The SESAR programme is triggering global interest, as was indicated by a recent seminar held in Beijing, to which representatives of SESAR Joint Undertaking were invited to present the European ATM Master Plan and the SESAR programme.

Hosted by the EU-China Civil Aviation Project (EUCCAP) between 3-5 December 2013, the seminar was organised in response to interest expressed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the Air Traffic Flow Management Bureau (ATMB) and the China Academy of Civil Aviation Science and Technology (CAST) to understand more about current European trends in ATM R&D and industry development within the context of the SESAR programme.

Mr Jin Yibin, Chief Pilot of the CAAC opened the workshop expressing the importance for China to align their ATM developments with the ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan, as has been done by SESAR and the European ATM Master Plan. Leading the delegation, SJU Executive Director, Mr Claude Chêne underlined the importance of interoperability and the need to work together on achieving this goal - Deepening technical cooperation between SESAR and CAAC would be an important step in this direction. Mr Chene then presented the impetus for creating the SESAR Programme, as well as an overview of its objectives, governance structure, key milestones and achievements to date. The CAAC delegation gave an overview of the Chinese R&D programme, indicating areas of alignment between it, SESAR and Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) NextGen programme.

A core focus of the discussion was SESAR's System Wide Information Management (SWIM), its concept, principles and the uptake in China and related interoperability matters. Both parties also discussed at great length their respective projects in the field of ATM integration of airport operations in the light of creating more efficient flow of traffic both at the airports and at the network level - An important topic bearing in mind the airport expansion plans in China and the need to improve predictability and efficiency in the network of European airports. The environmental aspects in this field were also highlighted.

The seminar concluded that ensuring good dialogue and cooperation in the area of R&D and Master Planning towards the ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan is of the upmost importance for the sustainable development of the Chinese and European aviation industries.

The seminar brought together more than 40 managers and specialists from the CAAC departments of Planning and Development, Flight Standard and Airport; as well as from ATMB, CAST and industry companies of EU and China.