SESAR aims at developing the new generation air traffic management system capable of ensuring the safety and fluidity of air transport worldwide over the next 30 years.
Its first phase delivered the ATM master plan that defines the content, the development and deployment plans of the next generation of ATM systems.
The "development" phase will produce the required new generation of technological systems, components and operational procedures as defined in the SESAR ATM Master Plan and Work Programme.
The "deployment" phase will see the large scale production and implementation of the new air traffic management infrastructure, composed of fully harmonised and interoperable components guaranteeing high performance air transport activities in Europe.
Legal basis
Taking into account the number of actors involved and the financial resources and technical expertise needed, a legal entity, the SESAR Joint Undertaking, was created under Community law on 27 February 2007 to manage the funds assigned to the SESAR project during its Development Phase.
Funding and budget
The total estimated cost of the development phase of SESAR is € 2.1 billion, to be shared equally between the European Community, Eurocontrol and the industry.
Members
The SESAR Joint Undertaking was created under European Community law on 27 February 2007 with Eurocontrol and the European Commission as founding members. In addition to the two founding members, 15 organisations have signed a membership agreement with the SESAR JU. The programme can such profit from the expertise of airport operators, air navigationservice providers, ground and aerospace manufacturing industry, aircraft manufacturers, and airborne equipment manufacturers:
With the endorsement of 13 associate partners in July 2010, the SESAR Joint Undertaking included additional companies with very different profiles and expertise from around the world in the SESAR work programme. Those are:
In early 2011, SESAR issued SESAR Release 2011, a document presenting to the aviation community new or improved air traffic management solutions at a preindustrialisation stage ready for deployment. Concretely, 29 validation exercises conducted by the SESAR members all over Europe will be completed by end 2011. Those exercises will cover the areas of efficient and green terminal airspace operations, the initial 4D trajectory, end to end traffic synchronisation, as well as integrated and collaborative network management.
SESAR JU staff
The SESAR Joint Undertaking is composed of around 40 staff, and the executive director is Florian Guillermet. Previous CEO Patrick Ky is now at EASA.
