Air navigation service providers and operators have reported technical issues when implementing Regulation (EC) No 29/2009, particularly disconnections, known as Provider Aborts (‘PAs’), of existing air-ground data communications enabling the operations of data link services (‘DLS’) and which are beyond acceptable performance levels. For that reason certain air navigation service providers have already taken mitigation measures, consisting of the restriction of DLS operations to aircraft equipped with specific avionics through so-called ‘white lists’, so as to address potential safety impacts of those PAs in the operations of data link service.

In addition, with a view to addressing specifically the aviation safety aspect of DLS operations pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 29/2009, on 23 May 2014 EASA issued Safety Information Bulletin No 2014-14, which recommends that operators revert from data to voice when confronted with a high level of PAs.

In line with the EASA recommendations, the Commission instructed the SESAR Joint Undertaking (‘SJU’) to draft a work plan for further investigation of the identified issues and for carrying out the specific actions recommended by EASA. The work plan, as presented by the SJU, includes two phases of studies and remedial actions deemed necessary in relation to, in particular, the data link ground infrastructure issues and the finding and validation of technical airborne solutions. The preliminary results and remedial actions are expected by 2016, while further validation may require two more years.

Therefore, particularly due to the observed technical difficulties and shortcomings in the performance of the deployed DLS infrastructure, which have already led to certain mitigation measures being enacted, and their potential impact on aviation safety and given that the necessary studies and actions to identify and remedy them are expected to be completed during the course of 2018, the date of application of Regulation (EC) No 29/2009 should be deferred.

For the same reasons referred to in recital 7, and in order to retain the consistency of the requirements set out in Regulation (EC) No 29/2009, certain other timeframes provided for in that Regulation should also be amended.

In order to provide and operate data link services built on the required validated ground DLS capability, the dates of application for the requirements relating to the ground equipage for the airspace defined in Parts A and B of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 29/2009 should be amended so as to ensure that the ground infrastructure is available 24 months before the date of application of the requirements relating to the airborne side. However, Member States responsible for the airspace defined in Part B of that Annex have already been provided with a longer period to implement the required DLS ground infrastructure. Therefore it is no longer justified to differentiate, in terms of dates of application, between airspace defined in Parts A and B of that Annex.

In addition, the date by which the operators are required to ensure that the aircraft concerned have the capacity to operate the DLS in accordance with Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 29/2009 should be adjusted, in order that it corresponds to the amended date of application of that Regulation. Moreover, in respect of this requirement concerning the capacity to operate the DLS, it is also no longer justified to distinguish between aircraft on the basis of the date of their individual certificate of airworthiness. However, the exemptions to this requirement for certain categories of aircraft, as well as the specific rule concerning new transport type State aircraft, should be retained and the relevant dates should be adjusted accordingly, so as to retain the practical effect of those rules. Only with respect to the exemption relating to aircraft with an individual certificate of airworthiness first issued before 1 January 2014 and fitted with data link equipment certified against one of the relevant Eurocae documents the current dates should be retained, at least for the time being, in the absence of clear and convincing data justifying their adjustment.

Regulation (EC) No 29/2009 should therefore be amended accordingly.