Six European countries ink FABEC agreement

[The Lawspeaker]

Six European countries ink FABEC agreement

Six European countries—Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland—on Thursday signed the agreement to create the “Functional Airspace Block—Europe Central.” FABEC is the third functional airspace block, after the UK–Ireland FAB and the Denmark–Sweden FAB. The other EU member states are expected to sign similar agreements in the next two years. FABs are an integral part to create the Single European Sky and reduce the current fragmentation of European airspace.

“The FABEC agreement is an important step in reducing airspace fragmentation, as it covers the core area of Europe with many large airports,” said EC VP-Transport Siim Kallas. “The functional airspace blocks will be able to satisfy the growing capacity requirements of all airspace users with a minimum of delays by managing air traffic more dynamically. At the same time, safety standards and overall efficiency will be enhanced.”

FABEC will be governed by a council, assisted by four committees: Airspace, Harmonization and Advisory, Financial and Performance and National Supervisory Authority. A board will be established to ensure the consultation of the air navigation service providers on matters relating to the provision of services within FABEC.

Source: Air Transport World (3rd of December 2010)

[The Lawspeaker]

I see something positive here as it would make policing the European airspace easier for our respective air forces and make it easier to guide traffic -all in all it becomes much more efficient. And for the Americans amongst us: your average airspace in Europe was (and some still are) about the size of a couple of US states and some were even smaller. I think that a Single European Sky divided into some of those FABs is a great step forward.