HL Deb 08 June 1992 vol 537 cc75-6WA
Lord Brabazon of Tara

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will report the outcome of the European Civil Aviation Conference Ministerial meeting held in London on 17th March.

The Earl of Caithness

Transport Ministers of the member states of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) reached agreement on a number of issues at their meeting on 17th March. In particular, they agreed:

  1. (i) to reaffirm the European en-route strategy, which was launched in 1990 to harmonise and integrate the operations of each country's individual air traffic control system;
  2. (ii) to extend that strategy to include central and eastern European members of ECAC;
  3. (iii) to launch a new ECAC airports strategy; and
  4. (iv) to initiate work on investigations of new technologies and their impact on the later stages of the harmonisation and integration programme.

The meeting was attended by a large number of European Transport Ministers, who were unanimous in their view of the importance of making progress in tackling the problems of European air traffic control. ECAC can play a valuable role in initiating this work and seeing it through to a successful conclusion in co-operation with other bodies, including Eurocontrol and the EC Commission.