO of Thales, who added that, "To keep our leadership, our innovations must be designed to be adaptable worldwideThat's how Europe will protect its competitiveness and its positive influence in the global aviation sector."

This view is shared by Indra's CEO, José Vicente de los Mozos, who notes that Europe's leadership today is the result of long-term commitment: "Thanks to the investments made through SESAR, European ATM solutions are significantly ahead of non-European competitors - a position we must now consolidate by accelerating deployment." He warns against losing momentum: "We need to make better use of the full potential of technology by bringing innovations into operation faster. This is how we will strengthen Europe's performance, efficiency and global competitiveness in the years to come."

"ATM modernisation is a strategic enabler for the future of Europe," agrees Roberto Cingolani, CEO and General Manager of Leonardo, who see two key pillars to guarantee future success: "ensuring SESAR R&D and reinforcing the synchronised deployment through common projects, bringing SESAR innovations into everyday operations".

This emphasis on sustaining Europe's leadership is shared by Norbert Haslacher, CEO of Frequentis, who underlines the value of SESAR's collaborative approach: "Thanks to SESAR all relevant stakeholders in the sector contribute to the further development and modernisation of ATM. This collaboration within SESAR enables the creation of consensus-based standards, which then lead to standards that are recognised globally."

Delivering a sustainable European sky

Investing in SESAR and ATM modernisation is not only about gaining a competitive edge, notes Cingolani, it also represents a"fundamental contribution to Europe's wider climate goals, decarbonisation and Green Deal". De los Mozos agrees: "Air traffic management is a strategic accelerator for decarbonisation. Its effective implementation enables faster and safer emission reductions, amplifying the impact of the most disruptive technologies and measures".

The need to act is reinforced by Europe's objective of carbon neutrality by 2050. For Caine, it is clear that near-term gains are already within reach: "Sustainable fuels are going to be widespread someday, but smarter ATM can already reduce emissions by 10% by 2030. Optimising flight paths reduces distance, flight time and altitude, which directly lowers emissions." A view also shared with Faury, who sees ATM as a "low-hanging fruit" and one of the "most powerful and immediate actions" that can be taken in aviation to address decarbonisation. It is estimated that up to 400 million tonnes of CO2 by 2050 can be saved from more efficient operations as outlined by Frequentis CEO

Securing our skies

There is no doubt that ATM is a strategic asset for Europe requiring secure, sovereign and resilient digital infrastructure. As traffic grows and new airspace users emerge, this becomes increasingly critical. "In today's complex geopolitical landscape, a sovereign European sky depends on a secure, resilient and unified ATM system," stresses Faury. SESAR's digital transformation efforts are intended to make Europe's airspace more resilient to cyber and geopolitical challenges with interoperable systems across Member States. "Driving SESAR forward is therefore a strategic imperative. It's how we ensure that Europe has full control over its critical infrastructure," adds the Airbus CEO.

Key to technological autonomy and greater resilience will be the transition to virtualised, interoperable ATM services: "Offering air traffic management as a software-as-a-service solution breaks down silos and fosters collaboration across Europe, while respecting national sovereignty. It will help our ATM network to be more resilient and also able to shift quickly to a hardened state. All that while remaining open, agile and data-driven," Caine points out.

However, with this transition also comes the risk of vulnerabilities: "A crucial task for the industry is to embed robust cybersecurity into ATM systems, ensuring that data is managed and stored in compliance with EU standards and avoiding dependency on non-European infrastructures," says Haslacher.

For de los Mozos, this is ultimately a matter of strategic follow-through. "The European Union has a strategic interest in shaping an efficient and sustainable airspace [...] We must take advantage of this position and get things done by continuing with the SESAR programme, which has been crucial to this success."

Cingolani agrees noting the dual need for strong industrial leadership and firm political commitments. "Industry must play a key role in safeguarding a secure, sovereign and future-ready European sky, built on an integrated digital architecture able to perceive, understand and act across all operational domains. […] We expect that with the forthcoming multi-annual financial framework 2028-2034, which is under negotiation, the EU will confirm resources and priorities for ATM modernisation, recognising modernisation as a strategic enabler for the future of Europe."

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