Whilst a vision of zero deaths for air travel may seem unattainable it could be the goal of all involved in air traffic systems (ATS.) To get closer to this vision requires innovation and a different approach. In Vision 2020 the EU set a goal of reducing the air travel accident rate by 80%. The implementation of PROSPERO will provide an advanced systemic methodology for managing the improvement process to achieve that goal. It will also deliver a way of measuring progress.PROSPERO is required because the safety of the current ATS is not based on a modern understanding of risk. It is not integrated across stakeholders and does not collect and analyse data from all available sources. There is no integrated risk metric and consequently no planned improvements. Furthermore the anticipation of emergencies is not part of every day operations planning.The PROSPERO methodology will provide a proactive anticipation of complex system risks with the potential to cause abnormal situations and crises. It will ensure more effective management of, and enhanced learning from, such situations where the risks cannot be designed out of the operation. In this way it will achieve a substantial improvement in the elimination of and recovery from human error.PROSPERO will deliver; a common operational concept of performance indicators linked to operational goals, a methodology for operational system analysis, a new taxonomy to encompass all aviation socio-technical system concepts, a generic system-risk-management process involving all stakeholders and a software system to support the socio-technical analysis and redesign of the ATS.The exploitation of the PROSPERO system will be assured through the implementation of an Advisory Board and Community of Practice made up of experienced and influential partners from around the world. These groups will provide a bridge between the project and the wider aviation community to ensure the project delivers a system to match their requirement