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Eurocontrol

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European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Formation1960[1]
HeadquartersBrussels, Belgium
Membership
40 member states
Website
http://www.eurocontrol.int

EUROCONTROL is the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation. Founded in 1960, it is an international organisation working for seamless, pan-European air traffic management. EUROCONTROL is a civil organisation and currently has 40 member states; its headquarters are in Haren, City of Brussels.

EUROCONTROL coordinates and plans air traffic control for all of Europe. This involves working with national authorities, air navigation service providers, civil and military airspace users, airports, and other organisations. Its activities involve all gate-to-gate air navigation service operations: strategic and tactical flow management, controller training, regional control of airspace, safety-proofed technologies and procedures, and collection of air navigation charges.

Functions and centres

EUROCONTROL provides a set of different services:

Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre

Headquarters of EUROCONTROL in Brussels, Belgium

EUROCONTROL's Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC), located at Maastricht Aachen Airport, provides air traffic control for traffic above 24,500 ft over Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and north-west Germany. A DFS unit, controlling military air traffic over the north-west of Germany, is co-located with the civil facilities. It started operations in 1972.[2]

It is the busiest upper area Area Control Centre (ACC) in Europe. In Europe, only London centre has more traffic in terms of numbers, but that is caused by a much bigger airspace range (also below 24,500 feet) with many more sectors.

MUAC has put in operation innovative technology and productivity enhancements: a new generation Flight Data Processing System,[3] the Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA), Medium Term Conflict Detection (MTCD), Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) and stripless controller working positions.

Typically, air traffic control sectors at MUAC can handle 55 or more flights per hour. The average flight duration is approximately 18 minutes and typically 60% of the traffic is climbing from or descending to the major European airports of London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Berlin. Maastricht UAC has undoubtedly one of the most complex airspace structures in the world where the traffic flow (up to 5,000+ aircraft a day) can be somewhat disrupted by the many surrounding military airspaces around.

Regulatory responsibilities

EUROCONTROL has been delegated parts of the Single European Sky regulations by the European Commission.

Membership

Member countries of EUROCONTROL are shown in shades of blue.
  ECAC, EUROCONTROL, ECAA, EU
  ECAC, EUROCONTROL, ECAA
  ECAC, EUROCONTROL
  ECAC, ECAA, EU
  ECAC, ECAA
  ECAC

EUROCONTROL and ECAC members:

Member Since Notes
 Austria 1993 EU Member
 Belgium 1960 EU Member
 Bulgaria 1997 EU Member
 Croatia 1997 EU Member
 Cyprus 1991 EU Member
 Czech Republic 1996 EU Member
 Denmark 1994 EU Member
 Finland 2001 EU Member
 France 1960 EU Member
 Germany 1960 EU Member
 Greece 1988 EU Member
 Hungary 1992 EU Member
 Ireland 1965 EU Member
 Italy 1996 EU Member
 Latvia 2011 EU Member
 Lithuania 2006 EU Member
 Luxembourg 1960 EU Member
 Malta 1989 EU Member
 Netherlands 1960 EU Member
 Poland 2004 EU Member
 Portugal 1986 EU Member
 Romania 1996 EU Member
 Slovakia 1997 EU Member
 Slovenia 1995 EU Member
 Spain 1997 EU Member
 Sweden 1995 EU Member
 United Kingdom 1960 EU Member
 European Union 2002 In parallel with member states
 Albania 2002
 Armenia 2006
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2004
 Republic of Macedonia 1998
 Moldova 2000
 Monaco 1997
 Montenegro 2007
 Norway 1994
 Serbia 2005
  Switzerland 1992
 Turkey 1989
 Ukraine 2004
 Georgia[4] 2014
 Estonia[5] 2015* * not until 1 January 2015

Notable non-members:

  • Estonia (EU and ECAC member) (target date for accession of EUROCONTROL is 1 January 2015)
  • Azerbaijan (ECAC member but outside EU)
  • Iceland (ECAC member but outside EU)

See also

References

  1. ^ About us Eurocontrol.int.
  2. ^ Eurocontrol. "EUROCONTROL MUAC / About Us". Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  3. ^ MUAC'S New generation FDPS
  4. ^ "Georgia became a member of EUROCONTROL". gcaa.ge. Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  5. ^ "Estonia set to join EUROCONTROL".
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