Eurocontrol
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Formation | 1960[1] |
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Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
Membership | 41 member states |
Website |
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 41 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 (MUAC)
- Network Manager Operations Centre (NMOC) – coordinates flight plans and actual traffic.
- EAD – centralized access to AIS information.
- Central Route Charges Office (CRCO) – collects en-route (and aerodrome approach) charges on behalf of Air Navigation Service providers (ANSPs).
- EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre (EEC) – ATM research, simulations, etc.
- Institute of Air Navigation Services (IANS) – training and e-learning.
- Projects.
- EUROCONTROL Safety Regulatory Requirement (ESARRs) – basis requirements for certification and designation according to EC regulation 2096/2005.
Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Eurocontrol_hoofdkwartier_1.jpg/220px-Eurocontrol_hoofdkwartier_1.jpg)
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 second 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. As such, it is in charge of defining the Standardised european rules of the air [4]
Membership
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/European_aviation_organisations_members.svg/500px-European_aviation_organisations_members.svg.png)
EUROCONTROL and ECAC members:
Member | Since | Notes |
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1993 | EU Member |
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1960 | EU Member |
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1997 | EU Member |
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1997 | EU Member |
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1991 | EU Member |
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1996 | EU Member |
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1994 | EU Member |
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2015 | EU Member |
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2001 | EU Member |
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1960 | EU Member |
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1960 | EU Member |
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1988 | EU Member |
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1992 | EU Member |
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1965 | EU Member |
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1996 | EU Member |
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2011 | EU Member |
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2006 | EU Member |
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1960 | EU Member |
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1989 | EU Member |
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1960 | EU Member |
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2004 | EU Member |
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1986 | EU Member |
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1996 | EU Member |
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1997 | EU Member |
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1995 | EU Member |
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1997 | EU Member |
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1995 | EU Member |
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1960 | EU Member |
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2002 | In parallel with member states |
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2002 | EU Candidate |
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1998 | EU Candidate |
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2007 | EU Candidate |
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2005 | EU Candidate |
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1989 | EU Candidate |
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2006 | |
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2004 | |
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2000 | |
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1997 | |
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1994 | |
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1992 | |
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2004 | |
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2014 |
Non-members:
Azerbaijan (ECAC member but outside EU)
Iceland (ECAC member but outside EU)
San Marino (ECAC member but outside EU)
See also
- Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption
- Controlled and Harmonised Aeronautical Information Network (CHAIN)
- European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)
- European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC)
- European Cockpit Association
- European Common Aviation Area (ECAA)
- List of the busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic
- Single European Sky
- SKYbrary
References
- ^ About us Eurocontrol.int.
- ^ Eurocontrol. "EUROCONTROL MUAC / About Us". Retrieved 2010-02-06.
- ^ MUAC'S New generation FDPS
- ^ http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/standardised-european-rules-air-sera-mandate-part
- ^ "Estonia set to join EUROCONTROL".
- ^ "Georgia became a member of EUROCONTROL". gcaa.ge. Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia. Retrieved 9 December 2012.