CEOC Committee endorses FAB CE Airspace Plan - environmental performance improvements on track

Members of the FAB CE CEO Committee meeting on 14 June 2022 have endorsed the FAB CE Airspace Plan 2022, developed to implement the concepts of the European Airspace Architecture Study (EAAS) in the domains of airspace and capacity.

 A dedicated Airspace Task Force (ATF) working in co-operation with the Network Manager (NM) and adjacent air navigation service providers (DANUBE FAB, PANSA, SMATSA) has been tasked with transforming the EAAS 2025 and 2030 Visions to implementable airspace design solutions.

“With regard to the Single European Sky (SES) performance scheme and RP3 targets, the plan focuses on the Key Performance Area of environmental improvement, specifically through H24 cross-border Free Route Airspace (FRA) implementation,” said Matej Eljon, FAB CE Programme Manager and Director of FAB CE Aviation Ltd. “FAB CE-wide FRA implementation is well on track, offering major advantages to operators and the Network.  These include lower fuel carriage and consumption, enhanced network and flight predictability, increased flight efficiency, greater cost-effectiveness, reduced environmental impact and better air traffic management performance through more accurate traffic prediction and improved sector workload.”

The plan is structured around the following core areas:

• Design, implementation and expansion of FRA initiatives
• Design and implementation of cross-border initiatives (routing schemes, airspace volumes),
• Design and implementation of Special Use Airspace (SUA) which may affect FAB CE interfaces or the network in general, and
• Sectorisation projects potentially impacting a FAB CE ANSPs en-route capacity,
• Sectorisation projects potentially impacting a FAB CE ANSPs main airport throughput
  
  

“So far in 2022 FAB CE has exceeded the environmental performance target for the Network – a 2.37% measure of performance improvement versus 1.75%,” said Matej Eljon. “Further enhancements through FRA expansions and cross-border enhancements may contribute to even better achievements, though there are constraining factors -  such as external and terminal manoeuvring area (TMA) interfaces - which limit the potential for continual performance improvement.”

The table below summarises planned FRA and sectorisation/interface improvement initiatives within FAB CE between 2022 and 2025.