interFAB workshop highlights crucial role of harmonised AIM in achieving a digital European sky

The interFAB online workshop entitled Digitalisation – challenging and enabling future aeronautical information management (AIM) brought together more than 100 delegates from all over Europe on 2-3 November to discuss data sharing for efficient airspace management. Accessing precise, up-to-date, harmonised data is central to seamless and integrated services and to the introduction of automated technologies. Delegates learned about new standards for aeronautical data exchanges and new data sets needed to support modern geospatial concepts. Presentations on the integration of unmanned and manned systems underlined the importance of seamless message handling and the role of dynamic AIM data in more complex flight planning and operational contexts.

FABs provide the ideal forums to address these challenges and to realise the cross-border operational improvements needed to take advantage of modern automated technologies and digital services. InterFAB cooperation enables service providers to harmonise publications and data delivery standards, and the workshop provided the ideal forum to agree on these future activities. Only by working and implementing across FABs can the industry achieve the harmonisation necessary to establish a safe and efficient digital European sky.

FABEC Operations Standing Committee Chair and COO skeyes Peggy Devestel opening the event said: “Automation brings the need for higher levels of standardisation and harmonisation. This goes far beyond the requirements of individual ANSPs and these new concepts need to be introduced systematically across the industry and among airspace users. FABs play a crucial role in this process.”

Hardy Polevka, DFS Head of AIM Policies/Plans and moderator of the workshop stated: “The number and quality of the various contributions from all over Europe has demonstrated the complexity of the issue - and it is clear that the quality and availability of high quality data is an absolute prerequisite for successful digitisation.”