Functional Airspace Block Europe Central (FABEC) air navigation service providers and the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) signed a Joint Declaration at the ATCA Global Conference & Expo 7-9 November 2022 to confirm a long-standing partnership that sees know-how and experience are shared at an operational level to help meet industry challenges.
FABEC air navigation service providers (ANSPs) managing some of Europe’s most complex airspace face much the same challenges as their US counterparts serving dense airspace areas and busy skies. Both continents are facing the same circumstances amongst others unpredictable demand, climate change and geopolitical upheaval. By sharing knowledge at an operational level, both parties benefit from solutions and innovative practices.
ATCA President and CEO, Brian Bruckbauer said, “We have identified five key areas that are vitally important to all airspace users, with both ATCA and FABEC working hard to identify solutions, I am confident our efforts will be beneficial for airspace users worldwide.”
FABEC CEO Board of ANSPs Chair, John Santurbano said: “Broadening our knowledge and hearing from other providers helps us to add value to our services. The Joint Declaration between ATCA and FABEC facilitates more direct communications and supports operational improvements on both sides of the Atlantic.”
The Joint Declaration enables ATCA and FABEC to work more closely together to better understand the disruptive factors that impact air traffic control and support the provision of more resilient, efficient, environmentally responsible, and scalable airspace management services. Sharing operational knowledge brings practical results that directly benefit airspace users. The Declaration covers five key areas:
Safety: Safety remains the priority focus for ATCA and FABEC.
Operations: To understand which systems perform well under different conditions, identify solutions that add useful functions in a digitised environment, compare practices and procedures to optimise performance.
Environment and climate change: To support the EU Green Deal and comply with the US environmental policy and guidance material, ATM services providers aim to better understand emissions, performance and responsibilities.
Training: ATCA and FABEC will share data on the improvement of training courses for controllers.
Emerging challenges: ATCA and FABEC are aiming to exchange on emerging challenges such as the resilience of air traffic management or the arrival of new communities of airspace users including such as unmanned vehicles, rockets or supersonic business jets may impacting operations.
Deeper cooperation between ATCA and FABEC will help to develop successful solutions and to introduce more resilient and efficient services in response to changing market conditions. Facing these challenges collectively is an important way to prepare for continued uncertainty going forward.
