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| The 41 Eurocontrol member states met during the annual Provisional Council meeting. Photo: Eurocontrol |
[Avionics Today 12-16-2015] Eurocontrol member states have decided to extend Eurocontrol’s mandate to operate military Air Traffic Control (ATC) services in addition to the current civilian ATC services out of the agency’s Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC). The extension pertains to the north German airspace, Hannover UIR, and Dutch airspace, Amsterdam Flight Information Region (FIR).
The extended mandate allows the provision of integrated civil and military air traffic control services, which will be provided in the future by the air traffic controller dealing with both types of service in an integrated way.
“Integration of civil and military air traffic control brings major benefits from both from an operational and a financial perspective,” said Eurocontrol Director General Frank Brenner. “This decision by the states means that MUAC will be able to drive improved efficiency and capacity in the core area of Europe which already handles over 5,000 flights every day.”
The member states also authorized the agency to open negotiations for the conclusion of a special agreement with the Netherlands concerning the provision by the organization of air traffic services for operational air traffic in the Amsterdam FIR, in line with the principles set out in the National Airspace Vision (NAV) of the Netherlands.
Eurocontrol has established a project to deal with these additional tasks with the goal to see results by the end of 2016 or spring 2017.