Almost three years after the technical start of the SESAR programme, the SESAR Joint Undertaking together with key personnel from the member organisations realigned the strategic focus of the development work. The aim of the consultation group was to ensure that the priorities of the programme answer directly to the needs of the ATM industry. Consequently, five operational priority areas were defined:

• Airport integration and throughput;
• Conflict management and automation;
• Moving from airspace to 4D trajectory management;
• Network collaborative management and dynamic/capacity balancing;
• Traffic synchronization.

Future SESAR Releases and validation exercises will be linked to these priority areas. The findings of the group were endorsed by all SESAR members through its highest technical committee. “Through our industry members we are constantly reminded of what the ATM community needs. We take these needs seriously and translate them into concrete actions”, says Patrick Ky, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking.