Abstract
As the European Airspace is experiencing its capacity limits, and forcasting on average an capacity increase of about 10 Percent per year, project research and concepts are under way by which to find alternative airspace structures the European airspace need to set up and merge. Free Route Airspace and SESAR are to projects within European ATC providers to overcome the current capacity limites as well as to increase safety and cut costs of ATC.
As Free Route Airspace is under development and initiated in 2004 under the name “Single European Sky ATM Research” and “European Free Route Airspace” to improve efficiency and effectiveness in European Air Traffic. The SESAR Program was initiated by the European Commission since there is no common and uniform ATM for Europe.
The European Free Route Airspace concept implemented by EuroControl in 2008 is the concept of switching from fixed route network to offering direct routes and tailored routes in order to contribute to airspace performance improvements o capacity, efficiency and environment . (Eurocontrol, 2015)
The Bottle neck in Aviation is not only the Airspace it self but also Slots for takeoffs and landings as well as Airport movements it
1. Introduction
The aviation industry is one of the most dynamic industries worldwide. In this regard, the gradual liberalization of air traffic opened the skies in Europe during the last century. Nevertheless, the growth of European air traffic, as well as the continued increase of frequencies and new destinations of the established European national carriers, made air traffic operations in Europe more complex than ever before. Air traffic controllers, pilots and Airline operators often push the envelope when managing flight routings and distributing Slots.
To begin with, the author describes the literature and research methods used in order to familiarize the reader with the sources of the content of this thesis. In the following, the fourth chapter introduces the reader to the subject of how deregulation has been achieved, starting from the Paris Convention in 1910 to the creation of the European Union in 1957. In addition to these introductory chapters, six subsequent chapters compose this thesis. The fifth part explores the current air traffic situation in Europe and why the coordination of the European airspace has to change. It finalizes with the development of the Single European Sky. The next chapter focuses on the SESAR program which is the technical and operational base of the Single European Sky initiative. The author describes the structure and aims of SESAR and the establishment of Functional Airspace Blocks, and concludes with considerations on investment and financing. The following part investigates the challenges and consequences for the European key players, namely the airlines, air navigation service providers and airports. Subsequently, the author summarizes the major benefits of the SESAR program. The last part finalizes this thesis with recommendations for further ameliorations of the future European air traffic system and an overall conclusion.
As the author guides the reader through this thesis, it will become apparent that the modernization of the European air traffic management system will improve the efficiency and safety of air traffic within Europe in the decades to come.
As the title suggests this thesis is concerning about Free Route Airspace and specially focusing on the impact it can have for users and or customers in the means of efficiency and effectiveness. Since the beginning of the European Union many bilateral agreements and multilateral agreements where implemented to deregulate the air traffic over Europe for Europeans and international air traffic.
The European airspace had 2017 10,6 million movements (overflights and landings/ departures). Which is estimated to XXXX flights per day.
But within the European airspace all states have to control the sky above them by them self and the pilots still use VHF radio communication to communicate with ATC, based on this old technology there should be a development evolution of communication. SESAR implies and paradigm change in ATC to change the central cooperation structure between Air and Ground, the new technology not only should improve the communication between ATC and Pilots but also improves the communication between the pilots and Airline Operation centers, meteorology services and Airports.
At the same time Eurocontrol moves away from fixed route flights to increase capacity and efficiency for all users at time when ever it is possible
1 Literature Review
In order to arrive at the base concept of “Free Route Airspace” decisions the competences Eurowings / Users should adopt, the idea of SESAR will be evaluated. Combined with a estimation of changes in ATM and Operations control centers of the airline, this will allow Eurowings to base the organizational framework of its new network route strategy to integrate the new ATC framework and use it for their advantage.
Free route Airspace enables the possibility for carriers to be more punctual, operate shorter routes and to fly more economically and environmental friendly by cutting down the travel time and distance which has an impact on the fuel consumptions and ATC costs
1.1 ATC Development
Mid 1980 the idea of liberalized Airspace came up in Europe, which was based on the American idea from end of the 1978. The third Aviation Package was released by the European Community (a pre European Union) 1. January 1993 which allowed full cabotage (effective since 1 April 1997). The problem in Europe was still that 30 sovereign states with different strategies and equipment were controlling the local Airspace. Some European States do not want to give up their Sovereignty. (Meredith, 1994) (Dunbar, 2017) (ATC delays down in Europe., 1994) With increasing numbers of flight, the delays (UK inbound traffic on juli Fridays 1992 were recorded at 57% with an average delay of 25minutes) besides the fact that an average European flight was 10 % longer than necessary. (Buyck, 2000)
Across Europe 51 ATC centers with 31 different ATC systems by 18 manufacturers in 22 operating systems were in place (Buyck, 2000) which made a close cooperation nearly impossible, due to this circumstance the US ATC which covered double the amount of airspace was XXXX more efficient by operating one system out of 22 ATC centers.
Due to this circumstances ECAC asked Eurocontrol to operate and central flow management unit (CFMU) to improve ATFM.
Published in 1989 by ICAO the FEATS addressed the development through Europe in the means of ATC till 2005 and beyond. By end of the 90s ECAC and Eurocontrol implemented EATCHIP (ATC delays down in Europe., 1994) (Buyck, 2000) which leveled the ground for en-route environment to cope with the capacity limits and to improve the ATC process as well as an improvement from the technical side.
(Carsrude & Allison, 1990)
Followed by the improvements from EATCHIP more route flexibility, shorter separations, more direct routing and lowering of ATC costs where possible. (Majumdar, 1994) (Meredith, 1994)
After the harmonization and standardization of ATC in Europe, 2004 the European Commission wants to step ahead in to the future by developing the single European Sky system. (Buyck, 2000)
The Free Route Airspace concept basically states the idea of having an incoming point at the outer skirts of the Airspace block and having an exit point at some other point at the airspace block, in-between these two points the routing in up on the Airline/ the operator of the A/C. Currently the air traffic flow is still organized based on airways and altitude which are connected via so called way points where a switch on the airway and or altitude is possible. (Eurocontrol, 2015) (Eurocontrol) (Eurocontrol, 2016)
1.2 SESAR – A general overview
The concept behind SESAR is to have a uniform ATC which is able to control and communicate throughout Europe which makes route planning and operating easier in the first step, the second step is to have all over Europe one single big airspace which is controlled by standardized local ATCs but is overlooked by MUAC so that all movements can be coordinated centrally which allows that the concept of Free Route Airspace is possible to apply in general expecting military or closed airspaces.
(Cook, Belkoura, & Zanin, 2017) (Keaveney & Magnowska, 2016)
Figure 1 – The overall Gantt of PCP implementation
1.3 Relevance of FRA as part of SESAR in the context of this thesis
2 Research Methodologie
Research Questions:
1. How can Eurowings take advantage of FRA?
2. How does FRA effect the Operations of Eurowings
3. How much potential advantage has FRA/Sesar for Eurowings cost wise?
4. What are the overall advantages of FRA for Eurowings?
5. In what time can Eurowings calculate with the savings and advantages?
The Research design is necessary in the case of this Bachelor thesis, as the aviation industry in Europe is susceptible and progressive at the same time. The industry is progressive in the means of demand regarding Air traffic Control but at the same time susceptible from the supply side (ATC and ATFM). This is the reason why a new and innovative framework has to be implemented in the industry.
2.1 Chapter overview
This chapter will describe the research methods used in the paper. The author will recount in detail the research strategy, the research method, the research approach, the methods of data collection, the research process, the type of data analysis and the research reliability and validity. The precondition literature for the research methods will be evaluated and a précised structure will adhere during the progression of this paper. By searching for patterns in developments and empirical data, the author will develop a theory of how to achieve the thesis objectives and structures the paper clearly for the reader. Additionally, this chapter will describe how the data will be collected during the research process.
2.2 Research approach
The paper will follow a Inductive approach, meaning that the paper will begin with observations and will develop empirical generalizations and identify preliminary relationships as he progresses through this Thesis. (Neuman, 2013) (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009) Different initiatives of the Network Manager and services concerning ATM, such as Free Route Airspace (FRA) concept and DCTs (directs) will be explained in order to provide background knowledge regarding the specific plan at the current state is currently coping with will be discussed at a later stage. More specifically, the impact on the Free Route Airspace for Airline operators will be researched. In this way, the reader will be able to acknowledge the importance of the efficiency and effectiveness within the examined concept.
As the author evaluates on how Free Route Airspace has been created, why a more centralized ATM system is needed within Europe for the decades to come, as well as which measures will further be implemented in the next years, the author used the longitudinal design to collect and analyze the data, as changes and reasons for these transitions are assessed over time. More specifically, the author will apply the qualitative longitudinal research design, in form of interviews and literature reviews of books, magazines, as well as articles from Internet websites.
2.3 Research strategy
The research strategy of this paper can be defined as a case study and Action Research due to the fact it will investigate and compare empirical sets of data as well as personal interviews evaluations.
With this strategy, the author aims to gain a broader understanding and knowledge of the current ATM Network by evaluating and researching into a particular initiative: the implementation of FRA. The impact of this concept and its effect on Airline Operations in the region of Europe will be observed.
Furthermore, right after the in- depth analysis, the expected future developments of that concept in the examined region will be shown.
2.4 Purpose of the research
The purpose of the paper can be classified as both exploratory and explanatory. The dissertation will assess aspects of the ATM in Europe, and it will gain new insights into the concept of Free Route Airspace, which describes the exploratory study (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009). Moreover, this approach is used for understanding the concept chosen to be explored in this paper and by searching and studying the literature available an exploratory research will be conducted: following the process of searching, studying the literature and conducting an observation.
On the other hand, the study will follow an explanatory design as it will aim to answer a “how” question. Furthermore, according to (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009), this concept of approach is used to describe relationships expressing the effect of the particular event. In this paper, the link of how the airspace users have been influenced by the FRA initiative and how the users take advantage of the implementation.
2.5 Quantitative and qualitative data
The data in the paper will be both quantitative and qualitative, mixed methods. (Wisdom & Creswell, 2013) The quantitative data will be based on the data, such as statistics showing randomly selected flights overflying Europe and statistical visualizations showing how much are they saving on flight distance because of the implemented Free Route Airspace. With that quantitative and qualitative observation, the author aims to provide important aspects of the topic, supporting the analysis with different sources and data.
2.6 Data collection methods
This thesis will use two types of data collection methods: primary and secondary. Primary data collection is information provided from first- hand sources, as the secondary data is gathered from academic and trustful sources.
2.6.1 Primary data collection
Data will be primarily collected for this project by two methods. The first data sources are Catalogues of Eurocontrol Regarding FRA and SESAR, besides that the author uses internal documents and data recorded b Eurowings.
Furthermore, “Traffic queries allow users to capture and visualize 4D trajectories according to various filters, including departure/arrival airport, navigation points, route segments, crossed sectors, aircraft operator, and aircraft type. Charts Graphs can be generated to illustrate and compare airspace loads, entry rates, occupancy counts, conflicts, traffic mix, complexity, saturation, overload, delays, etc. Performance indicators including route length extension for flight efficiency, fuel consumption, capacity baselines, ATFM delay, route charges, CO2 and NOx emissions can be evaluated individually or combined to provide composite indicators. Large quantities of data spanning multiple years can be evaluated,
For more accurate research results, several interviews will be conducted. The professionals interviewed might provide data that have not been published in journals and articles such as the saved time and distance after the implementation of FRA in the examined region and the influence on the workload of the ANSPs in Europe. In addition, feedback from some flight plan service providers can be requested during the research part of this report. Questions will be prepared in advance regarding the subject, and those questions may vary depending on the interviewee, their company position and knowledge. The interviews will be completed via Telephone. The author will collect information as much as possible from experts working in Airline Control Centers as well as Task forces of the airlines working on FRA and SESAR.
For the following XX chapters the author mainly reviewed literature of books, magazines, statistical data and published organizational documents from internet websites of the main institutions and stakeholders involved in the Single European Sky initiative, FAA, Free Route Airspace Initiative as well as Company internal Data shared by Eurowings Aviation GmbH and Lufthansa CityLine GmbH. Additionally, the author used content from the lectures of Mr. Alexander Skoniezki in Air Navigation Services, Mr. Ehmer in Aviation and Environment, Mr. Wilken in Slot Management and Mr. Giesecke in Aviation Law. For technical questions concerning the SESAR program and Free Route Airspace, an Lufthansa pilot has been interviewed via e-mail communication. Also, XXX telephone interviews with the Lufthansa Cityline (Mrs. Müller, Dispatch Department), Eurowings Aviation GmbH (Mr. XXXX Dispatch Department and Mr. Weichert IOCC OCS Department) have been conducted for information on the progress of the Single European Sky initiative and Free Route Airspace.
2.6.2 Secondary data collection
Secondary resources will also be used in this report, such as journals, books, articles and various internet sources in order to combine both literature review and background of the subject with first-hand information from actual authorities. This data will be mainly used to illustrate the context of the Air Traffic Control and Management in Europe and the implementation process of Free Route Airspace in the European countries. The main source, which will be used for the description of this concept, is the EUROCONTROL website. As mentioned in the Literature Review, the chapter “Historical Development” is mainly based Governmental and or Taskgroup papers such as Catalogues, guidelines and Reports. In addition, official regulations and European Commission documents are considered and applied in this paper. One more reason to use such sources is the fact that there is a shortage of books and academic materials, which describe this concept and present the current situation of the European ATM Network. This can be identified as a challenge for completing this paper. Nevertheless, alternative sources will be used and combined in order to fulfil the objectives set in this report. Furthermore, the official website of EUROCONTROL will be strictly monitored for new information regarding charts, tables and data showing any updates regarding FRA. In that way, the author will have the ability to work with up – to – date information which can be easily linked with information that will be collected by the primary sources.
2.7 Validity and reliability
The Autor takes validity and reliability as a great concern in this thesis. Validity specifies basels if the report investigates indoctrinates the fundamentals that have been arisen and the validity of the results achieved in this paper. (Creswell & Miller, 2000) (Golafshani, 2003) (Bashir, Afzal, & Azeem, 2008).According to Bshir, Afzal and Azeem, the definition of reliability was cited from M. Joppe (2000) as the following: “The extent to which results are consistent over time and an accurate representation of the total population under study is referred to as reliability, and if the results of a study can be reproduced under a similar methodology, then the research instrument is considered to be reliable.” Considering these important keys, this thesis can be seen as on an academic level, since the research outcome can be measured with care.
2.8 Risk assessment and project management
All research methods mentioned in this chapter have been chosen for the study due to their suitability and to meet the agreed objectives of this paper. Nevertheless, the comprehensive analysis of these methods, some weaknesses and risks can be identified:
Despite the weak points mentioned above, the author has chosen those research methods to overcome the risks. Even more, the paper will be supervised by IUBH University in order to assist the researcher by structural and communicating issues that may appear during the process. A schedule has been created and strictly followed by the author so that the process can be easily monitored and delays reduced to a minimum.
As a conclusion, it can be said that the research methodology will be a vital part of an efficient completion of the project and that all efforts will be put in order to achieve high results from this study.
2.9 Research type
The Aurthor used the deductive approach, meaning that the paper will begin with a more general topic (ATC and ATM development in Europe) and it will be narrowed down to a more specific problem (Free Route Airspace). (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009).The dissertation will start with expanding the need for a European organization to manage the ATM network within Europe and how it is contributing during the years for the enhancement of air traffic operations. Different initiatives of the Network Manager and services concerning ATM, such as Free Route Airspace (FRA) concept, DCTs (directs), NextGen and ETCHIP will be explained in order to provide background knowledge regarding the specific problem that will be discussed at a later stage. More specifically, the impact on the overflying traffic within the Free Route Airspace will be researched. In this way, the reader will be able to acknowledge the importance of those operations and their efficiency and effectiveness within the examined concept from a Users view point.
2.10 Research Design
As the author evaluates on how Free Route Airspace has been created, why a more centralized ATM system is needed within Europe for the decades to come, as well as which measures will further be implemented in the next years, the author used the longitudinal design to collect and analyze the data, as changes and reasons for these transitions are assessed over time. More specifically, the author will apply the qualitative longitudinal research design, in form of interviews and literature reviews of books, magazines, as well as articles from Internet websites.
3 Background
The aim of this chapter is to give an overview and discuss a number of definitions describing Free Route Airspace. Furthermore, a detailed look at different ideas of FRA and to mention similar Concepts for example in the maritime management. Ultimately, this chapter will look at a possible change in strategy and paradigm from SESAR and Route Network Development Sub-Group (RNDSG) and will outline and discuss the illations and concepts which underlie this thesis.
3.1 Definition of Free Route Airspace
As of Today world wide Air space is still controlled in the means of Fixed Routes, which have to be filed before the flight deploys. The new concept is defined for users to freely plan the route between entry and exit points without reference to ATS or to airspace availability, the subject of ATC remains to ATC. (Eurocontrol, 2015) (Eurocontrol, 2016)The Scope of this is to harmonies and implement the free route concept at airpace classification C and above 460 within the NOTA while meeting the safety objectives, being compatible and sustainable to existing and future operations and developments. (Eurocontrol, 2015) (Eurocontrol, 2016).
3.2 The Situation at European Airspace 2018
3.3 The First cross boarder Free route airspace was implemented by mearign SAX FRA ( (Müller, 2018)Within one year of planning the cooperation between the already two cross boarder free route airspaces was set and implemented
3.4 SESAR Goals 2020
The four main objectives/ goals of SESAR are:
1) Enable threefold increase in capacity
2) Improve safety by a factor of 10
3) Cut ATM cost by half
4) Reduce environmental impact by 10%