Eurocontrol

European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation

Formation	1960[1]
Headquarters	Brussels, Belgium
Membership	41 member states
Website	http://www.eurocontrol.int

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

Headquarters of EUROCONTROL in Brussels, Belgium

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 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.

Membership

Member countries of EUROCONTROL are shown in shades of blue.

  ECAC, EUROCONTROL, ECAA, EU

  ECAC, EUROCONTROL, ECAA

  ECAC, EUROCONTROL

  ECAC, ECAA

  ECAC

EUROCONTROL and ECAC members:

Member	Since	Notes
Austria	1993	EU Member
Belgium	1960	EU Member
Bulgaria	1997	EU Member
Croatia	1997	EU Member
Cyprus	1991	EU Member
Czech Republic	1996	EU Member
Denmark	1994	EU Member
Estonia[4]	2015	EU Member
Finland	2001	EU Member
France	1960	EU Member
Germany	1960	EU Member
Greece	1988	EU Member
Hungary	1992	EU Member
Ireland	1965	EU Member
Italy	1996	EU Member
Latvia	2011	EU Member
Lithuania	2006	EU Member
Luxembourg	1960	EU Member
Malta	1989	EU Member
Netherlands	1960	EU Member
Poland	2004	EU Member
Portugal	1986	EU Member
Romania	1996	EU Member
Slovakia	1997	EU Member
Slovenia	1995	EU Member
Spain	1997	EU Member
Sweden	1995	EU Member
United Kingdom	1960	EU Member
European Union	2002	In parallel with member states
Albania	2002	EU Candidate
Republic of Macedonia	1998	EU Candidate
Montenegro	2007	EU Candidate
Serbia	2005	EU Candidate
Turkey	1989	EU Candidate
Armenia	2006
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2004
Moldova	2000
Monaco	1997
Norway	1994
Switzerland	1992
Ukraine	2004
Georgia[5]	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

1. ↑ About us Eurocontrol.int.
2. ↑ Eurocontrol. "EUROCONTROL MUAC / About Us". Retrieved 2010-02-06. 
3. ↑ MUAC'S New generation FDPS
4. ↑ "Estonia set to join EUROCONTROL". 
5. ↑ "Georgia became a member of EUROCONTROL". gcaa.ge. Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia. Retrieved 9 December 2012. 

External links

• Official site
• History of EUROCONTROL PDF (375 KiB)
• SKYbrary: The single point of reference in the network of aviation safety knowledge
• "Being in control at EUROCONTROL", article in Crossroads by Rinnie Oey
• Executive Overview: Jane's Air Traffic Control
• Skyway magazine

Foreign relations of the European Union   Bilateral relations Africa & the Middle East Cape Verde Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Lebanon Morocco Palestine† South Africa Syria Yemen Americas Argentina Brazil Canada Cuba Greenland Mexico United States Asia-Pacific Australia China (People's Republic of) Fiji India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Nepal North Korea Pakistan Philippines South Korea Europe & Central Asia Albania Andorra Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Faroe Islands Georgia Iceland Kazakhstan Kosovo† Liechtenstein Macedonia‡ Moldova Monaco Montenegro Northern Cyprus (Turkish Republic of)† Norway Russia San Marino Serbia Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Vatican City General Members’ overseas territories Largest trading partners Association agreements Free trade agreements †= Disputed state, may not be recognised as an independent state by some or all European Union members. ‡= Name disputed by Greece, EU recognises the Republic of Macedonia as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.   Multilateral relations and initiatives Organisations Arab League ASEAN ECHR G8 ICC United Nations Initiatives African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States Asia–Europe Meeting CARIFORUM Customs Union Eastern Partnership Energy Community Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly European Common Aviation Area European Economic Area Euro-Mediterranean free trade area Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Euronest Economic Partnership Agreements EU CBRN Risk Mitigation CoE Initiative Neighbourhood Policy Northern Dimension Mediterranean Union Stabilisation and Association Process   Organisation Policy Common Foreign and Security Policy Economic Relations Everything but Arms Security and Defence Policy Enlargement Actors ECHO EuropeAid External Action Service Foreign Affairs Council High Representative Catherine Ashton Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Foreign Policy Instruments Service Diplomatic missions of the EU / to the EU Ambassadors Special Representatives   Military and security Initiatives Defence Initiative Synchronised Armed Forces Defence Procurement Petersberg tasks Helsinki Headline Goal Structures Political and Security Committee Military Committee Military Staff Operations Centre Security & Defence College Defence Agency Institute for Security Studies Satellite Centre Joint Situation Centre Forces European Union Force Eurofor Eurocorps EU Battlegroup EU Gendarmerie Force EU Maritime Force Deployments