Future ATFM Measures: The solution to airspace congestion?

The present day method in Europe of ensuring that traffic demand is safely matched to controller workload limits relies heavily on the use of slot regulation, an operation centrally managed by the Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU). This approach is effective when excess demand is forecast well in advance of the contributing traffic becoming active. However, when excess demand arises from active traffic due, for example, to operational drift or adverse weather conditions, then there is limited flexibility in the system to react.

Whether or not regulation is employed it is still possible for the actual traffic demand to differ from that forecast. Such a phenomenon is quite critical and may cause traffic over-deliveries or, at the other extreme, capacity losses.

In response to this problem, the FAM concept aims to complement the current ATFM system by promoting the dynamic negotiation of regional traffic flow managers (including CFMU), in order to dissipate a predicted overload. Traffic flow managers will aim to resolve potential congestion by requesting collaborative actions on traffic ahead of arrival in the congested airspace or airport. This activity is identified as Real-Time Traffic Synchronisation. Airspace re-configuration, geographical re-routing, level change, traffic sequencing, are example of measures to be applied on airborne or not airborne traffic .

To facilitate this, information and decision management tools will be employed which would evolve from existing technologies, and therefore would not require any major technological shift. On the other hand, because of their very nature (that is, one organisation providing co-operative, added value services to other organisations), they will require that an institutional and economic framework be defined. Implementation of the operational concept will be enabled by the ETFMS system: traffic forecasts using this real-time information should be able to predict loads with much tighter tolerances than is currently achievable.

The FAM project will develop and test prototype tools for information and decision management as well as evaluating the operational concept. Samples of user-interfaces of the prototype are provided:

Further information can be obtained from

Roger Guerreau,

FAM Project Manager

Tel (+33) 1 69 88 7244

Fax +33 (1) 69 88 72 44