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Initial situation
Today the control of the airspace over Europe resembles a patchwork rug, which has historical reasons. Each national air navigation service provider uses different technology and different procedures. Air navigation services in Europe are provided by around 50 en-route control centres, hundreds of approach control units and towers. Air traffic is handled in more than 650 control sectors, which are mainly organised according to national borders. This restricts their functional performance. When entering a new sector, pilots have to change radio frequency and establish contact with the next air traffic controller. The heading, airspeed and level of the aircraft constantly changes depending on how an aircraft has to cross a zone and what the weather is like. Changing from one sector to the next is based on comprehensive agreements between control centres.
In Europe, there are lots of military airspaces within which civil air traffic is either temporarily or permanently prohibited. Civil aircraft, therefore, have to fly around these areas. This results in tens of thousands of additional flight hours, which artificially increases the volume of flights in Europe. Not to mention the impact on the environment. Particularly annoying for the passengers are the associated ATC-related delays. And these delays as a percentage will continue to rise. One look at the steady growth in air traffic in the European Union over the past few years – five percent per annum – and it is clear that air navigation service providers will soon reach their capacity limits.
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| 03/06/2009 |
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