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Birmingham Airport: The new kids on the ANSP block
MEP Daniel Dalton recently posed an interesting question in the European Parliament: what is the Commission doing to enable the creation of a market for terminal air navigation services (TANS)? It is unclear what prompted Mr Dalton – usually so quiet on aviation issues – to ask this question. Perhaps a clue can be found on his website where he promises to that he will be ‘working to encourage infrastructure improvements and promoting the interests of Birmingham Airport’.
Is this an indication that Birmingham Airport’s new in-house TANS provider, Birmingham Airport Air Traffic Ltd (BAATL), is keen to expand into new markets? BAATL started operating in April 2015 following the airport’s decision to bring TANS in-house rather than to continue outsourcing the service, thereby providing better value and control. It looks like this initiative is already paying off, and many other airports (and some worried ANSPs) will be watching carefully.
Mr Dalton will be pleased to hear that in December 2015, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that they expect the UK to be the first Member State with a competitive TANS market. This means that TANS provision in the UK will not be subject to the cost efficiency or capacity targets usually applicable under the Single European Sky. Instead, airports will be encouraged to put their tower services out to competitive tender, and ANSPs will be competing for contracts based on price and service offering.
This is a significant change in the CAA’s position. As recently as 2013, it was of the view that the conditions were not right for a competitive TANS market. This was, in part, due to the perceived large risks involved when transitioning between service providers. The recent processes at Gatwick and Birmingham Airports have evidently been enough to persuade the CAA to change its mind.
Are we seeing the start of the revolution? Granted, our objective of competition between ANSPs for en-route services is still a long way off. However, the first step on the journey to a competitive ATM market is moving away from the assumption that ATM service provision will always be a monopoly, and that any form of competition is impossible and dangerous. The developments in the UK are encouraging, and we hope it provides a role model for others.
Mr Dalton’s question was not only interesting because of what it implied, but also because of the professional and neutral way in which it was asked. This is in stark contrast to the loaded and emotive questioning technique usually adopted by his colleagues, who seem more interested in being seen to be asking the questions than listening to the answer. One for inclusion in our good lobbying scrapbook.
