The Sesar Joint Undertaking (SJU) administrative board has named Florian Guillermet to head the Brussels-based organization leading the Single European Sky ATM research effort. Guillermet’s appointment becomes effective April 1 subject to the completion of administrative procedures, the board said.

Currently the SJU’s deputy executive director, Guillermet succeeds Patrick Ky, who left the organization last September to become executive director of the European Aviation Safety Agency. Claude Chêne, a former director general of the European Commission’s personnel and administration directorate, served as interim SJU executive director after Ky’s departure.

“After an exhaustive process, with a number of very strong candidates, we believe that the right person to lead the Sesar Joint Undertaking is Florian Guillermet,” said Matthias Ruete, European Commission director general for mobility and transport and chairman of the SJU administrative board. “We believe that his extensive experience and clear vision of the required R&D process to modernize Europe’s ATM (system) is exactly what Sesar needs as it moves to the next level of ambition.” 

Guillermet started his career in the flight-planning department of Air France. He then held several managerial positions at France’s DSNA air navigation service provider before joining the Eurocontrol central flow management unit. In June 2008, he joined the SJU as chief program officer, with responsibility for the definition and execution of the Sesar program. He was appointed deputy executive director in January 2012.

Commenting on his appointment, Guillermet said: “Sesar is Europe’s most ambitious research and development program and I am extremely honored to have been chosen to steer the program. The challenges ahead for Europe’s ATM are vast; to overcome them, we must focus on accelerating the take up of Sesar solutions by the industry. I am looking forward to working with the members, partners and SJU staff to deliver improvements to Europe’s ATM as quickly, safely and effectively as possible.”