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What is EUROCONTROL?
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EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, is an intergovernmental organisation that counts 38 European Member States. It was created in 1960 and became active in 1963, with the intention of creating a single European upper airspace.
EUROCONTROL strives to develop and improve the pan-European air traffic management (ATM) system by coordinating and facilitating the work of all aviation partners in Europe. Its main objective is to make European aviation safer, performance-driven and environmentally sustainable.
We are also a key player in the development of a single European sky, one in which air traffic and airspace are managed independently from national borders to ensure optimum efficiency of the entire European ATM system.
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What does EUROCONTROL do?
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EUROCONTROL provides air traffic management (ATM) expertise to its 38 Member States, aviation partners, as well as European and international institutions.
Its core activities span the entire range of gate-to-gate air navigation service operations - from strategic and tactical flow management to controller training; from regional control of airspace to development of leading-edge, safety-proofed technologies and procedures, the collection of air navigation charges, as well as air traffic management training.
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Is EUROCONTROL part of the EU institutions?
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EUROCONTROL is not part of the EU institutions. As a pan-European organisation, some of EUROCONTROL’s Member States are not part of the European Union.
The European Community is a member of EUROCONTROL: on 8 October 2002, the EUROCONTROL Member States and the European Community signed a Protocol on the Accession of the European Community to the revised EUROCONTROL Convention.
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Does EUROCONTROL have anything to do with the Euro (€) currency?
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EUROCONTROL has nothing to do with the Euro currency. EUROCONTROL stands for European Organisation of Safety in Air Navigation. Its name comes from its original mission which was the creation of a single upper airspace. It was originally intended to organise air traffic control collectively in the upper airspace of its Member States. That explains the name: controlling air traffic over Europe.
Other national air navigation service providers have found their inspiration in our name - such as Austrocontrol and Belgocontrol.
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What is EUROCONTROL doing for the environment?
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EUROCONTROL strives to reduce aviation’s negative impact on the environment to create a sustainable European aviation. It aims at:
• improving the operational performance both in the air and on the ground. For example, EUROCONTROL’s three-year plan to organise the European route network and airspace in a more efficient manner will have the potential to reduce fuel use by 72,000 tonnes and decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 240,000 tonnes.
• providing environmental support to air navigation service providers.
EUROCONTROL’s flight efficiency plan jointly launched with CANSO and IATA is implementing a series of short-term measures expected to make fuels savings of 470,000 tonnes annually. This equals to 1.5 millions tonnes of CO2 each year.
We also undertake a comprehensive spectrum of activities to reduce its own footprint as much as possible. For instance it implemented a programme to reduce the carbon footprint of its own building and facilities.
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Can I visit EUROCONTROL?
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We do not run individual visits, but can make arrangements for special groups, such as university students. All visits are arranged by our Corporate Communications Unit.
EUROCONTROL headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, but we are present in seven other European cities, including:
• Brétigny in France and Budapest in Hungary each welcome a EUROCONTROL Research and Development Centre.
• Luxembourg welcomes future air traffic controllers and trainees in air traffic management at our Institute of Air Navigation Services (IANS).
• Maastricht in the Netherlands is host to our Upper Airspace Control Centre (MUAC), in charge of controlling aircraft above 24,500 feet over Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and North-western Germany.
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What is air traffic management?
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Air traffic management encompasses three complementary systems:
• The air traffic control (ATC) system is in charge of real-time control of air traffic.
• The air traffic flow and capacity management (ATFCM) system anticipates air traffic flows in order to prevent congestion. In Europe traffic flows are centrally managed by the Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU), through the ETFMS system, both under EUROCONTROL’s responsibility.
• The airspace management (ASM) system allows optimal use of the airspace capacity (between civil and military airspace users for example).
The complementary management of these three systems helps to increase the number of flights handled by air traffic control, while maintaining the highest levels of safety across the network.
Air traffic management in Europe is the joint responsibility of European Member States, the aviation industry, the European institutions and EUROCONTROL.
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What is the Single European Sky?
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The Single European Sky (SES) is an ambitious initiative, launched by the European Commission in 1999, to reform the architecture of European air traffic management (ATM). It puts forward a legislative approach to meet future capacity and safety needs at a European rather than at local level. Its implementation will increase the overall efficiency of the European air transport system.
The Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) programme is a joint venture associating EUROCONTROL, the European Commission and the aviation industry. SESAR aims at developing the new generation air traffic management system capable of ensuring the safety and fluidity of air transport worldwide over the next 30 years.
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How many flights are handled daily over Europe?
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On average, about 28,000 daily flights are handled daily over Europe. In 2008, a total of 10,181,463 flights were handled, with a peak daily record at 34,476 flights on Friday 27 June 2008.
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What are the air traffic growth forecasts over Europe for the next decade?
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The air traffic is expected to grow by 5% each year until 2020. The decrease in air traffic due to the economic crisis (0.5% increase in 2008) will be temporary and air traffic will increase as soon as the recession comes to an end.
As a result, EUROCONTROL expects that the number of flights in Europe will rise from today’s 10 million to 20.4 million in 2030.
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What services does EUROCONTROL provide to ATM stakeholders?
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EUROCONTROL have numerous partnerships with ATM stakeholders including but not limited to Aviation companies, National Air Traffic Services and the European Commission.
Those partnerships includes but or not limited to two kinds: Research partnership with the EU and Industries like SESAR to conceive and implement the Single European Sky; Air Management partnerships to facilitate the air flow management across Europe.
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Why is access to some information restricted on the EUROCONTROL website?
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The access to some information may be restricted on our website because you are not a member of one of our many online collaborative working groups. Registration to these working groups can be requested via our extranet homepage.
EUROCONTROL partners also share information of restricted nature that may impact the security of European air transport. This information is only accessible to authorised users of our website.
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How can I get information on EUROCONTROL programmes and projects?
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For more information about EUROCONTROL programmes and projects, use our project finder.
Links to: Project finder page
http://www.eurocontrol.int/corporate/public/standard_page/in_projects.html
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What services does EUROCONTROL provide to passengers?
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EUROCONTROL does not provide any services direct to passengers. Our services are delivered to the aviation community in the largest sense.
We do however provide information to our aviation partners that can be of interest to passengers, such as air traffic growth and delay figures and forecasts.
We are also active in reducing European aviation’s footprint on the environment. This is important to ensure that the carbon footprint of passengers remains as low as possible.
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Can I get departure / arrival times for my flight from EUROCONTROL?
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No. Although all the "flight plans" for all flights in Europe are processed by us and used for the calculation of departure slots, this information is not accessible by the general public.
We can only advise you to contact your airline, or your departure or destination airport.
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