In a bid to unlock additional capacity in one of the densest areas of its airspace, EUROCONTROL’s Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) raised the division level (DFL) between its High and Low sectors in the east of the Brussels Sector Group (covering the upper airspace of Luxembourg and south-east Belgium).
As from 27 February 2020, the previous DFL335 has been changed to DFL355 as the new fixed division.
The purpose of the change is to create a better traffic distribution between the sectors concerned, to best cope with the prevailing traffic flows. This will make air traffic controller planning more efficient and, by potentially reducing air traffic delay, will have a positive effect on airline operations.
This airspace design change will have no impact on the transfer conditions between MUAC and its adjacent partners.
All MUAC controllers working in this sector group have participated in real-time simulations to familiarise themselves with the new division flight level and are fully prepared to work in the new configuration.
The Brussels Sector Group constitutes only 14% of MUAC’s airspace, but at the same time it is the most complex and densest part of it as 47% of flights crossing MUAC’s entire area of responsibility go through it.
MUAC controls air traffic above flight level 245 over Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and north-west Germany, dividing its airspace into three main sector groups, designated Brussels, DECO and Hannover, the sector boundaries of which are defined on the basis of traffic flows rather than national borders in order to ensure maximum efficiency.
