FAB CE News

Prague, 3 September 2014

Cooperation between the air navigation service providers of two functional air space blocks aims towards the optimisation of air traffic management in the region

A cooperation agreement was signed on 29 Aug in Prague by the ANSPs Committees of FAB Central Europe and the BLUE MED Functional Airspace Block, in the interest of a more coordinated cooperation in shaping Europe’s air traffic control. In the spirit of the European Union’s Single European Sky (SES) initiative, the ANSPs’ cooperation will serve to achieve ATM optimisation, efficiency, improvement and cost reduction for air transport. Cooperation between the two functional airspace blocks (FABs) is strategic: the parties will exchange technical, operational and training related information in order to improve their efficiency.

The Inter-FAB agreement concluded between the Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) of the Central European Functional Airspace Block (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia) and the ANSPs of the BLUE MED FAB (Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Malta) is meant to facilitate the air transport developments envisaged in the Single European Sky programme encouraged by the European Commission. If airspace blocks collaborate to ensure optimum use of the European airspace, the flight routes used by air traffic can be shortened, with the consequent reduction of airline operating costs, as well as the lowering of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.

As formulated in the agreement, the two FABs endeavour to implement safer, more cost-efficient and sustainable air navigation services with increased emphasis on performance. In the framework of the agreement, the parties will exchange information on strategic and technical developments as well as in operational matters. Communication between the concerned ANSPs and the Member States (that will shortly be signing a similar agreement) will be based on the Inter-FAB Cooperation Platform, established as a permanent working arrangement between the two functional airspace blocks.

The enhanced cooperation between FAB CE and BLUE MED FAB meets the requirements included in the SES legislation urging the transformation of European air traffic management. Both the BLUE MED FAB and FAB CE are expected to conclude similar cooperation agreements in the future with other neighbouring FABs.

BLUE MED FAB and FAB CE are committed to continue engaging with their neighbouring EU and non-EU States in their deployment initiatives and all activities aimed at delivering better performance.

For further information please visit:

www.bluemed.aero

www.fab-ce.eu

The 17th FAB CE CEO Committee Meeting was held in Cavtat on 28 May. In accordance with the FAB CE ANSP Cooperation Agreement, the chairmanship was transferred from Dragan Bilać, CEO Croatia Control to Kornel Szepessy, CEO HungaroControl.

The transfer will go into effect on 1 June and the term will run for one year.

Among other topics discussed were updates on the status of Program Management, activities of Subcommittees, as well as update on two currently main activities of strategic nature at the FAB CE level - the FAB CE Strategy and forthcoming establishment of the FAB CE Common Entity.

The Social Dialogue Forum, held on April 30 in Prague, was chaired by Mr Dragan Bilac, FAB CE CEOC Chairman, and co-chaired by Mr Janos Lakatos, who represented the FAB CE social partners, and is also the Chairman of the Danube ATCU, a trade unions association representing the air traffic controllers from Austria, The Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

The EC representative Mr Patrick Bernard, and Mr Zdenek Jelinek from the Czech Ministry of Transport, as the Chairman of the FAB CE Committee, also participated in the forum.

In his welcoming speech Mr Bilać expressed his gladness with having all social partners at the table after a two-year pause, since the last SD Forum took place.

The forum gathered nearly 40 representatives of trade unions from all FAB CE ANSPs, who were presented with: enhancements in particular activities of the FAB CE programs and projects, the Performance Plan, business results, proposals relating to operational issues and human resources management, establishment of the FAB CE common entity, and the Gate One initiative.

The participants were particularly interested in and expressed their concern about the SES2+ regulatory package which proposes further market liberalisation, and so far has passed several instances in the enforcement procedure at European institutions.

Mr Bilać announced that the next Social Dialogue Forum will be held in October 2014.

Presentations can be found here.

A Functional Airspace Block Central Europe (FAB CE) Performance Plan was presented on 29 April 2014 at stakeholder’s consultation meeting between the representatives of FAB CE (states, national supervisory bodies, service providers) and air navigation service users (airlines) in Prague.

The FAB CE was established in 2011 within the common initiative of seven states (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Hungary, The Czech Republic and Slovakia) and air navigation service providers (ANSP) in Central Europe, following the EU initiative for the creation of the Single European Sky (SES) independent of state borders.

One of the most important tasks within ANSPs cooperation in the FAB CE is the development of a common performance plan (FAB CE Performance Plan) for a 5-year period (2015 -2019), comprising four key areas in air traffic management: safety, capacity, environment and cost-effectiveness.

A Draft Plan indicates significant improvements in all areas where the FAB CE aims to completely meet the requirements set by the EC, such as a decrease in delays from 0.32 minutes per flight in 2015 to 0.29 minutes per flight in 2019, and a decrease in the determined unit cost from EUR 48.6 in 2015 to EUR 42.8 in 2019.

FAB Central Europe (FAB CE), bringing together air navigation service providers (ANSPs) from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, has now published its Performance Plan for the second Reference Period, 2015-2019 (RP2), excluding Bosnia and Herzegovina due to its non-EU membership status.

The plan shows significant performance improvement in all areas: safety, environmental performance, capacity and cost efficiency. FAB CE is even exceeding the targets set by the European Commission. 

The main performance plan figures for ANSPs are as follows:

Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs) are a fundamental part of Europe’s plans to build single European airspace, in order to deliver safer, more efficient and seamless air traffic management for the benefit of all airspace users and their passengers. Those benefits must be real and measurable, in accordance with the requirements of the EC.

Commenting on the figures, the Chairman of the FAB CE CEO Committee Dragan Bilac said: “These figures show that the hard work of all FAB CE members is gaining benefits. They show a very positive development and prove that FAB CE is on track to meet its targets”.

“The targets are feasible and indicate that our members are contributing very positively to meeting this important European goal. I would like to thank all of our staff for their hard work so far and I am confident we will achieve these targets”, he continued.

The next Social Dialogue Workshop will take place on April 30 in Prague. Topics of discussion will include SES and SES 2+ as well as ongoing activities regarding RP2 targets and the FAB CE Performance Plan.