Eurocontrol has completed implementation of the height monitoring infrastructure required for the European Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) programme, paving the way for a final go-ahead decision next September.
The European air navigation organisation has warned, however, that if progress towards RVSM implementation in some states does not improve, the programme will not meet its 24 January 2002 starting date.
Europe's RVSM programme will increase airspace capacity and provide operators with optimised flight profiles through the use of an additional six flight levels, with the introduction of 1,000ft (300m) vertical separation in the flight levels (FL) between FL290 and FL410. Before implementation, however, measurements must be taken of the height-keeping accuracy of a representative sample of the aircraft flying in European RVSM airspace, comprising 38 European and two North African countries.
Three fixed height monitoring units (HMU) have been established in Linz, Austria, Nattenheim, Germany, and Geneva, Switzerland. Linz came on line in May, while the Nattenheim and Geneva HMUs started to collect data earlier this month. The height measuring system also comprises 25 portable global positioning system monitoring units (GMU) linked to a monitoring cell at Eurocontrol's Experimental Centre in Bretigny, France, and a user support cell in Brussels.
Meeting the RVSM schedule depends on the progress of European states' national RVSM activities and on airspace users meeting RVSM compliance requirements and receiving approval for RVSM operations, Eurocontrol's provisional council said at its meeting earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Eurocontrol's council has set a target of 2.8min average en route delay per flight for next year's European summer in addition to the target of 3.5min average delay per flight for the overall air traffic flow management (ATFM) delay. The move follows worsening airport-related delays, which are becoming a greater contributory factor to the overall ATFM delay figures. ATFM measures cannot address airport-related delays, often caused by infrastructure and environmental problems.
The council has also called for more work to be conducted on a joint Eurocontrol-European Commission regulatory framework for air traffic management (ATM), which is expected to become a key element in the proposed Single Pan-European Sky initiative. Eurocontrol and the EC have been tasked with agreeing on a collaborative process for the development of regulations in ATM.
Source: Flight International
