Air traffic control services

Cross-border sectors

Some 19 sectors, organised into three main sector groups, extend over a multinational 260,000 km2 airspace. 

These sector groups (the Brussels, Hannover and Delta/Coastal) cover:

• the Brussels Upper Information Region (UIR)
• the Hannover Upper Information Region (UIR) and
• the Amsterdam Flight Information Region (FIR).

Sectors extend from 24,500 feet to an unlimited altitude; several upper sectors extend from the internal division flight level of 33,500 or 34,500 feet to an unlimited altitude. The sectors, which have been designed to best meet the fluctuations in air traffic demand, can be operated in a dynamic and flexible way for maximum efficiency across country borders.

• ATC Charts

Capacity

The number of aircraft accepted every hour within a sector varies between 40 and 70, depending on the location of the sector, the complexity of the traffic flows involved and the time of day/week.

An air traffic controller can monitor up to 25 aircraft at any one time, but this figure varies throughout the day and depends in particular upon the complexity of air traffic.

The traffic capacity of any sector is dependent upon several factors: the longer-term demand on the sector (i.e. over several hours), the instantaneous maximum number of flights predicted, the airspace configuration, the military use of airspace, the complexity etc. In general terms, the peak traffic-handling capacity of a sector can reach up to 70 sector-entries per hour and most commonly corresponds to between 40 and 60 entries.

Civil-military cooperation

At MUAC, civil air traffic services are provided in close cooperation with the military partners responsible for military traffic in the four States. Data-interchange systems ensure that both civil and military controllers obtain accurate information from their counterparts.

The concept of the Flexible Use of Airspace, according to which the military authorities release their airspace to civilian users whenever possible, is applied on a daily basis, generating important gains in capacity.

In order to facilitate the closest possible cooperation between civil and military air traffic, a Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) unit, controlling military operations over north-west Germany (Hannover Upper Information Region), is located on MUAC’s premises. By using the same system and the same data, and by sitting side by side, the civil and military controllers ensure not only the highest level of safety, but also the best performance - for both military and civil traffic.

Air navigation services for military aircraft flying in Belgium and the Netherlands are provided from the respective military control facilities in both countries. An automatic exchange of flight-plan and track data between MUAC and the military partners in Belgium (Belga Radar Air Traffic Control Centre, Semmerzake) and the Netherlands (Military Air Traffic Control Centre, Nieuw Milligen) has been in place for several decades already.