The EACCC was established following the eruption in April last year of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, with the aim of supporting the Network Manager in coordinating the response to a crisis affecting the European civil aviation network, as well as providing accurate, timely and consistent data to the stakeholders involved.
Comprising senior representatives from the European Commission, EUROCONTROL, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Member States, aviation industry stakeholders such as ACI EUROPE, AEA and unions, the EACCC is responsible for leading communication between stakeholders and decision-makers, and where appropriate, for escalating an issue to higher decision-making bodies. In these circumstances, ACI EUROPE provides information on the situation at European airports, as well as immediately relays the latest updates to its members at CEO level allowing them to get critical information on the impact of the eruption and the way it was being managed.
“There are three alert levels for the network operations: pre-alert (level 0), major disruptions (level 1) and crisis (level 2),” explained Jacques Dopagne, Director Network Management, EUROCONTROL and co-chair of the EACCC. “The pre-alert phase basically consists of business as usual, warnings about a potential event (industrial action warning, bad weather etc.), and local events on the network.”
The alert can rise from level 0 to 1, however, if the Network Manager feels that the management of an issue should be extended to many partners, in which case the Network Disruption Management cell is activated.
Dopagne continued: “The decision to go from level 1 to 2 comes under the responsibility of the Director Network Management who, once he has decided that the event could have a potential impact on a sizeable portion of the European aviation network, may convene the EACCC.”
This was the case in May, when the Grimsvötn volcano sent an ash plume as high as 17km. As outlined by Siim Kallas, Vice-President of the European Commission, the activation of the EACCC in this instance made a telling difference to the impact on the European aviation network.
He said: “Our aim is to ensure coordinated safety assurance and the ability to quickly formulate mitigating measures. To do this, collaborative decision-making is crucial. That is the reason the EACCC was established. The EACCC has proved its ability to fulfil this role, as is clear from Europe’s handling of the Grimsvötn ash cloud, a clear improvement in comparison with the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash crisis.”
ACI EUROPE Director General Olivier Jankovec was equally effusive “Lessons were learned from the previous volcanic ash shock in April 2010. In the case of a renewed volcanic ash situation, the European Commission, EUROCONTROL and EASA have worked intensely to devise an alternative procedure for flight operations, safeguarding the highest possible level of safety, while minimising disruption. Now all that’s required is for national governments to be equally ready to react in fresh crisis circumstances.”
Interactive technology
A main difference between the responses to the Eyjafjallajökull and Grimsvötn eruptions was that following the latter, in addition to the lessons learned from the experiences of April 2010 and the European-wide VOLCEX 11/01 volcanic ash exercise, recently developed interactive technology was also deployed.
“We were able to deploy EVITA, the first online European Crisis Visualisation Interactive Tool for ATFCM (Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management), to help airlines carry out flight planning so as to avoid contaminated areas,” Dopagne said.
Moving forward, there is a desire within the industry, not necessarily solely from the EACCC, to further harmonise procedures to ensure that a coordinated response can be implemented during any future crisis situation. Nick Mower, General Manager Regulatory Affairs, European Regions Airline Association (ERA), said: “Although work continues from the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) expert groups, the methodology to construct SRAs (Safety Risk Assessments) by airlines and the acceptance of these by a number of key States dramatically lessened the potential impact of airspace closure in areas of low and medium forecast ash contamination.”
The prerequisites that would help States in classifying and defining ‘Danger Areas’ while keeping their airspace open, Mower said, are “airworthiness and accurate data requirements including ash tolerance thresholds from engine manufacturers” and “accurate, more granular and higher quality ash concentration data from the Met Offices, fully adapted to the needs of the airspace users”.
‘Close collaboration’
Referring to the role of the EACCC in this harmonisation process, Dopagne added: “The EACCC, in close collaboration with the European Commission, EUROCONTROL and EASA, has been working with States on establishing a consistent response to volcanic ash events and any other crises that may have an adverse impact on European aviation. The EACCC is building on the good progress made by ICAO’s IVATF (International Volcanic Ash Task Force). All the same, there is still work to do in achieving a harmonised European approach, which is compatible with ICAO’s guidance.”
Future lines of action, he explained, include giving high priority and support at a political level to complete the work in defining European guidelines to be used by airport operators (AOs) to prepare SRAs and by NSAs (National Supervisory Authorities) to take account of these SRAs; AOs should prepare and submit SRAs to their NSAs. The issue of gaining mutual recognition of agreed SRAs (in line with ICAO principles) between all EU Member States remains important and still needs attention.
Building on its success to date, plans are in place to further expand the role and scope of the EACCC and it will be reorganised and its composition will be reviewed in the context of the new Network Manager Implementing Rule. The Cell composition will also be extended on a case-by-case basis, depending on the nature of an event that it has to deal with, Dopagne explained. Furthermore, it will also be tasked with handling new events, such as nuclear emission dispersions and the airborne spread of diseases. Dopagne concluded: “The EACCC will also be organising exercises to make sure it is always prepared to face new events which might occur, to improve ways of working and to diminish reaction time.”
