Flight information management

Helping standardise and improve the identification and gate-to-gate description of a flight's movement and phases.

THIS IS PART OF
Digitalisation and information management

Flight information is data that describes the gate-to-gate operation of aircraft pre-flight, in flight execution and post-flight. It powers trajectory-based operations (TBO) such as the exchange, maintenance and use of consistent aircraft trajectory and flight information for collaborative decision-making.

Our work on flight information management includes:

  • defining the ICAO Flight and Flow Information for a Collaborative Environment (FF-ICE) concept and;
  • developing related technical enablers, including the Flight Information Exchange Model (FIXM);
  • supporting the deployment of PCP iSWIM through the INEA SWIM Common Component project;
  • validating European research and development projects as active contributors to the SESAR 2020 programme;
  • providing operational SWIM services for flights in the Initial Flight Plan Processing System (IFPS) area;
  • deploying operational services implementing the PCP iSWIM flight information exchanges and FF-ICE concepts.

Flight and flow information for collaborative environment

We are a main contributor in developing the ICAO Flight and Flow Information for Collaborative Environment (FF-ICE) concept for flight information-sharing via SWIM.

FF-ICE illustrates information for flow management, flight planning, and trajectory management associated with the ATM operational components.

A key technical enabler for the implementation of FF-ICE exchanges over SWIM is FIXM, the Flight Information Exchange Model, which provides a globally standardised representation of flight information exchanged by FF-ICE actors.

Support to the deployment of PCP/ISWIM flight information exchanges

The Pilot Common Project (PCP)/iSWIM Flight information exchanges, according to the SWIM Yellow Profile, focus on information-sharing between airspace users and ATM service providers, mostly in the planning phase. They map the ICAO FF-ICE/1 flight information exchanges, which are enabled by FIXM.

Through the INEA-funded SWIM Common Components project, EUROCONTROL also contributes to the development of FIXM in order to ensure that FIXM, one of the key enablers of FF-ICE, also qualifies for a suitable industry standard for PCP/iSWIM flight information exchanges using the SWIM Yellow profile.

Several activities are carried out by EUROCONTROL to fully align the FIXM components - developed under the supervision of the ICAO Air Traffic Management Requirements and Performance Panel (ATMRPP) - and the standardisation materials for PCP/iSWIM.

These activities include:

  • developing and maintaining the report establishing the semantic correspondences between AIRM and FIXM 4.0.0 onwards;
  • promoting necessary changes to FIXM and/or AIRM for greater semantic alignment;
  • supporting regional requirements from PCP into the FIXM framework, as appropriate.

EUROCONTROL makes regular progress reports on these tasks to the SESAR Deployment Manager.

Promoting European R&D inputs to FF-ICE/FIXM

Of the various SESAR 2020 projects that will address flight information exchange, the SESAR 2020 Project 18 - 4D Trajectory Management (PJ 18) is specifically tasked with supporting the future development of FF-ICE and FIXM on a global level.

PJ18 is expected to deliver validated inputs to FF-ICE/FIXM for aspects related to the planning phase, i.e. applicable to FF-ICE/1 onwards. The project also includes a contribution to FIXM for aspects related to the execution phase. It will, therefore, help pave the way for the early support of FF-ICE Step 2 concepts in the medium- to long-term.

EUROCONTROL supports the coordination between SESAR PJ18 and FF-ICE & FIXM projects in order to help promote European R&D inputs from SESAR 2020 on a global level.