The Air Navigation Service Providers from France and Spain have reported progress in ways to improve air traffic flow between their countries.
Spain’s ENAIRE and France’s DSNA are working to better coordinate and improve operating procedures at cross-border airspace. The aim is to explore improvements to the current interfaces that support the various air traffic flows of ENAIRE and DSNA at the air traffic control centres in Madrid and Barcelona with Bordeaux, Brest and Marseille.
Enaire’s CEO Enrique Maurer and DSNA’s director Florian Guillermet recently met with director of EUROCONTROL Iacopo Prissinotti at the Marseille Control Centre in France to update on the airspace management projects the ANSPs are partnering on.
They took advantage of the meeting to monitor ongoing projects and initiatives for the summer season. The technical work of both countries was also discussed, with a special focus on the interface between the airspaces of Spain and France.
In addition, during the meeting, the two directors of ENAIRE and DSNA reviewed and endorsed the joint initiatives between Spain and France, which are consistent with EUROCONTROL's actions and are intended to make the design and use of the network of routes between the two countries more efficient, in terms of additional improvements in the Barcelona-Bordeaux interface itself, collateral connections between the Bordeaux and Brest control centres and the Madrid control centre, and the interface between the Marseille and Barcelona control centres.
Lower atmospheric emissions
During the meeting, the network measures elaborated by the EUROCONTROL Network Manager were also reviewed, where ENAIRE, as it did in 2022, will play an important role in handling traffic to the benefit of the European network.
They also reviewed both countries' initiatives to implement the Free-Route feature, which will be used to design more efficient airspace routes and help airlines save fuel, as well as reduce atmospheric emissions.
In the technical field, the officials reviewed joint initiatives to share information from the air traffic management systems used by the two providers, as well as to migrate both countries fully to Mode S surveillance, which will provide for enhanced coverage and improved performance between the two airspace interfaces.
EUROCONTROL, represented by its Network Management Director, Iacopo Prissinotti, participated with its management team to support the important work that is being done by both providers to improve the efficiency of the interface between Spain and France, to benefit the smooth functioning of air traffic in both countries, positively contributing to the entire network of European routes.
According to Enaire both Maurer and Guillermet noted the spirit of collaboration and proactivity of both countries to improve the operating procedures for their mutual benefit and to boost the overall efficiency of the network.