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Evolution of the Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA) Concept |
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Enhanced Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA) which aims at organising a European airsspace no longer contrained by national borders is an essential enabler for the SESAR implementation programme in the frame of the recently established Single European Sky to ensure that the plans to develop the European air Transport from 2007 to 2020 are synchronised and integrated from research to operations.
The Concept of Enhanced FUA Operations for 2008-2010 at strategic, pre-tactical and tactical levels is based on the establishment of:
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- New ARN Versions V5 & V6 providing a larger set of route options combined with cross-border and/or modular sector configuations together with the associated "Modus Operandi";
- Europe-wide Operational Air Traffic Compatible (OAT-C) scenarios in the event of large scale exercises and/or operations across Europe;
- Continuous and Seamless Pre-tactical Airspace Management (ASM) & Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) Operations in a process expanded closer to the time of operations to identify early in advance ASM solutions to overcome capacity shortfalls while enabling late revised airspace allocation;
- Dynamic Airspace Management Process enabling the pro-active and dynamic allocation of airspace in response to specific short-notice airspace requirements and route optimisation;
- Shared Airspace Data Repository enabling the access of all stakeholders to a standard source of accurate, consolidated and up-to-date Air Traffic Management (ATM) information in real-time and offering the possiblitiy to process automatically consistent digital information;
- Flight Planning Assistance Service, where required, providing a more comprehensive advice service to flight plan originators and possibly proposing alternatives, when a change occurs in the availability of a route;
- Consistency in Flight Plan Processing to ensure that any airspace changes and/or ATFM measures affecting flight plans are properly addressed and to guarantee the consistency/sharing of flight data on a "need to know" basis.
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Enhanced FUA Brochure (May 2005) |
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A Flexible and More Dynamic Approach to Airspace Use in Europe |
One of the major enhancements of Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA) for the next five years is to exploit the airspace in a more dynamic manner by enabling late airspace (re-) allocation as close as practical to the time of operations in order to accommodate short-term changes in traffic situation and/or users requirements.
As such, this dynamic process aims at complementing current Airspace Management (ASM) activities, with the planning at Level 1 of dynamically manageable airspace structures. Initially, these dynamic structures will be limited to a series of pre-defined route options and military airspace scenarios with associated ‘modus operandi’ allowing allocation at Level 2 and where required at Level 3 in response to specific short-notice airspace requirements and/or route optimisation. Later on, once adequate information system will be in place, ‘ad-hoc structures’, whether routes or areas, would be established on an ad-hoc basis to meet operational needs at shorter notice than the usual Level 1 process.
Through this process, permanent Air Traffic Services (ATS) routes and available Conditional Routes (CDRs) would become ‘plannable’ options, while pre-defined military training areas would remain inactive until formally allocated.
The added value of the dynamic airspace management process for airspace users is:
- to provide equitable treatment in allocation of airspace and trajectories required at short notice;
- to allow users to make informed decisions and to increase their benefits by offering a larger choice on possible routeing options.
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Improving Airspace Management/Air Traffic Control/Air Traffic Flow Management (ASM/ATC/ATFM) processes to ensure seamless FUA operations |
An overall action aiming at improving the current ASM/ATFM/ATC processes to ensure seamless Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA) operations from strategic planning to tactical use has been recently taken by EUROCONTROL within the framework programme “Dynamic Management of the European Airspace Network” (DMEAN) in view of concrete implementation of required elements within the next five years. Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) processes involving the three ATM components ASM, ATFM and ATC will be established as follows:
- At Strategic Level: planning process to ensure consistency between the design and use of route and airspace structure;
- At Pre-tactical Level: anticipating process to facilitate the resolution of expected capacity shortfalls with pre-defined ASM solutions;
- At Tactical Level: reacting process to any short notice or real-time event allowing the implementation of tactical ASM scenarios.
- In real-time: executing activities of opening/closure of conditional routes and/or of activation/de-activation of military areas.
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In order to support the above enhanced processes, a rapid access to accurate information requires a new approach to avoid data inconsistency and to overcome the limitations of the current mechanisms based on message exchange. These objectives will be met through the setting-up of airspace and flight plan data pooling systems to be seen from users’ point of view as:
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- a common Airspace Data Repository: formed by links between the ‘European AIS Database’ (EAD), the Central Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) Database and national/local Aeronautical Information Services/Air Traffic Control (AIS/ATC) data bases as a standard source of consolidated, consistent and up-to-date information about the past, present and future status of airspace;
- a common Flight Plan Data Repository: providing only one set of data in respect of a flight with any changes transparent to the ATM system as a whole.
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More information
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Last validation: 01/09/2009
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