In Barcelona, ENAIRE, together with EUROCONTROL, analyses the improvements made to air traffic management

• As part of the 2025 Flight Plan in its Digital Sky Initiative, a new procedure was launched in the summer of 2022 to improve traffic flow management by applying airspace occupancy monitoring


• ENAIRE and EUROCONTROL representatives meet at the Barcelona Air Control Centre to analyse and share best practices


• A safe and efficient balance between airspace capacity and the demand for existing traffic is essential for airlines and airports

ENAIRE held a workshop on air traffic flow management and control in its Barcelona Air Control Centre with representatives of all ENAIRE Control Centres and the Operations management team, together with operational managers from the European Network Manager, EUROCONTROL, and the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC).

The aim of managing traffic flow is to strike a balance between the absorption capacity offered by the air traffic control system and its demand. This is done by applying a series of measures, including regulating demand.

The goal is to achieve a workload that is better distributed over time, avoiding demand peaks above the manageable capacity, while striving to improve the efficiency of the measures implemented, and thus optimise the air traffic management service that is provided.

In the summer of 2022, a new process was launched to monitor airspace occupancy. This meeting provided a venue in which to share the experience from these months, and to showcase the benefits obtained in terms of efficiency and safety both nationally and Europe-wide.

Attendees also gathered suggestions for the continuous improvement of ENAIRE’s service in an effort to supplement the tools and applications that ENAIRE has developed as part of its 2025 Flight Plan in terms of flow management, and which currently feature in several initiatives of EUROCONTROL’s Excellence Programme.

Present at the workshop were Ángel Luis Arias, ENAIRE’s CEO, Enrique Maurer, ENAIRE’s Air Navigation Services Director, the Deputy Director of Air Navigation Services, Laura Garces, the Director of Operations, Xavier Benavent, and the Head of the Safety Division, Santiago Cortés.

All of them agreed on the importance and impact to customers, airlines and airports of the efficient management that couples airspace capacity with demand to maximise the efficiency of the available capacity, as determined by the acceptable workload for controllers.

The workshop concluded with a roundtable discussion with the flow control and operational safety manages at ENAIRE’s control centres in Madrid, Seville and Barcelona, the Union of Air Traffic Controllers (USCA) and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association (APROCTA).

EUROCONTROL, which played a key role in the event, shared its vision as the European Network Manager, and as a local service provider through its Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC). Through its extensive experience in applying new concepts and initiatives to improve customer service.

ENAIRE also photo

Source: Auto Draft