FAB CE News

Dr. Franc Željko Županič, CEO Slovenia Control, was elected FAB CE chair at the 21st FAB CEO meeting in May 2015 for a period of 12 months:
 
"The state of play of FAB CE is promising in mid- 2015, with some important milestones accomplished. The RPII Performance Plan with adequate targets submitted to the European Commission, FAB CE legal entity functioning, reorganisation of projects ongoing, trustful relations among partners… Regardless of those facts, as the new CEO Committee Chairman, I am aware, there is still a lot to be done.

The continuation and further development of safe and efficient provision of ATM services in the FAB CE region is of paramount importance, and, with ongoing disturbances in traffic flows in Europe, proper steps in this regard are even more necessary. On the service provision side we will strive to bring the needed capacity while meeting the targets promised in the performance plan. On the project and planning side, the focus will be on the OPS (operations) and TEC (technology) domains, where the FAB CE Free Route Airspace initiative with the needed CONOPS and ATM system requirements will be our main concern in the coming twelve months".

FAB CE Summer Newsletter July 2015 (pdf)

In this Issue:

• - Achievements of the last 12 months
• - FAB CE establishes Common Entity
• - Incoming FAB CE Chair sets agenda
• - EC to monitor FAB CE progress
• - New FCE Director’s viewpoint
• - Social partners exchange ideas
• - Free Route Airspace implementation
• - Responding to regional crises

Chairmanship of the CEO Committee goes to Slovenia

In accordance with the FAB CE ANSP Cooperation Agreement signed in May 2011, Franc Željko Županič, Chief Executive Officer of Slovenia Control has taken over the chairmanship of the CEO Committee from Kornél Szepessy, CEO of HungaroControl. The term will run for one year until June 2016.

One of the major milestones in the past twelve months in respect of FAB CE operations was the founding of the joint venture company “FAB CE Aviation Services Ltd.”. Following several years of preparation, the founding document was signed by representatives of the FAB CE countries that are members of the European Union in October 2014. The purpose of the company established for joint procurement is to support the progress of the FAB CE Programme, and thus the implementation of the European Union’s Single European Sky programme. Currently, the main goal of the cooperation is to establish a joint project management.

An InterFAB agreement was signed by the member states of FAB CE and BLUE MED FAB (Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Malta). The cooperation set the objectives to implement safer, more cost-efficient, more performance-oriented and more sustainable air navigation, and to establish several similar collaborations in the future. The first InterFab coordination workshop was held in Amsterdam in November 2014. The representatives of nine European functional airspace blocks shared their experiences on implementation of FABs and discussed the planned introduction of the Free Route concept in Europe.

Considerable progress was made in reviving the FAB CE Social Dialogue. The completion of the Social Dialogue Charter that serves as a basis for the dialogue between the unions and ANSPs, considerably moved forward.

In May Matej Eljon was appointed as new Director of FAB CE Aviation Ltd. In the interview below he talks about FAB CE and his first priorities in the new position.

There are significant changes going on in Europe because of the integration of the European Airspace. What do you think is the biggest challenge for ANSPs these days?

The biggest challenge for ANSPs is to develop into a high-tech provider, capable of providing more capacity and increased safety in a cost-effective manner. This should be achieved by the implementation of SESAR technologies and cross-border cooperation and consolidation.

Which projects do you consider the biggest success since the establishment of FAB CE?

The biggest success so far is the establishment of the common legal entity, a clear sign of commitment of all stakeholders to achieve results.

What do you think will be the biggest task of the upcoming years for FAB CE’s ANSPs?

The biggest task will be to successfully implement the FAB CE strategy and to deliver it in the most effective way, taking into account all possible synergies available from cross border cooperation. From the project perspective the Free Route Airspace project is currently the most challenging task.

What are your plans, what will you focus on the most as the director- program manager of FAB CE Aviation Services Ltd. in the near future?

My first priorities are to to establish an effective Programme Support Office organisation, to adapt the project structure to better suit the FAB CE Strategy and areas of common interest.

How do you see the future of European air traffic control?

The future is in tight cross-border cooperation, consolidation of ATM systems and procedures as well as in modernisation of systems and infrastructure. Only with such changes the required capacity, cost effectiveness, safety and environmental targets can be met.

      
We also talked to Ivan Hubert, former FAB CE Programme-Manager and Director of FAB CE Aviation Ltd. about his assessment of the current situation.

There are significant changes going on in Europe because of the integration of the European airspace. What do you think is the biggest challenge for ANSPs these days?

Today no ANSP is considered as a stand-alone organization. We all are involved in different bi or multilateral activities. There are also new programmes run under and financed by the EC and there is still a substantial amount of EC regulation to which ANSPs have to accommodate. ANSPs are the key contributors to all those activities that are extremely challenging as well as resource demanding. Therefore ANSPs should seek synergies through cooperation. For certain activities FAB seems to be an appropriate approach. If proper priorities are identified and full commitment is ensured by all participating ANSPs,  I see, regardless of all the limitations that such complex approach is bringing, a potential for the successful implementation of challenging and beneficial projects such as the  Free Route Airspace,  which in my view should be the top priority for ANSPs in the coming years.   

What do you think will be the biggest task of the upcoming years for FAB CE’s ANSPs?

In general FAB has now established the basic framework and necessary tools to continue its implementation as well as its further development in order to prepare for the next reference period. We have developed the set of planning documents at State level (Strategy), we produced  general planning documents for the SuB Committees (FAB CE Roadmap and Activity plans) subject to further refinement and update and we have available the draft of the updated Implementation Plan covering agreed operational scenarios. The ANSPs established the legal entity FAB CE Aviation Services Ltd. through which the necessary program support will be ensured and which will also be used for common procurement of any required services or goods. So the FAB CE ANSPs with the use of the above framework and tools should concentrate on the implementation of the activities defined by the Implementation Plan.   
    

FAB CE Air navigation service providers and representatives of trade unions from the FAB CE region came together for the first Social Dialogue meeting of 2015 on May 19 at the headquarters of HungaroControl in Budapest.

The meeting was chaired by Kornél Szepessy, CEO HungaroControl and the head of the Croatian Air Traffic Controllers´ Association, Zeljko Oreski. More than 40 participants discussed numerous topics ranging from the current status of SES2+, the FAB CE Performance Plan and ongoing activities regarding interFAB cooperation. One major point of the discussion was on how to deal with unplanned traffic increases caused by regional crises. Jozsef Bakos, Head of ATM at HungaroControl, presented the common approach developed by the FAB CE OPS Sub Committee (Presentation:  “A common FAB CE Plan to cope with sudden heavy increase of traffic”)

Matej Eljon,  the newly appointed Director of  FAB CE Aviation Ltd., talked about the new Compnay and ongoing call for tenders for project support services. Danube ATCU called for a common FAB CE approach for "Just Culture Guidelines". In addition, union representatives recommended the harmonization of the quantitative Safety Indicators.

Main objectives improvement of flight efficiency and safety

On 7 May, 2015 in Budapest, directors general of aviation from the six FAB CE states laid down plans for the next few years in order to increase the overall efficiency of air navigation services. The performance plan for the 2015-2019 period sets national and common objectives for safety, environment, capacity and cost efficiency.

The most important aviationendeavour of the European Union is the implementation of the Single European Sky by the comprehensive re-organisation of the European airspace, to improve safety, the environmental impact, capacity and cost efficiency of European aviation One of the key elements of achieving these goals is the establishment of nine functional airspace blocks (FABs) instead of the previously existing state boundary-based system of the European airspace.

In order to increase cooperation between the air navigation services of FABs, action and investment plans are prefixed in five-year based performance plans to be finalised by the Member States, consulted with airlines and approved by the European Commission. The developments and operation of air navigation services aligned to these performance plans contribute to the radical reduction of the significant delays previously experienced in the European airspace as well as to a decrease in fuel consumption and emissions by setting up shorter and more efficient route network. The official FAB CE Performance Plan for the second Single European Sky Reference Period (RP2 2015 – 2019) was now signed in Budapest.