Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs) and the Single European Sky (SES)

A key element of the Single European Sky regulations is to reduce the number of the portions of airspace already in place in Europe (67) and to replace them by 9 functional airspace blocks (FABs) by 2012.

Airspace fragmentation in Europe

European skies are still organised in a fragmented way: there is still too little coordination between airspace navigation providers (ANSPs), air traffic control systems and between civil and military airspace users. Each time an aircraft enters a country's airspace, it is serviced by different ANSP, according to different rules and operational requirements. The existing fragmentation affects safety, limits capacity and it finally adds to the cost of flying.

Delays in Europe attributable to air traffic management (ATM) account for 1,000 hours each day, and are partly due to this airspace fragmentation. The solution came with the concept of managing air traffic in an integrated manner, by merging several portions of national airspace into wider blocks, called functional airspace blocks (FABs).

Within a FAB, air traffic flows and air navigation services are integrated and managed according to operational needs, rather than national boundaries. They result in significant capacity gains and and in a more efficient use of airspace across the continent.

Defragmentation of European airspace: FABs and the Single European Sky

The FAB concept was developed in the 1^st legislative package of the Single European Sky (SES) as a one of the main means of reducing airspace fragmentation. The objective is to ensure that national airspace boundaries do not reduce the efficiency of air traffic flows and air traffic services provision in Europe.

What does EUROCONTROL do?

It assists its Member States and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) in the implementation of FABs, to ensure the impact of new organisation of airspace optimises the efficiency levels of the entire European ATM. The European Commission mandated EUROCONTROL to provide support in the establishment of FABs by:

• identifying key issues arising from the development of FABs and supporting the development of “best practices”;
• developing reference material containing opportunities and difficulties encountered with the establishment of FABs.

The SES II package tackled the creation of FABs in terms of service provision, in addition to the airspace organisation issues. FABs will forsee the need for flexible forms of cooperation between service providers for a more effective air navigation service provision in Europe. The SES-II provides for a definite commitment date for the Member States to improve performance by using FABs, i.e. by 2012. The largest such grouping is FAB Europe Central Block (FABEC).

Nine FAB initiatives have been declared to the European Commission:

• NEFAB (North European FAB): Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway.
• NUAC: Nordic Upper Airspace Centre, Denmark, Sweden
• BALTIC FAB: Poland, Lithuania
• FABEC (FAB Europe Central): France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland
• FABCE (FAB Central Europe): Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• DANUBE: Bulgaria, Romania
• BLUE MED: Italy, Malta, Greece, Cyprus, (Egypt, Tunisia, Albania, Jordan)
• UK- IRELAND FAB: United Kingdom, Ireland
• SW FAB: Portugal, Spain