Single European Sky (SES) project was initiated by European Parliament and EU with the aim to create a common unified upper airspace instead of the existing state-border oriented airspace architecture. It facilitated better accommodation of traffic flows, enhancing flight safety, improving airspace capacity and ATM efficiency. The project is going to be implemented in several steps.

European Commission is appointed as the body responsible for the SES project implementation; legally the mandate to do the job is handed over to Eurocontrol.

The European Commission’s ATM legislative package of four regulations covers the essential regulatory elements to be developed in order to achieve a seamless European Air Traffic Management System. They are:

1. A Framework for the Creation of the Single European Sky.
2. The Provision of Air Navigation Services.
3. The Organisation and Use of Airspace.
4. The Interoperability of the European Air Traffic Management Network.

SES basic regulations, approved by European Parliament and European Council, came into force on the 20th of April 2004.

At present some more different regulation documents and drafts of legislative provisions are under development, to be ready by the end of 2004.

The implementation of the SES project pushes EU members and ANS Providers in them to introduce many different measures and to push extensive reorganisation process in all aviation domains.

EANS contribution into the Project was nominating own representatives to participate in the consultancy process and appropriate CANSO working groups.

SES project coordinator in Estonia is our ATM expert Aleksei Shishov.