Washington, DC, May 13, 2008 — David McMillan, director general of Eurocontrol, was the speaker this morning at a Newsmaker Breakfast sponsored by the Flight Safety Foundation. Both general media and representatives from the trade press attended the breakfast to hear about the latest activities of Eurocontrol. Eurocontrol is the European organization for the safety of air navigation, and counts 38 Member States from across Europe, each with its own air traffic control system.
Introduced by FSF President and CEO William R. Voss, Mr. McMillan noted the various challenges facing all air traffic management, including environmental concerns, increased globalization and the constant efforts to maintain and improve safety standards in an industry that is growing from 27,000 flights daily now to 50,000 by the year 2020. He also noted the importance of FAA and Eurocontrol working together to ensure compatibility between next generation ATM systems now under development.
Mr. McMillan further stated, “The regulatory process is very important. It is one of our goals to ensure that the individual states implement an effective safety management system and it is supported by management that understands that what they are [dealing in] is safe transportation.”
Many of the questions he faced covered issues such as flight delays, the expected growth in European aviation and how Eurocontrol planned to address these challenges. He noted that a major constraint on growth is airport capacity, including runway capacity given local environmental objections to new runways.
FSF’s Newsmaker Breakfasts are on-the-record, informal opportunities for members of the media to interact with aviation leaders from around the world.
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Flight Safety Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, international organization engaged in research, auditing, education, advocacy and publishing to improve aviation safety. The Foundation’s mission is to pursue the continuous improvement of global aviation safety and the prevention of accidents. www.flightsafetstg.wpenginepowered.com
Contact: Emily McGee, Director of Communications, 1-703-739-6700, ext. 126; mcgee@webdeva.flightsafety.org
