Andrew Doyle/DUBROVNIK
Proposals for a major shake-up of Europe's congested airspace, aimed at securing extra capacity, will be considered by Eurocontrol in April.
If approved, the programme will commit 38 countries to work together to introduce reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM) between flight levels 290 and 410 simultaneously in January 2002. The restructuring is expected to yield an immediate 20% increase in capacity, with long-term potential for a near-doubling, by reducing minimum vertical separation between aircraft to 1,000ft (300m) from the current 2,000ft at upper flight levels.
Eurocontrol's programme management team circulated the final draft of the RVSM "master plan" to all the countries on 19 January. This will form the framework for RVSM implementation if cleared by the organisation's provisional council, which comprises the director generals of all 27 Eurocontrol member states' civil aviation authorities.
The undertaking will require many of the more than 8,000 civil aircraft using Europe's airspace, registered in more than 150 nations, to be fitted with upgraded altimetry. Sixty air traffic control (ATC) centres will also be affected with thousands of en route controllers undergoing extra training.
In addition, ground-based height monitoring units (HMU) are having to be established to ensure aircraft accurately maintain assigned flight levels. Eurocontrol has already secured funding to allow it to award HMU contracts.
The proposed implementation date of 24 January 2002 will disappoint many airlines and some European states that had been pressing for RVSM to be launched in March 2001.
Eurocontrol RVSM programme manager Joseph Sultana, speaking at last week's RVSM workshop in Dubrovnik, Croatia, defended the proposed timetable. "RVSM will bring benefits that are urgently needed but we also have to make sure we can deliver what we say we will," he says.
Referring to Eurocontrol's previous attempts to implement ATC improvements, such as basic area navigation, which was repeatedly delayed, he says: "We have learned the lessons from other projects.
Under the proposed timetable a final decision on whether RVSM can be implemented on schedule or will have to be delayed will be taken in September 2001, based on the number of aircraft and ATC authorities meeting the compliance criteria. RVSM has already been successfully introduced on the north Atlantic, but its implementation across Europe is likely to prove much more complex.
Source: Flight International
