European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation

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The goal for EUROCONTROL is to develop, coordinate and plan for implementation of pan-European air traffic management strategies and their associated action plans in an effort involving national authorities, air navigation service providers, civil and military airspace users, airports, industry, professional organisations and relevant European institutions. Its core activities involve all gate-to-gate air navigation service operations: strategic and tactical flow management, controller training, regional control of airspace, development of leading-edge, safety-proofed technologies and procedures, and collection of air navigation charges.

The tools to meet the goals are (among others) these pan-european functions:
* [http://www.cfmu.eurocontrol.int/cfmu/public/subsite_homepage/homepage.html CFMU] (Central Flow Management Unit) - coordinates flight plans & actual traffic
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/ead/public/standard_page/what_is_ead.html EAD] (European AIS Database) - centralized acces to AIS information
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/crco/public/subsite_homepage/homepage.html CRCO] (Central Route Chages Office) - collects en-route (& aerodrome approach) chages on behaf of the ANSPs
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/eec/public/subsite_homepage/homepage.html EEC] (EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre) - ATM research, simulations, etc.
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/ceats/public/subsite_homepage/homepage.html CEATS] Research, Development and Simulation Centre - ATM research, simulations, etc.
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/ians/public/subsite_homepage/homepage.html IANS] (Institute of Air Navigation Services) - training & e-learning
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/corporate/public/standard_page/in_projects.html Projects]
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/src/public/standard_page/src_deliverables.html ESARRs] (Eurocontrol Safety Regulatory Requirement) - basis requirements for certification & designation according to "EC regulation 2096/2005"
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/muac/public/subsite_homepage/homepage.html MUAC] (Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre) - see below

EUROCONTROL Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC), which is the second busiest air traffic control centre in Europe, after London. It has been a pioneer of new systems and technologies and has set an example of cooperation between civil and military ATC service providers. It achieves high productivity through the use of its evolutionary technical infrastructure (MADAP), pan-European recruitment, human resources reward programme and organisational culture. MUAC created innovative technology and productivity enhancements: the Short-Term Conflict Alert, Medium-Term Conflict Alert, Medium-Term Conflict Detection, Automated Flight Activation Messages (ACT), Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) and stripless controller working positions. Using an innovative Operator Display System (ODS) sporting various productivity boosting innovations, the air traffic controllers working at the MUAC provide safe and efficient control services over various European countries such as Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Germany.Typically, Air Traffic Control Sectors at MUAC can handle 50 or more flights per hour in an Upper Control Area above 24500 feet. 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.

Eurocontrol have been delegated parts of the Single European Sky regulations by the European Commission.

Membership

EUROCONTROL, EU and ECAC members:
* Belgium (1960)
* Netherlands (1960)
* Luxembourg (1960)
* France (1960)
* Germany (1960)
* United Kingdom (1960)
* Ireland (1965)
* Portugal (1986)
* Greece (1988)
* Malta (1989)
* Cyprus (1991)
* Hungary (1992)
* Austria (1993)
* Denmark (1994)
* Slovenia (1995)
* Sweden (1995)
* Romania (1996)
* Czech Republic (1996)
* Italy (1996)
* Bulgaria (1997)
* Slovakia (1997)
* Spain (1997)
* Finland (2001)
* Poland (2004)
* Lithuania (2006)

EUROCONTROL and ECAC members outside the EU:
* Turkey (1989)
* Switzerland (1992)
* Norway (1994)
* Croatia (1997)
* Monaco (1997)
* Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (1998)
* Moldova (2000)
* Albania (2002)
* Bosnia and Herzegovina (2004)
* Ukraine (2004)
* Serbia (2005, as SiM)
* Armenia (2006)
* Montenegro (2007)

Notable non-members:
EU members:
* Latvia
* Estonia

ECAC members:
* Iceland
* Azerbaijan
* Georgia

ee also

*European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC)
*European Common Aviation Area (ECAA)
*European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)
*List of the busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic

External links

* [http://www.eurocontrol.int Official site]
*PDF| [http://www.eurocontrol.int/corporate/gallery/content/public/docs/pdf/aboutus/history.pdf History of EUROCONTROL] |375 KiB
* [http://www.skybrary.aero SKYbrary: The single point of reference in the network of aviation safety knowledge]
* [http://crossroads.journalismcentre.com/2006/being-in-control-at-eurocontrol/ "Being in control at Eurocontrol"] , article in [http://crossroads.journalismcentre.com/ Crossroads] by Rinnie Oey
* [http://www.janes.com/aerospace/civil/news/jatc/jatc060912_1_n.shtml Executive Overview: Jane's Air Traffic Control]