FABEC Olympics Cell at EUROCONTROL Maastricht UAC officially inaugurated

With the London Olympic Games set to start on 27 July 2012, air traffic management players have geared up to ensure the safe and expeditious flow of traffic across the network, in particular to and from the London airports.

For the first time, a common civil and military Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management Airspace Management (ATFCM-ASM) unit working for all six FABEC States will apply a so-called Extended Pre-tactical ATFCM/ASM process, in close cooperation with the Network Manager and the UK/Irish FAB. The FABEC Olympics Cell will be operational each day from 6:00 until 12:30 local time to cover the entire FABEC airspace, irrespective of country borders.

This large-scale operational solution based in one single location in the MUAC control room reduces the number of interfaces and so ensures optimum coordination with the civil and military partners to the benefit of airlines and military airspace users. It adds a new dimension to what already exists today and is therefore a concrete example of the added value that synergies between FABEC civil and military organisations can bring to the network.

The Cell started operations on 24 July and will finish on 13 August, one day after the closure. It will be manned by staff from MUAC, DSNA and Belgocontrol as well as by staff from Royal Netherlands Air Force and Belgian Air Force.

From left to right
Eric Bruneau;
Director Operations of the French Direction Service Navigation Aerienne DSNA, in charge of the development of Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management/Airspace Management inside FABEC
Theo Hendriks;
Project Manager FABEC Olympics Cell
Jac Jansen;
Director Maastricht UAC
Chris Stadler;
Head Operations Maastricht UAC