Raising the Aviation Bar

Talking to Anastasiia Sobchenko

In this episode of “Raising the Aviation Bar”, EUROCONTROL expert Anastasiia Sobchenko explains a joint initiative between ICAO and EUROCONTROL:  the Location of an Aircraft in Distress Repository (LADR). Developed by EUROCONTROL as part of ICAO’s Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System (GADSS), LADR supports the aviation community by collecting and sharing the last known position of an aircraft with key operational actors such as airline operators, air navigation service providers, rescue coordination centres and others, so they can act quickly and effectively in an emergency situation. The need to have such a system is clear, with locating missing aircraft proving extremely challenging and costly in disasters like Air France Flight 447 (2009), or to this day unsolved tragedies like the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 (2014).

In this episode of Raising the Aviation Bar, Filip Cornelis, Director for Aviation at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), shares his insights as a key member of the Team Europe delegation to the 42nd ICAO General Assembly, a seminal event for world aviation every three years.

Filip walks us through the Assembly’s major outcomes for Europe such as the successful election of all European candidates to the ICAO Council, a new resolution on GNSS interference championed by Europe addressing growing safety and security risks, broader attention to cyber security and aviation’s role in irregular migration. While safety and technical topics remained core, this Assembly was a notably political one — shaped by global tensions and Europe’s proactive stance on many of the key issues on the table.

For the first time, ICAO also saw a resolution adopted on conflict zones, calling on countries to enhance their civil-military coordination to prevent military operations from accidentally interfering with civilian traffic.  Asked about the greatest need for cooperation and support collectively as Team Europe, Filip stressed how GNSS interference is one of the key priorities where the Commission works closely with EUROCONTROL and EASA to ensure Europe’s communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) infrastructure remains resilient even if GNSS or other navigation methods fail.

Filip further reflects on the various bilateral meetings the Commission conducted with non-EU Member States to discuss possible cooperation in the future to improve air traffic, coordination and cooperation. He also discusses the regulatory push to make aviation energy more sustainable, and the ongoing work on STIP, the Commission’s Sustainable Transport Investment Plan - a strategic framework for supporting sustainable transport fuel production and distribution.  And on a more personal level, Filip talks about the roles that have shaped him, and his career as a leading EU official working on European integration and international cooperation in aviation.

In this episode of Raising the Aviation Bar, EUROCONTROL’s Véronique Travers Sutter and EASA’s Cyrille Rosay explore the growing challenge of GNSS interference across Europe and its impact on aviation safety. They discuss how GNSS supports efficient flight operations, and why its resilience is critical. With interference increasing since 2022, especially near conflict zones, EUROCONTROL and EASA have launched a joint action plan to safeguard CNS infrastructure. The episode highlights technical upgrades, operational tools, and regulatory coordination—all part of a centralised strategy to ensure Europe’s aviation system remains safe, robust and future-ready.

Special Edition: International Women's Day

How important are strong role models throughout one’s career? What barriers do women still face when entering leadership roles – and what can organisations like ours do to help?

In our special edition of the EUROCONTROL Raising the Aviation Bar podcast on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2025 EUROCONTROL Directors Peggy Devestel (Director EUROCONTROL MUAC), Céline Shakouri-Dias (Director of People) and Tânia Cardoso Simões (Director of the European Green Sky Directorate) answer these questions and share their thoughts about leadership and their perspectives on diversity, equity and inclusion. All three of our female Directors came on board in 2024, which marked a historic moment in our history: for the first time, EUROCONTROL has achieved a gender balanced top leadership team – which was one of the key aims of our Raising the Bar programme to modernise our Agency and be ambitious on improving diversity and especially gender balance here and in our sector. In the episode, the Directors share insight into their personal career and the challenges they encountered along the way.

Our new #RTAB podcast episode with Tony Licu, EUROCONTROL’s Head of Technology Division shares invaluable insights into iNM - the integrated Network Management programme set to modernise EUROCONTROL's operational systems by 2030.  Tony explains how iNM will renew our legacy operational systems with advanced digital products, utilising the latest technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud services. Most important are of course improvements to the user experience through more intuitive user interfaces and increasing the security and resilience of the system. The episode also sheds light on the challenges of such a large-scale transformation and Tony’s experience and advice on how to make progress.

Talking to Predrag Vranjkovic

This episode of our #RaisingTheAviationBar podcast catches up with Predrag Vranjkovic, Team Lead of EUROCONTROL’s CNS Programme Manager. Predrag explains how EUROCONTROL is supporting the sector in optimising its Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) infrastructure, with the aim of increasing operational efficiency, resilience and sustainability while maintaining the highest levels of safety and security. 

While CNS infrastructure is a national responsibility, aviation transcends borders, and there is a common interest for the sector to take into account aspects that are relevant for the air traffic network as a whole. In 2024, EUROCONTROL was given the role of CNS Programme Manager to accelerate the upgrade of CNS equipment across Europe. In this episode Predrag explains EUROCONTROL’s work to create a process and the collaboration between national CNS experts to best support the evolution of CNS over time across the air traffic network.

Talking to Charlotte Pedersen

In our latest EUROCONTROL Raising the Aviation Bar podcast, pioneering helicopter pilot, CEO and diversity champion Charlotte Pedersen provides insights into a life-long career in aviation, and what it takes to attract a young generation to aviation. Born on the Danish island of Bornholm, Charlotte became the first female pilot in the Royal Danish Air Force in 1989, and served for many years as a helicopter search and rescue pilot. She worked at the Civil Aviation Authority in Luxembourg as a flight operations inspector, and later became CEO of Luxaviation Helicopters. She is currently the Founder and CEO of advisory company Pegasus Consilium SarL and serves among others, as a Member of the Board to WizzAir and Air Greenland. Drawing on her own experience she stresses the enormous potential for exciting opportunities the sector has to offer and hopes in particular to reach a young generation with her story.

Talking to Marylin Bastin and Tamara Pejovic

Talking about EUROCONTROL’s work on aviation sustainability and FlyingGreen, its new green aviation services platform

In this episode of our #RaisingTheAviationBar podcast we speak to Marylin Bastin, Acting Director of EUROCONTROL’s European Green Sky Directorate and Head of Aviation Sustainability and EUROCONTROL FlyingGreen Platform Programme Manager Tamara Pejovic about the first release of FlyingGreen, EUROCONTROL’s unique one-stop-shop of green aviation services. FlyingGreen provides vital data and tools for informed decision-making on aviation decarbonisation strategies and climate change resilience.

Talking to Dorothea von Boxberg

The CEO of Brussels Airlines on the aviation business, sustainability and preparing for busy summer traffic.

In this episode of our #RaisingTheAviationBar podcast we speak to Dorothea von Boxberg about her plans of growing Brussels Airlines’ profitability, with a strong focus on the airline’s routes to Africa. Brussels Airlines connects the capital of Belgium with over 85 destinations, 18 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa, and has over 3,000 staff members. As the European aviation sector prepares for busy summer traffic, Dorothea shares her insights into the airline’s preparations, as well as the latest business developments facing the sector.

Talking to Pierre Depireux

How will one of EUROCONTROL’s key aviation services – the Central Route Charges Office – develop in the future?

This episode of our #RaisingTheAviationBar podcast catches up with Pierre Depireux,  our Head of EUROCONTROL’s Central Route Charges Office (CRCO) to learn how the route charges system works, and how EUROCONTROL is using digital technology to provide an even better service and customer experience – a priority for the future CRCO 2.0 roadmap set out in our corporate programme #RaisingtheBar: Building EUROCONTROL 2030.

In this podcast episode Pierre explains how the CRCO supports Member States and the aviation sector by collecting route charges, which cover the cost of ATC air traffic control for every flight and are the main source of liquidity for air navigation service providers across Europe. Pierre explains how route charges are calculated – and discusses potential system evolutions.

The episode is a must-listen to understand better how crucial route charges are to the efficient functioning of the European aviation network.