Academic workshop on fragmentation in European air traffic held in Budapest

Numerous stakeholders of the aviation sector and aspiring academics from different European universities attended the research workshop on “Fragmentation in Air Traffic and its Impact on ATM Performance” organized by the Functional Airspace Block Europe Central (FABEC) and the Functional Airspace Block Central Europe (FAB CE) in partnership with the Florence School of Regulation (FSR) and the German Aviation Research Society (GARS).

Mr. László Palkovics, the Hungarian Minister for Innovation and Technology, opened the Conference and said that this international forum was strengthening the dialogue between stakeholders and industry. The Minister expressed the great importance of shaping the decision-making processes for the future of the European air navigation services. "The significant growth of European air traffic is a major challenge for Central Europe, but especially for the Hungarian air navigation service provider. In order to master these challenges, collaboration and innovative solutions can be a great answer," he added.

“Sharing information about the ways in which fragmentation affects our business, helped us to gain a better understanding of where we can make improvements in our performance. Improvements for example in the way the aispace is organised, the way we structure our business and within the route charging system.” said Michiel van Dorst, Chairman of the CEO board FABEC and CEO of Air Traffic Control the Netherlands.

„We have heard for many years about how european airspace is fragmented and therefore inefficient. Even though it’s difficult to monetize the benefits, FABs are key enablers and facilitators of cross-border cooperation” according to Matej Eljon, FAB CE Programme Manager.

The workshop brought together academics and stakeholders from all sectors of the aviation industry to provide a forum for the mutual exchange of ideas on fragmentation.