FABEC introduces shorter Alpine routes over Switzerland and Germany

Cooperation between FABEC air navigation service providers (ANSP) DFS and skyguide has shortened routes over the Alps by 15 nautical miles, saving flight time and reducing fuel consumption.

Europe’s Network Manager identified capacity constraints at a number of interfaces between crossing flight paths that impact performance of the wider network. One of these occurs between the Swiss border and neighbouring Rhine region and is managed by controllers located in Germany’s Karlsruhe upper area control centre.

Since introducing the new route, flights via central or southern Germany destined for Lugano, Milan, Verona and other destinations in northern Italy can now take advantage of the 15 miles route reduction. Previously flights continued south west after Stuttgart before turning south before reaching Freiburg. The new route goes from Stuttgart directly to a navigation point south of Zurich.

The development is one of several objectives agreed between DFS and skyguide to address network inefficiencies. In addition to shortening flight times by approximately two minutes, the western air traffic control sector Söllingen will no longer handle flights using the new route from today, 18 June 2020, which will free capacity.

Cooperation between DFS Karlsruhe and skyguide stretching back over several years helped to achieve a quick and amicable outcome to introducing the new route. In a related development, the partners are looking at the possibility of extending the route to include other destinations. These include flights from Berlin, Scandinavia and north east Europe destined for airports in Spain including the Baleares and Canary Islands and North Africa.