Airspace design and utilisation

Drawing airspace highways to make the network safer and more efficient.

About

With over forty countries and more than ten million flights a year, Europe has some of the busiest and most complex airspace in the world. EUROCONTROL, acting as the Network Manager, ensures that this airspace is safely and efficiently designed, planned and managed.

At the same time, we provide alternative solutions to increase capacity and flight efficiency, make the best possible use of the available airspace resources and to accommodate the needs of all airspace users, civil and military. While modernising Europe's air traffic management system, we work to reduce operational costs and airspace fragmentation, and to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment.

Planned and expected savings
100 million

fewer nautical miles flown

600,000

tons of fuel saved

2 million

tons in emissions reduced

500 million

Euros in fuel saved

Our tools

DDR

Demand data repository

ERNIP tool

European route network improvement plan tool

FUA Toolkit

Flexible use of airspace toolkit

National AIRAC publication review

NEST

Network strategic tool

SAAM

System for traffic assignment and analysis at a macroscopic level

R&D activities

At EUROCONTROL we work on R&D activities to support the deployment of optimum airspace configurations across European airspace.

Our objective is to help the network adapt to changes in demand patterns within a free route environment, ensuring the best possible balance between performance targets and operational requirements.

Dynamic airspace configurations, integrated local dynamic capacity balancing processes, new flight planning services, user driven prioritisation process, shared 4D trajectory information are some of the solutions which will help deliver a more integrated, consistent and accurate picture of Europe's airspace.

Simulation and validation services

Have all your ATM concepts validated by neutral experts.

Latest highlights

Remus Lacatus
Article

New entrants drive innovations in civil and military airspace management operations

Steven Moore & Yolanda Portillo
Article

Preparing for Summer 2024: more traffic, disruptive weather but deeper and more effective collaboration

Magda Kopczyńska
Article

U-space design and implementation: EUROCONTROL’s key role in supporting Member States

Eduardo Santander
Article

Towards a unified sky vision: integrating ATM & AAM for future air transport

Patrick Amar & Miguel Vilaplana
Article

Advancing U-space implementation through a collaborative approach to simulation

Magda Kopczyńska
Article

From rhetoric to action: accelerating the twin transition in aviation