EU Drafts Plan To Charge For Navigation Aids

What if you had to pay for things like approach beacons, weather reports and air traffic control services? Most American pilots would be up in arms.

So it is in Europe, where the EU's Eurocontrol -- the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation -- wants to charge pilots for, well, everything.

Further, if you don't pay, you could face big-time legal troubles, according to a draft of the new regulations.

Eurocontrol proposes charging for:

• Air traffic management services (ATM)
• Communication, navigation and surveillance services (CNS)
• Meteorological services for air navigation (MET)
• Aeronautical information services (AIS)
• Search and rescue services (SAR)

But wait, there's more. The EU also wants pilots to pay for:

• Aerodrome control services, flight information services including air traffic advisory services, and alerting services;
• Final approach services using dedicated resources at aerodrome level
• Communication, navigation, and surveillance services that are required for landing and take off
• Local access to aeronautical information, pre-flight information service and, where applicable, the preparation of any aeronautical information relating to this aerodrome

Don't use all those services? No worries. Under the proposed rule, you'll still have to pay for them.

What Eurocontrol envisions seems, at first glance, very complicated. Aircraft operators would be charged based on aircraft weight, distance flown and the type of airspace they fly in. The money would be collected from both arriving and departing flights.

The proposed rules call on EU member states to "consult with airspace users" before implementing the changes. If they do that, they're more than likely to hear an earful, based on the email we're getting at ANN. Noted European aviation journalist Nigel Everett writes on Britain's PFA message board, "Nothing in the draft proposals suggests that even a light aircraft flying non radio, from one private strip in uncontrolled airspace to another will escape being charged. The proposals apply to all civil air traffic and General Aviation (GA) is not mentioned. It will, apparently, be up to the governments of individual states to decide how the payments are levied."

Everett's message continued, "I don't think that I need spell out what this proposal could do to European GA and I hope that you will feel moved to do what you can to argue for the retention of the current exemption for all VFR aircraft and for IFR aircraft below the minimum weight for incurring Eurocontrol En Route charges."

Everett urges all GA pilots in Europe to band together and fight the proposed levies. They can do so by commenting to Eurocontrol about the proposed rule (link below).

FMI: Eurocontrol Document