Single EU-wide safety authorisation for foreign airlines flying to the EU

European Commission

Press release

Brussels, 29 April 2014

Single EU-wide safety authorisation for foreign airlines flying to the EU

The European Commission today adopted a new regulation (known as PART TCO) paving the way for airlines from outside the European Union to obtain a single EU-wide safety authorisation to fly to, from or within the EU. The new system will avoid unnecessary duplication and lead to greater efficiencies compared to the current application process. The authorisation confirming EU-wide compliance with international safety standards will be provided by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and valid throughout the whole EU.

Foreign airlines will no longer be required to make a separate application for a safety authorisation to each EU Member State they want to fly to, as is the case now.

Vice-President Siim Kallas, EU commissioner for mobility and transport, said: "Safety always comes first in our aviation policy. These new rules will cut red tape and simplify safety authorisation procedures for foreign airlines, while at the same time ensuring that they fully comply with all the necessary international safety requirements. This will make air travel to, from and within the EU safer, to the benefit of European citizens and all those that travel to the EU."

The "third country operators" (or TCO) safety authorisation issued by EASA will be applicable to all commercial airlines from outside the EU that intend on flying to EU territory, and will be valid for the entire EU. The safety authorisation will be a precondition for obtaining the operating permit in each Member State. EASA is well placed to carry out the required safety assessment and ongoing monitoring of third country operators.

The new safety authorisation system will:

• harmonise the application of international aviation safety rules across the EU – as a result it will be easier to monitor compliance with international aviation safety standards by foreign airlines that wish to operate to, from and within the EU and in turn make air travel to the EU safer;
• simplify and streamline the application process, by providing a one-stop shop or single EU wide safety authorisation for foreign airlines flying to, from or within the EU;
• complement the existing EU air safety list regulation and as a result make a significant contribution to the safety of European air travel.

For more information

Website of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)

http://easa.europa.eu/TCO

Contacts : Helen Kearns (+32 2 298 76 38) Dale Kidd (+32 2 295 74 61) For the public: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by e­mail

CE a aprobat regulile ajutorului de stat in cazul Romaniei

European Commission

Press release

Brussels, 9 April 2014

State aid: Commission approves regional aid map 2014-2020 for Romania

The European Commission has approved under EU state aid rules Romania's map for granting regional development state aid between 2014 and 2020 within the framework of the new regional aid guidelines adopted by the Commission in June 2013 (see IP/13/569). The new guidelines set out the conditions under which Member States can grant state aid to businesses for regional development purposes. They aim to foster growth and greater cohesion in the Single Market.

Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said: “The new regional aid map establishes a clear framework within which Romania can promote productive investments in disadvantaged regions between 2014 and 2020.”

Romania's regional aid map defines the regions eligible under EU state aid rules for regional investment aid granted by Romanian authorities and establishes the maximum aid levels (so-called "aid intensities") for companies in the eligible regions. The map will be in force between 1 July 2014 and 31 December 2020.

The whole territory of Romania will be eligible for regional investment aid. The maximum levels of aid that can be granted to regional investment projects carried out by large enterprises in the assisted areas are between 10% and 50% of total investment costs depending on the area concerned. For investments carried out by SMEs, these percentages can be increased.

Under the regional guidelines, areas which have a GDP per capita below 75% of the EU average are eligible in priority for regional investment aid, as the main purpose of regional aid is to foster the development of the less advantaged regions of Europe. Under the new map, regions accounting for 89.4% of the population of Romania fall under this category and will continue to be eligible for regional investment aid at maximum aid intensities varying between 35% and 50% of the eligible costs of the relevant investment projects.

Other regions in a disadvantaged situation in relation to the EU or national average can also become eligible provided that they comply with certain criteria and that they respect the overall population coverage. This allows Member States to tackle their own regional disparities. As these regions are less disadvantaged than areas with a GDP per capita below 75% of the EU average, both the geographical scope and the aid intensity are limited. 10.6% of the Romanian population living in the region around Bucharest will be eligible for regional investment aid under this category, at maximum aid intensities varying between 10% and 35%.

Given that the GDP per capita of the region around Bucharest is no longer below 75% of the EU average, the maximum aid intensities for regional investment aid are lower than in the previous period. The remaining assisted regions will have identical maximum aid intensities with the exception of one region (Vest) which will have a slight (15 percentage points) decrease because its GDP increased and it is now less disadvantaged with regard to the EU average.)

Background

The regional aid guidelines set out the rules under which Member States can grant state aid to companies to support investments in new production facilities in the less advantaged regions of Europe, or to extend or modernise existing facilities. The ultimate purpose of regional state aid is to support economic development and employment. The regional aid guidelines contain rules on the basis of which Member States can draw up regional aid maps valid throughout the guidelines' period of validity. The maps identify in which geographical areas companies can receive regional state aid and at what proportion of the eligible investment costs (aid intensity). Eligible costs are the part of the total investment costs that may be taken into account for the calculation of the aid.

Article 107(3)(a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) allows Member States to grant state aid to promote the economic development of areas where the standard of living is abnormally low or where there is serious underemployment. The regional aid guidelines define these areas as regions with a GDP per capita below 75 % of the EU average and outermost Regions. Moreover, in order to ensure a smooth transition, regions that were previously below the threshold of 75% of EU GDP will continue to be pre-defined at EU level as eligible for regional aid. Article 107(3)(c) TFEU allows regional state aid to facilitate the development of certain economic activities or of certain economic areas where it does not adversely affect trading conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest. The regional aid guidelines define these as areas of a Member State which are disadvantaged either in relation to the EU average, or in relation to the national average. The population coverage is distributed between Member States according to socioeconomic criteria which take into account regional disparities, including unemployment, at both EU and national levels. It is then for each Member State to decide in its regional map how to best use this room for manoeuvre to define more eligible area in order to address its internal regional disparities.

The non-confidential version of today's decision will be made available under the case number SA.38364 in the State Aid Register on the competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News.

Contacts : Antoine Colombani  (+32 2 297 45 13, Twitter: @ECspokesAntoine ) Olga Leszczynska-Vargin (+32 229-65520) For the public: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by e­mail

"Vanatoarea" de asteroizi incepe din 17 martie!

Pentru ca noi tintim cat mai sus, chiar si dincolo de cer, va aducem in atentie un concurs initiat de NASA: "vanatoarea" de asteroizi.

 

Mai jos sunt informatiile preluate direct de la sursa. Va uram mult succes si nu uitati: "Iasi Airport, your way to the sky" .....and beyond :)

 

Project Background

In this challenge, we are tasking competitors with developing a significantly improved algorithm to identify asteroids in images from ground-based telescopes. The winning solution will increase the detection sensitivity, minimize the number of false positives, ignore imperfections in the data, and run effectively on all computers

Asteroids pose both a possible threat and an opportunity for Earth: they could impact us, causing damage, OR possibly be mined for resources that could help extend our ability to explore the universe.

 

With the vast amount of data available now flowing from modern instruments, there is no good way for professional astronomers to verify every detection. In particular, looking in the future as large surveys grow ever larger, the ability to autonomously and rapidly check the images and determine which objects are suitable for follow up will be crucial. There is a long history to adapting programs to find these moving objects with some improvements along the way. For example, the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) uses a crowded field galaxy photometry program (Source Extractor) that identifies centroids of targets that are distinctly separate from other objects. This output is fed into a custom program that sees which sources move. However, analysis implies that at best the CSS data pipeline is 80 – 90% accurate and there are (based on CSS discovery numbers) several thousand additional objects that could be recovered per year.

 

Partnership between NASA & Planetary Resources

NASA and Planetary Resources Inc., are partnering to develop crowd-sourced software solutions to enhance detection of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) using NASA-funded data. The agreement is NASA’s first partnership associated with NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge.

Planetary Resources will facilitate the use of NASA-funded sky survey data and help support the algorithm competition and review results. NASA will develop and manage the contests and explore use of the best solutions for enhancing existing survey programs.

Through NASA’s asteroid initiative, NASA is enhancing its ongoing efforts to identify and characterize Near-Earth Object’s (NEOs) for scientific investigation, find asteroids potentially hazardous to Earth and find candidates viable for redirection to a stable orbit near the moon as a destination for exploration by astronauts.

The algorithm contests are managed and executed by NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI). CoECI was established at the request of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to advance NASA open innovation efforts and extend that expertise to other federal agencies. CoECI uses the NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) for its advanced algorithmic and software development contests. Through its contract with Harvard Business School in association with Harvard’s Institute of Quantitative Social Sciences, NTL uses the topcoder platform to enable a community of over 600,000 competitors to create the most innovative, efficient and optimized solutions for specific, real-world challenges faced by NASA.

High Level Requirements

This challenge will devise a solution that improves moving object routines, both in terms of absolute efficiency, but also decrease computation requirements to allow more modest machines to adequately perform moving object detection.
The following requirements must be met:

• Properly ignore imperfections and artifacts in the data.
• Identify moving objects utilizing a time series of four images of the sky
• Recover the accurate astrometry of the moving object (RA, Dec, etc.)

Atomized Project Plan

So what’s coming up, and how do I register? Simply select any of the contest names below to find out more about each specific contest, and register to participate.

Contest	Start	End	Contest Type
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 1 – Create Marathon Match Problem Statement	03/17/2014	04/02/2014	Content Creation
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 1 – Invitational Dataset Testing	04/04/2014	04/08/2014	Bug Hunt
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 1 – Marathon Match	04/11/2014	04/22/2014	Marathon Match
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 1 – Algorithm Documentation	04/24/2014	05/10/2014	Content Creation
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 1 – Algorithm Productization	05/12/2014	05/28/2014	Assembly Competition
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 2 – Create Marathon Match Problem Statement	05/30/2014	06/15/2014	Content Creation
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 2 – Invitational Dataset Testing	06/17/2014	06/21/2014	Bug Hunt
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 2 – Marathon Match	06/25/2014	07/08/2014	Marathon Match
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 2 – Algorithm Documentation	07/10/2014	07/26/2014	Content Creation
Asteroid Data Hunter – Phase 2 – Algorithm Productization	07/29/2014	08/14/2014	Assembly Competition
Project Delivery	08/22/2014	08/22/2014

*PLEASE NOTE: The contest start and end dates are estimates only, and may shift forward or backwards depending on contest progress. To verify a contest start date, please select the contest name to view the registration page.

 

Pagina de inregistrare este: http://www.topcoder.com/asteroids/

New rules on liquids, aerosols & gels

Europe’s airports ready for new rules on liquids, aerosols & gels

 

For immediate release                                                           31 January 2014

 

Brussels, 31 January 2014:  The new EU* rules for air passengers carrying liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs) take effect today. They are being introduced as part of a more ambitious plan to lift the ban on the carriage of LAGs altogether.

The new rules will have minimal direct impact on EU air passengers as their primary function is to facilitate passengers travelling from/to non-EU airports transferring at EU airports and the LAGs in question are only those purchased (and correctly packaged) at airport shops and on board air carriers.  

Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE commented “The new LAGs regime starting today is the fruit of strong cooperation with the European Commission, national authorities and international partners°, as well as other industry stakeholders. Europe's airports are ready and have spent in excess of €150 million to accommodate the change. This will enhance the airport experience of transfer passengers who until now had to surrender their duty free purchases from non-EU airports** and air carriers.”

He added “This is part of our investment toward getting back to the good old days before 2006, when there were no restrictions on LAGs at all for passengers. We are committed to reaching that ambitious endgoal and we will continue our cooperation with the European Commission and the other partners. This will require further advancements in screening technology, in terms of security, operational feasibility and passenger facilitation. It’s only by taking all these into account, that we will remove the hassle out of this aspect of air travel.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors

* The new EU rules are effective at airports in the EU, EEA and Switzerland.

° The US, Canadian and Australian authorities are all introducing equivalent rules.

** The exceptions to this rule were airports in the USA, Canada, Singapore and Croatia (before its entry into the EU in July 2013) and Malaysia.

*****

For more information, please contact:
Robert O’Meara, Director, Media & Communications, ACI EUROPE at
e-mail: robert.omeara@aci-europe.org, tel: +32 (0)2 552 09 82
website: www.aci-europe.org               twitter: @ACI_EUROPE
ACI EUROPE is the European region of Airports Council International, the only worldwide professional association of airport operators. ACI EUROPE represents over 450 airports in 44 European countries. Member airports handle 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe, welcoming over 1.5 billion passengers, 18 million tonnes of freight and more than 20 million aircraft movements each year.
EVERY FLIGHT BEGINS AT THE AIRPORT.

Compensarea si asistenta pasagerilor in cazul intarzierilor sau anularilor de zboruri

European airports welcomed 3.5% more passengers during November 2013

European airports welcomed 3.5% more passengers during November

 

For immediate release                                                              7 January 2014

 

Brussels, 7 January 2014: European airport trade body, ACI EUROPE today released its traffic results for the month of November across the European airport network. The overall passenger traffic growth at Europe’s airport reported an increase of +3.5% compared to November 2012.

EU airports showed an increase averaging +2.2%, while passenger traffic at non-EU airports reported an average increase of +8.4%, when compared with the same month in the preceding year. 

In line with recent months, most non-EU airports posted very dynamic growth, while EU airports reported mixed results. Airports in Ireland, Malta and Portugal enjoyed significant growth, along with many in Eastern Europe. Spanish airports continued to see improving performance and many in the UK and the Benelux also posted positive figures. However, passenger traffic was generally disappointing in France, Germany, Italy and Austria - as well as in Greece and Cyprus.

 

Aircraft movements for the whole of Europe reported an increase of +0.4%, while freight reported a welcome robust result of +5.4%.

 

Airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year (Group 1), airports welcoming between 10 and 25million passengers (Group 2), airports welcoming between 5 and 10 million passengers (Group 3) and airports welcoming less than 5 million passengers per year (Group 4) reported an average adjustment of +2.1%, +4.3%, +5.3% and +4.5% respectively when compared with November 2012.

 

Airports that experienced the highest increases in passenger traffic per group, when comparing November 2013 with November 2012 were:

 

GROUP 1 Airports – Moscow SVO (+10.9%), Istanbul IST (+7.6%), Antalya (+6.1%), Barcelona BCN (+4.5%) & London LGW (+4.2%)

 

GROUP 2 Airports - Istanbul SAW (+44.4%), St Petersburg (+14.8%), Gran Canaria (+13.5%), Malaga (+12.2%) & Dublin (+6.7%)

 

GROUP 3 Airports – Catania (64.6%), Lanzarote (+21.3%), Ankara (+20.6%), Warsaw WAW (+19.1%) & Alicante (+14.4%)

 

GROUP 4 Airports - Vatry (+117.4%), Tampere (+46.9%), Kaunas (+45.2%), Chambery (+28.3%) & Rome CIA (+27.9%)

 

The 'ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report – November 2013’ includes 181 airports in total representing approximately 88% of European air passenger traffic.

ENDS

 

The ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report is a dedicated service for journalists available in the password protected ‘Airport Traffic Report’ section of the ‘Media room’ on our website www.aci-europe.org. Accredited members of the media may also access additional traffic analysis and comprehensive traffic databases. For your password to access these sections, please contact us by e-mail at: communique@aci-europe.org. Your request will be validated and the password will be e-mailed to your work address.

*********** 

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Robert O’Meara, Director, Media & Communications, ACI EUROPE at

e-mail: robert.omeara@aci-europe.org, tel: +32 (0)2 552 09 82

website: www.aci-europe.org

 

ACI EUROPE is the European region of Airports Council International, the only worldwide professional association of airport operators. ACI EUROPE represents over 450 airports in 44 European countries. Member airports handle 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe, welcoming over 1.5 billion passengers, 18 million tonnes of freight and more than 20 million aircraft movements each year.

 

EVERY FLIGHT BEGINS AT THE AIRPORT.