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EUROCONTROL Airspace
Strategy for the ECAC States
Major Step Towards a Harmonised European Airspace
The first strategic step of the EUROCONTROL Airspace
Strategy for the European Civil Aviation Conference
States referred to as Operational Improvement 1A, is
to harmonise the Airspace Classifications above a common
agreed Level throughout Member States' airspace.
This work has been undertaken by the
Airspace, Flow Management and Navigation Business Division
of EUROCONTROL, in close collaboration with Member States,
military authorities and user organisations, resulting
in an agreement that the common division Level would
be FL 195 and that the harmonised Airspace Classification
above it be ICAO Class C airspace. In addition, harmonised
access rules for VFR flights in this airspace have been
agreed.
The target date for implementation was
27 November 2003, less than 2 years from the EUROCONTROL
Permanent Commission's endorsement of the Airspace Strategy.
It was also determined that Operational Improvement
1A did not require a "big-bang" implementation
but that managed flexibility was more appropriate, given
the different starting points of the Member States.
We are pleased to report that as of 27
November 2003, 29 of the 40 participating States now
have a common division Level of FL 195 with ICAO Class
C airspace above this Level. All but 3 of the remaining
ECAC States intend to implement the same airspace structure
during 2004.
A subsidiary element of Operational Improvement
1A was to harmonise the upper limit of the Class C airspace
- this was determined to be FL 660. Today 22 European
Civil Aviation Conference States now have such an upper
level
This represents a significant contribution
towards facilitating the Single European Sky, improving
safety through reducing confusion as to airspace classification
rules for those airspace users flying across Europe,
and has the potential for improving Air Traffic Management
efficiency through producing transparency of international
airspace boundaries.
Airspace
Classification Chart
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