FABEC ANSPs facilitate air traffic flow management for flights to and from London during the Olympics

In cooperation with EUROCONTROLs Network Manager and the UK ANSP NATS, the FABEC ANSPs will increase Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ATFCM) to and from UK airports for this event. In a bid to ease the handling of heavy traffic, new flight profiles, coordination procedures and off-load scenarios have been agreed upon. Furthermore, in collaboration with their military partners, special new direct routes such as the Free Route Olympic Games (FROG) routes in the North of France and additional routes in the Netherlands, extending into Germany, will be available in the upper airspace. In the lower airspace new operational procedures for specific destinations within the UK will be put in place by EUROCONTROLs Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC), Belgocontrol and NATS. In addition, the FABEC partners will operate a dedicated FABEC Olympics Cell at MUAC, with a view to optimising performance delivery through collaborative ATFCM and civil/military Airspace Management (ASM).

Notwithstanding this increased and focused effort, delays can be expected to be higher than usual in these areas and possibly also in other parts of the network, in particular in FABEC airspace. This means that FABEC will have to work even harder to meet the punctuality target set in its 2012 performance plan. FABEC's efforts therefore epitomise the excellent level of cooperation between FAB-interfaces to offer the best large-scale operational solution possible, in the interest of airspace users.