Eurocontrol is extending its Free Route Airspace Maastricht (FRAM) service further into peak traffic periods each day, and eventually into the weekends.
This enables more airspace users to optimise their trajectories in the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC), which Eurocontrol manages directly. It is the area in which new airspace management techniques are freqently trialled and launched.
FRAM was initally launched in March 2011 and its effect was to enable ideal flight trajectories on 142 routes in MUAC airspace from midnight until 06:00 Central European Time each day.
The new extension means the period has been expanded to 08:00, well into the peak traffic period.
Eurocontrol estimates that by adding these two additional hours, some 250 aircraft daily will now be able to benefit from more efficient routeing. As from the end of 2011, the new direct routes will become available throughout the weekends.
The savings expected from the first phase of the deployment during the night and at weekends alone are estimated at 1.16 million route kilometres a year, resulting in economies of 3,700t of aviation fuel, 12,000t of carbon dioxide and 37t of NOX (nitrous oxide) when compared with the fixed route network.
Eurocontrol quotes recent calculations which show that in 2009 a European flight's route was on average 47.6km (or 5.4%) longer than its optimum flight trajectory.
"The Free Route Airspace Maastricht programme is a key development towards the implementation of shorter routes and more efficient use of the airspace across the continent," said Eurocontrol.
"It aims to put in place a direct route network for 24/7 operations, saving airlines several million kilometres of flight distance."
Free route airspace principles are also applied in Portuguese, Irish and Scandinavian airspace as well as that of the FABEC group of air navigation service providers, which includes Germany, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
