The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) have strengthened their existing partnership with a new agreement that expands the scope of their cooperations.
The Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed by the two organizations updates the previous agreement signed in 2021 and expands the partnership to cover four new areas including training, cybersecurity, research & innovation, and communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS).
Florian Guillermet, executive director of EASA, said: “We are standing together to fulfil Europe’s environmental ambitions, avoiding any gaps in our approach while ensuring that safety remains our priority.
“Through this cooperation, we will pool our expertise to the benefit of the Member States and the European aviation system as a whole.”
The agreement will also continue the work of the EASA-Eurocontrol Joint Work Programme and the joint Technical and Coordination Office which focus on areas of interest for both organisations such as sustainability, air traffic management, stakeholder support, and production and analysis of air traffic safety intelligence.
Meanwhile, the new focus areas included in the collaboration will see Eurocontrol work with the safety agency to develop and deliver training courses on the implementation of EASA rules.
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By GlobalDataAdditionally, the inclusion of cybersecurity in the MoC will include the exchange of information on cyber-related incidents with an impact on the aviation industry as well as on the development of new technologies.
Raúl Medina, director general of Eurocontrol, said: “This MoC is a testament to our commitment to reinforce our partnership with EASA and to work together on new common priorities, maximising synergies around topics which are central for the future development of European aviation.”
The MoC highlights a new awareness of the importance of cybersecurity in the aviation industry after an increase in issues such as GPS interference incidents, which recently lead Finnair to suspended flights to Tartu, Estonia.
Earlier this year, Airport Technology spoke to the CEO of cybersecurity firm Cyviation who said that the industry was lagging behind “big time” on the issue and called for more to be done to protect aircraft from attacks.