Celebrating a year of successAir traffic management achieved numerous successes in 2018 that are further enhancing safe, efficient and environmentally-friendly use of airspace.

ATM PROGRESS 2018

Airspace asked CANSO Members to send us stories of their successes in 2018 and what we received gives a fascinating snapshot of innovation and partnership across the industry.

New technologies are helping to improve the safety and efficiency of the skies and will help air navigation service providers (ANSPs) manage growing air traffic demand, new entrants to airspace and the cyber threat.

One of the most exciting developments is digital and remote tower technology, which is enhancing safety and efficiency at medium and small size airports and improving services at smaller or remote airports, promoting business and social opportunities in surrounding communities.

Also with the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, safely integrating this new industry sector into airspace is a challenge that is being met through the creation of concepts such as U-space. Several demonstrations in 2018 proved that U-space can be made to work.

Another positive development in 2018 was increasing collaboration at all levels of the industry. New models of cooperation extend from training initiatives to complex interactions in airspace design. ANSPs have come together to ensure free route airspace over sizeable areas, for example, while European functional airspace blocks have cooperated to lessen the impact of air traffic volatility caused by adverse weather conditions.

All these trends look set to deliver further advances in 2019. The success stories from CANSO Members in the following pages – although just a small share of ATM’s global achievements in the past 12 months – highlight the professionalism and commitment to excellence throughout air traffic management. Most importantly, they deliver desirable, verifiable results and hold the promise of even greater developments ahead.

2018 success storiesPAGE 7 Loon

PAGE 7 Entry Point North

PAGE 9 ANS Finland

PAGE 9 Enaire

PAGE 10 Leonardo

PAGE 11 AirMap

PAGE 11 NATS

PAGE 13 Frequentis

PAGE 13 HungaroControl

PAGE 14 Irish Aviation Authority

PAGE 15 Rohde & Schwarz

PAGE 15 IATAS

PAGE 16 FABEC

PAGE 17 Administration de la Navigation Aérienne

PAGE 17 AustroControl

Keep up to date with the latest developments. Subscribe to the weekly CANSO ATM News emailer canso.org/subscribe

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AIRSPACE QUARTER 4 2018 7

ATM PROGRESS 2018

Loon is working to expand Internet connectivity to communities around the world via a network of high-altitude balloons. Operating at 60,000 feet, Loon’s balloons act as floating cell towers, beaming Internet access directly to users’ phones on the ground. To ensure the balloons get to where they need to go, Loon has combined advances in engineering, machine learning, and weather forecasting to develop an autonomous navigation system that makes balloon-powered Internet a reality.

In the stratosphere, winds travel in different directions at different altitudes. While one layer may cause the balloon to drift from its target location, another layer might take the balloon in the right direction. Rather than trying to fly against the wind, Loon’s balloons move up or down to capture a favourable current.

To identify helpful wind patterns, Loon uses advanced predictive models to determine wind speed and direction at each altitude. Custom-designed algorithms help determine the most effective combination of paths.

With the aid of these algorithms, the balloons can accurately sail the winds over thousands of kilometers to get where they need to go. Once over the service region, the operation of the fleet is choreographed to allow for continued service below. The entire navigation system functions autonomously, with operators providing continuous human oversight.

After 30 million kilometers of real-world flight, Loon is preparing to take its floating cell towers to Africa to begin providing Internet

access unserved communities in 2019. None of it would be possible without these advances that allow the balloons to sail the wind at 60,000 feet. And Loon is hopeful that many of the traffic management techniques and technologies that it is developing will have a wider application to aviation in general.

LOON: Sailing the winds at 60,000 feet

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In March 2018, Entry Point North, one of the largest global ATS academies, and the Belgian ANSP, Belgocontrol, signed a long-term agreement to provide Belgocontrol with high quality training through a new academy.

The new academy welcomed its first students in September 2018 with an official opening by the Belgium Federal Minister of Mobility, François Bellot.

Entry Point North has equipped the site with new simulators and will deliver ATC initial, unit, continuation and development training for air traffic controllers at Belgocontrol, as well as many other ATS/Aviation courses. Third party customers are also welcome.

The new Belgium site is part of an Entry Point North strategy for global growth and offering high quality ATS/ATSEP aviation training for customers. It is Belgocontrol’s first foray into a joint venture.

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ENTRY POINT NORTH: High quality training to meet industry needs

A new training academy will provide the perfect platform for a successful career in ATM.

AIRSPACE QUARTER 4 2018 9

ATM PROGRESS 2018

ENAIRE had a milestone year in 2018 with the creation of its Drone Unit and the first successful steps in deploying U-space in Spain.

The initiative is based on the Spanish Ministerial Drone Strategy launched in 2018, which aims to boost business development, innovation and dissemination in the area of drones.

ENAIRE is responsible or jointly responsible for initiatives, such as supporting the definition of U-space standards; smart cities drone integration; and developing a plan for U-space deployment in Spain.

ENAIRE led one of the projects selected for funding by the SESAR Joint Undertaking, the research arm of the Single European Sky initiative. DOMUS (demonstration of multiple U-space suppliers), formed by 17 members supported by Spanish authorities, devised a concept for a federation of U-space services providers, performing under the coordination of an Ecosystem Manager.

As a test bed for DOMUS, ENAIRE co-organised a live drone demonstration during the Annual Conference of the Global UTM Association in June 2018 in Madrid. In front of more than 100 attendees, including authorities and media, and live-streamed, U-space tactical geofencing was successfully demonstrated in an operational environment in Europe for the first time.

The highly complex and innovative exercise both in terms of technical development and live execution, has paved the way for further ENAIRE U-space initiatives. Project DEMORPAS, for example, demonstrates technical and operational feasibility in a mixed environment where drones and manned aircraft coexist in non-segregated airspace.

ENAIRE: A successful demonstration of tactical geofencing for drones

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On 1 June 2018, in Finland, all area control-related services were transferred from Tampere to the Helsinki Airport air traffic control centre. The move resulted in significant operational efficiency gains and cost savings.

ANS Finland’s CEO Raine Luojus estimates that €2–3 million was saved by streamlining the operations. In addition to personnel savings, there are savings in facility costs. In Tampere, there was 5,000 square metres of office space, with an annual maintenance cost of €500,000. When the services were moved to Helsinki, only 150 square metres of office space was needed thanks to new technologies and better design. All overlaps and data transfer costs were eliminated, Luojus says.

He adds that the area control services of a small country like Finland can easily be provided in a single location. If something were to happen, a natural disaster or a cyberattack, plans call for a speedy move to ANS Finland’s temporary underground premises. They have full operational availability and are used regularly for practice sessions.

Following the move, Luojus is pleased with the improved atmosphere at work. “We’re clearly heading towards a more open and more communicative culture,” he says. “Now that we work in single premises, everything we do is about communicating openly and listening to others.”

Operational streamlining will also help ANS Finland to meet ambitious EU targets. The aim is to improve cost efficiency for

en route services 24% by 2024 compared with 2017. A joint crossover service solution with EANS Estonia will most probably be operational in 2021.

It means that one country’s authority may provide services to the other one in quiet times. A similar cooperation may be developed with Western neighbours as well, Luojus envisages.

ANS FINLAND: Efficiency and cost savings in area control services

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Consolidation of services has helped to streamline ATM operations.

ENAIRE is supporting the definition of U-space standards.

10 QUARTER 4 2018 AIRSPACE

In 2018, Leonardo was selected by ENAV, the Italian ANSP, as its industrial partner for the development of an air traffic control system for unmanned aircraft (UTM) and for the provision of related services. Leonardo will lead the industrial team that includes subsidiary Telespazio and Ingegneria Dei Sistemi. ENAV will set up a new company for the venture, taking 60% of the share capital of the new company with the remaining 40% to be held by the industrial team led by Leonardo.

The UTM system will integrate multiple technologies for the safe handling of remotely-controlled air vehicles in civil

airspace. This includes the registration, authentication and identification of the air vehicles.

The system will also support pre-flight planning, flight surveillance, emergency management and flight data recording.

The UTM service is a prerequisite for the security of unmanned aerial vehicle flights beyond line of sight and represents a turning point in business as well as air navigation.

The safe use of drones will open up new markets based on their use. The sector is destined to grow rapidly in the coming years, with estimates suggesting that by 2035, Europe will witness 7 million drones

in use for recreational purposes and another 400,000 in use for commercial purposes. Leonardo will use its extensive experience in radar systems and air traffic control centres in the continuing development of drone-based capabilities, proprietary technologies and services.

The company is also actively participating in the main national and European programmes. In the ENAV UTM project, Leonardo will be responsible for coordinating the industrial team, for the system design as a system integrator and for the development of most of the software, while additionally ensuring adequate levels of cyber protection.

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The ENAV Leonardo UTM system will integrate multiple technologies for the safe handling of remotely-controlled air vehicles in civil airspace.

ATM PROGRESS 2018ATM PROGRESS 2018

LEONARDO: Ensuring UTM is a turning point for business

AIRSPACE QUARTER 4 2018 11

ATM PROGRESS 2018

In 2018, skyguide, the Swiss ANSP, selected AirMap to develop and deploy Europe’s first national drone traffic management system in Switzerland to safely open the skies for drones and drone commerce.

The Swiss U-space system includes a multitude of services for aircraft operating in the low-altitude airspace, such as dynamic geofencing, instant digital airspace authorisation and solutions for situational awareness.

While AirMap provides the unmanned aerial system traffic management (UTM) platform, skyguide provides the interfaces into ATC and also enables additional providers to offer services in an open market.

The system was demonstrated on 26 June 2018, in Zurich at the Drone Innovators Network event, hosted by the World Economic Forum and the Swiss Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication. In the demonstration, dozens of drones performed a variety of commercial tasks,

including medical supply delivery and weather monitoring, across the whole of Switzerland.

Each drone was connected to the AirMap UTM platform to receive real-time airspace information and traffic awareness. Simultaneously, these drones published live positioning and flight path information to an air traffic management dashboard for live deconfliction. The dashboard visualised fully integrated traffic streams for manned and unmanned aircraft.

More than 26 drone industry partners participated in the demonstration, including Matternet, Parrot, senseFly, Swiss Post, and Swisscom, which are already operational in a variety of businesses applications today.

AirMap’s and skyguide’s partnership and progress is a model for UTM worldwide, proving that with industry and regulators collaborating on an open technology platform, U-space is available sooner than expected. Swiss U-space deploys nationwide beginning June 2019.

Towards the end of 2017, NATS began gradually introducing a new electronic flight strip system called EXCDS in to its London Terminal Control Centre, which manages the airspace over London and the South East of the UK.

This system is now fully operational and helping to safely manage the growing volume of air traffic in what is some of the busiest and most complex airspace in the world.

With demand for UK airspace growing, it is essential that NATS modernises the tools and technologies it uses to manage airspace to increase capacity and ensure safety.

EXCDS offers two main benefits compared with paper strips. First, it simplifies coordination between air traffic controllers, thereby reducing controller workload. Currently, air traffic controllers have

to call each other to pass aircraft between sectors. This is time consuming and adds to controller workload in what is already a complex operation.

Introducing electronic coordination reduces the time spent on the phone, freeing up controllers to manage the growing volumes of traffic being seen and laying the foundations for future growth.

Second, EXCDS introduces a conformance monitoring tool in to the London Terminal Control operation for the first time. This will automatically alert controllers if an aircraft takes actions different to those instructed.

This will enable the controller to take remedial action swiftly and is expected to help reduce level-busts, when pilots mistakenly enter a different flight level to that which has been instructed.

AIRMAP: Opening up the Swiss skies for drones

NATS: The benefits of electronic flight strips

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Electronic flight strips improve the safety and efficiency of airspace.

AIRSPACE QUARTER 4 2018 13

ATM PROGRESS 2018

A consistent and reliable network performance, without service interruption, is essential to maintaining air traffic management’s safety-critical environment.

In 2018, Frequentis responded to this need with software defined network technology. Its vitalsphere NetBroker ensures the service continuity and performance required of an ATM-grade network through the use of real-time network performance information and a set of application-specific performance targets with the ability to switch single voice and data flows between networks when performance is reduced.

It has completed the upgrade of the Caribbean satellite telecommunications network, MEVA-III, to support IP-based applications for faster and more secure voice transmissions, as well as more reliable transmission of AFTN/AMHS (aeronautical fixed telecommunication network/aeronautical message handling system) and surveillance data.

The network of 18 nodes for 15 ANSPs at sites in the Caribbean, Latin, Central and North America is an important part of ICAO’s work to create a phased transition from legacy communication technology in the Caribbean, increasing the efficiency of local ANSPs.

Previously, the MEVA network, which provides interactive voice and data telecommunications services between international air traffic control facilities and other regional telecommunication networks in the region, was restricted by coverage limitations and quality. The service now offers the highest efficiency and 99.9% availability, as well as a reduction in operating costs by allowing payment only for the received network service.

The implementation of intelligent networking in ATM also adds a valuable performance layer to support remote and digital technology towers, system-wide information management and modern surveillance technologies, which require more network bandwidth, more data sharing and more flexibility in communication flows. NetBroker monitors network performance, and proactively re-routes traffic flows based on the importance of the application or priority of the communication, ensuring customer specific air traffic and safety demands are met.

FREQUENTIS: Intelligent networking for future ATM

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In 2018, HungaroControl won Jane’s Air Traffic Control Award in the runway category for the remote tower solution at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD).

The remote tower is the first of its kind to be approved for operations without capacity restrictions at a medium-sized airport, with no shadow operation needed from the existing air traffic control tower. This 21st century innovation not only answers existing challenges in the air navigation systems but also builds a platform for future pioneering efforts in the sector.

HungaroControl’s installation is the largest fully-capable and certified digital tower in the world. The journey of turning concept into reality goes far beyond just technological innovation, however. Underpinning the successful delivery of the world’s largest digital

tower was an unwavering focus on both change management and safety to build user-acceptance and ensure a smooth and seamless operational transition.

Digital towers, as with other emerging and innovative technologies, fundamentally alter the working environments or ways of working for end-users. These changes need to be managed carefully. In HungaroControl’s case, a user-centric approach was applied, incorporating end-users in the design and implementation process, which ultimately built trust and confidence through change ownership.

As the digital transformation of air traffic management continues, the focus must be on the human aspects of change. It is the end-user who will serve as the critical facilitator of successful technological change in air traffic management.

HUNGAROCONTROL: Building digital towers for the future

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Efficient networking is essential in ATM.

Change management was crucial to the success of the digital tower.

HungaroControl’s installation is the largest digital tower in the world.

14 QUARTER 4 2018 AIRSPACE

ATM PROGRESS 2018

Dublin Airport has achieved record levels of air traffic movements and passengers and is rapidly reaching its capacity to accommodate further increases, even in the short-term.

In 2017, there were 223,190 commercial movements and 2018 traffic so far shows a traffic increase of 4.2%, meaning the year will end with an estimated 232,563 commercial movements.

Dublin Airport remains a single runway operation. Furthermore, the existing runway and taxiway infrastructure at Dublin airport is sub-optimal, with a severe bottleneck at the threshold of runway 28 and a lack of rapid exit taxiways.

This results in an operational runway capacity at Dublin airport of between 45 and 49 movements per hour.

However, this is for optimal, efficient operations for the existing infrastructure and depends very much on traffic circumstances, such as a balanced mix of arrivals and departures and weather conditions.

The Irish ANSP introduced the Point Merge system for arriving traffic in late 2012. Since then movements have increased some 50% but the Point Merge System has allowed the IAA ANSP to successfullly accommodate the volume of traffic with minimal traditional stack holding.

This significantly reduces delay and fuel burn (up to 20% less fuel used), increases operating predictability and enables Continuous Descent Operations (CDO).

The CDO at Dublin is either the ideal variant – from cruising level to final approach – or a two-stage CDO from cruising level to, firstly,

the Point Merge sequence leg (FL70/80) and, secondly, when turned direct to the final approach. Both of these CDO options provide substantial benefits.

The IAA ANSP has also continued to implement and operate High Intensity Runway Operations (HIRO) at Dublin Airport since 2016. This has allowed an increase in normal movements per hour to be achieved at certain times – and indeed 51 movements per hour have been achieved this summer.

Even so, the planned demand for services into/out of Dublin Airport continues to grow and the hourly capacity is not able to accommodate this demand.

In 2019, demand is expected to exceed capacity for most hours of the day. This may result in valuable business opportunities being declined as airlines may not be able to

operate new services during these periods. Spare capacity is only available between 20:00 and 04:00 (local time) when the vast majority of movements are inbound aircraft that will overnight in Dublin.

Due to this predominantly inbound flow and the difficulty that airlines have in persuading passengers to take very early morning flights, this minimal spare capacity is more theoretical than realistically achievable.

The full implementation of Airport Collaborative Decision Making in 2019 may facilitate some minor additional capacity. But in the longer term, the only solution is a second runway. Dublin Airport has reached maximum capacity and this situation is unsustainable in the longer term.

The IAA ANSP is working with the relevant airport authorities to introduce a new North (Parallel) Runway to provide extra capacity in late 2021.

And because the IAA ANSP complies fully with international standards, which dictate that the whole of the airport manoeuvring area must be visible to air traffic controllers, it has invested some €55 million in a new visual control tower at Dublin Airport, which will be ready to provide services from Q1 2020.

At present therefore, it is the IAA ANSP, the professionalism of its staff and its innovative and effective procedures, which are largely responsible for sustaining the levels of traffic demand for Dublin Airport by continuing to provide the most efficient ATS, while maintaining the very high levels of safety achieved in its operations.Hourly Capacity vs Demand 2019.

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IRISH AVIATION AUTHORITY: An Irish success story

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ATM PROGRESS 2018

Rohde & Schwarz is supplying Airways – New Zealand’s ANSP – with an IP-based voice system for air traffic control communications in New Zealand airspace.

Reliability, innovation and flexibility were the key words behind the selection. It is a key component of Airways’ move towards a new

one-centre, two-location operational model across its important Auckland and Christchurch locations.

The design phase will be completed in 2018, with the installation and commissioning of the ATC centers in Auckland and Christchurch conducted in a phased deployment to be completed by 2020.

A second phase, anticipated to start in 2021, will deliver the tower-based equipment across 22 tower locations nationwide.

The IP-based voice system project includes the delivery, implementation and through-life support for over 200 controller working positions, with interfacing to the new ATM system, new ATC radios and various ground-ground communication lines.

The multi-redundant, distributed architecture offered for the control centres in Auckland and Christchurch will help Airways significantly increase resilience and provide a unique geographic flexibility to manage their operations in a single trusted environment in the future.

IP-based system architecture enables best practice operational concepts, such as virtual control centres where multiple locations are combined to a larger airspace.

This helps ANSPs to mitigate short-term airspace volatility and to reduce staffing on nightshifts, achieving better workforce utilisation and higher staff satisfaction.

ROHDE & SCHWARZ: A nationwide air traffic control voice communications system

In 2018, CANSO held a vendor information day in Bogota, Colombia, on available and emerging solutions for consideration by the local regulator and ANSP. Both parties had raised concerns about some of the challenges and restrictions that the aviation sector is facing.

A particular issue was aircraft clearance delivery over controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC), which can be expensive for ANSPs and airlines. As a result of this event, IATAS (International Air Traffic Automation Systems) has filed for a patent providing a similar service with a completely different mindset.

The idea is simple, saves clearance delivery resources, can be completed autonomously without controller intervention in many cases, and is very simple for the pilot to use. It can be provided up to six hours before flight time depending on weather and

helps reduce errors. In addition, the solution works with current infrastructure without the need for heavy investments in hardware, communications or systems.

Like all IATAS solutions, the clearance delivery product is installed for free, without any upfront or annual maintenance costs. Once commissioned, IATAS receives a small transaction fee for each clearance.

Ori Shloosh, IATAS’s CEO and Chief Systems Architect stresses: “CANSO events provide a superb environment to freely discuss and ignite possible collaborations.

“This is a prime example of a new solution that can be implemented by all ANSPs in virtually all airports on a global scale, for safer, more cost-effective operations, without upfront investment.”

IATAS (International Air Traffic Automation Systems): An affordable clearance delivery solution

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A clearance delivery solution is on offer without upfront investment.

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ATM PROGRESS 2018

European air traffic has returned to pre-recession levels and demand growth is firmly at the top end of EUROCONTROL’s 2-4% annual forecast.

There was a new record set on 7 September 2018 when air navigation service providers (ANSPs) handled more than 37,000 flights, according to figures released by EUROCONTROL Network Manager.

However, passengers are experiencing double the average delay recorded in 2017, leading to missed connections, long waiting times and extra cost. The reasons for delay and cancellations are varied and include events that occur across the entire aviation chain, such as airport congestion. But there are also external factors, like the impact of climate change which is leading to more severe weather events, which are affecting European traffic in a totally new way.

Recognising a change in traffic patterns, operational experts from six functional airspace blocks (FABs) in Europe began to work together in early 2017 to identify the different types of traffic volatility, analyse its impact, share best practice and develop new solutions to mitigate its effect.

In March 2018, experts from all continental FABs participated in an Inter-FAB panel to provide the first substantial evidence based

on case studies and mitigation efforts. This initial call was followed by an academic workshop in Warsaw a few months later to investigate the subject in more depth.

The evidence shared found strong interdependencies between all the stakeholders in the aviation chain, driven by tight operating margins in an increasingly competitive market. Air traffic controller staffing levels lacked sufficient capacity to respond adequately to unexpected changes in demand.

The Warsaw workshop also highlighted a need for closer collaboration, enhanced communication and greater awareness of operational requirements among all the relevant players.

There are many factors behind the capacity squeeze, some of which are hard to predict, such as the sudden closure of airspace for security reasons, diversions to avoid conflict areas, or unexpected weather events.

Others are structural, where the root cause lies with under-investment in staff and technology and is founded on imprecise traffic forecasts.

Furthermore, the impact of changes in traffic flow is often in areas where demand growth has accelerated in recent years

and resources are already stretched. The Performance Review Scheme introduced as part of the Single European Sky initiative may have helped to reduce airspace user charges, but it has also put pressure future ANSP financing.

In addition to studying traffic volatility, the experts examined the impact of climate change on aviation. A World Meteorological Organization expert described how severe weather events will become more frequent and identified a need for more cooperation between stakeholders.

In one example, in the third quarter 2018, members of three separate FABs came together to introduce a set of procedures to deal with adverse weather conditions in the Alps, which impact Munich airport.

Controllers working in four different centres and three different countries now collaborate to distribute the traffic more evenly to stabilise the network using an automated data exchange.

Teamwork activity, related to traffic volatility and adverse weather, secured an outstanding achievement award at the US ATCA Annual in October 2018, indicative of the start of wider collaboration involving more players and improved data sharing across the aviation transport chain.

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Additional routings to Munich airports

Additional routings to Munich Airports.

FABEC: Inter-FAB cooperation

AIRSPACE QUARTER 4 2018 17

Under the new management of its Director, Claudio Clori, the Luxembourg Air Navigation Administration (ANA) is undergoing major organisational changes affecting its values, ambitions, strategies and culture.

“By 2025, I see ANA as a centre of expertise, as an important actor and partner of the airport platform and as a source of valuable proposals,” he says. “I intend to give this administration a new dimension,” says the ANA Director.

ANA obtained its ISO 14001 environmental certificate in February 2018. The environmental approach is long-term, however, and is not just about certification. At the heart of the process is a dialogue with local residents’ associations to better understand each other’s expectations and constraints.

In addition, collaboration with the airlines, in particular Cargolux and Luxair, has resulted in several initiatives to reduce aircraft noise pollution. For example, a change in the modified southern circuit has moved aircraft away from Sandweiler, a densely populated area.

In July 2018, ANA and Cargolux signed a charter to reduce aircraft noise that applies best practices in this area and limits the number of night flights and engine tests. Furthermore, continuous descent procedures have substantially reduced fuel consumption and noise throughout 2018. Recently, all operators were reminded of their obligations during a meeting of airspace users with the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructures.

ANA is now working on the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme certification (EMAS), dealing with environmental issues. Among the priority actions, flight paths and airspace will be adapted for greater efficiency.

ANA advocates open communication using new models of cooperation where partners with different approaches come together around shared purposes. This is the best recipe to keep up with the rapid pace of change in aviation management.

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ADMINISTRATION DE LA NAVIGATION AÉRIENNE: Local residents at the heart of the process

ANA is working with Cargolux to reduce noise.

The South East Common Sky Initiative Free Route Airspace (SECSI FRA) was successfully implemented in 2018 with the support of EUROCONTROL’s Network Manager.

SECSI FRA merges two existing free route airspaces – SAXFRA (Austro Control and Slovenia Control) and SEAFRA (BHANSA from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia Control, and SMATSA from Serbia and Montenegro). The project took less than a year from the signing of the agreement to full implementation.

SECSI FRA went operational on 1 February 2018, offering airspace users significant benefits along the southeast axis by delivering the shortest route options from central Europe. SECSI FRA is expected to deliver potential savings of 600,000-700,000 nautical miles in flight distances per year.

One of the most important aspects of the initiative was the collaboration between multiple ANSPs. Establishing a functional and operational 24/7 cross-border free route airspace is a very complex business.

Challenges included the simulation of flow changes and taking into account existing agreements and established procedures. This meant revision to route availability document (RAD) rules where needed, changes to radar handover procedures and the adaptation of remaining fixed routes, including arrivals and departures.

Central to discussions was an awareness of the capabilities of the various air traffic management systems. Communication between

different systems is essential, as data exchange has to be seamless. Fortunately, there were no major obstacles.

The intensive work continued with aeronautical information publications and circulars, where the synchronisation of the FRA chapters was a challenging task but very much appreciated by airspace users. In SECSI FRA, the States and ANSPs reached a unique agreement and the FRA text is for the most part unified.

Looking at the operational aspects, the major change was separation methods and procedures. Those based on fixed network and coordination points had to be updated for the FRA environment. The partners in SECSI FRA successfully integrated two models – areas of common interest and time/distance-based procedures, initially developed for SAXFRA and SEAFRA respectfully.

SECSI FRA partners included EUROCONTROL in the process from the outset. EUROCONTROL had an essential supporting role, providing experience, simulations and verifications. It also managed the Integrated Initial Flight Plan System (IFPS) and the correct coding of the airspace changes, which was crucial for the project. Airspace users were also involved from the beginning and briefed regularly on all aspects of the upcoming FRA.

Five ANSPs closely working together to implement SECSI FRA in less than a year is a remarkable achievement. This project will not only make the flow of air traffic through Europe more efficient but also is a clear sign that significant progress is being made towards achieving a common European free route airspace by 2022.

AUSTROCONTROL: Uniting European skies

CANSO invited all CANSO Members to submit success stories. All the entries received are being published. They have only been edited for style and they are not presented in any particular order.

ATM PROGRESS 2018