Delivering Free Route Airspace for Northern Europe ~ Progress to date Branka Subotić, Executive Director Page 1 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Borealis Alliance 9 ANSPs 3 FABs > 3.8M flights/year > 10400 flights/day 38% of European traffic Page 1 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Free Route Airspace (FRA) Programme Page 2 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Free Route Airspace (FRA) Programme Commenced on 1 st January 2015 and is expected to run until 2021, when the vision will be realised Free Route within Borealis FRA takes into account EUROCONTROL definition as well as regional practices Free Route Airspace is key to the delivery of fuel efficient and environmentally friendly user preferred routings from the eastern boundary of the oceanic airspace to the Russian border Our aim is to enable airspace users to fly efficient routes which can be planned for in advance, allowing savings such as reduced fuel load to be realised For more information please see http://www.borealis.aero Page 3 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Borealis FRA Progress in 2015 (1/2) Transitioned seamlessly from NEFRA to Borealis FRA governance structure: Borealis Board Borealis FRA Steering Group Borealis FRA Project Group Formed the following Borealis FRA expert groups: 1. Project Group 2. Technical Subgroup 3. Airspace Modelling/Simulation Subgroup 4. Publication group GOVERNANCE IN PLACE KEY DOCUMENTS AGREED AND DELIVERED BY 9 ANSPs Delivered some of the key Borealis FRA documents: 1. Programme Management Plan 2. CONOPS 3. Terms of Reference Page 4 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Borealis FRA Progress in 2015 (2/2) Encouraged our regulators in forming the 9 State NSAs group that aims to deliver a common regulatory framework for the Borealis FRA Programme Reviewed our Borealis FRA CONOPS with airlines and FPSP and received positive feedback Engaged with the EC, EASA and EUROCONTROL on an on-going basis to inform them of our progress and seek support when needed 9 STATE NSAs GROUP ON BOARD THUMBS UP FROM THE AIRLINES AND EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS Applied for the CEF funding and were successfully awarded EUR6.5M under the INEA 2014 Call Further applied for the CEF funding under the INEA 2015 Call Page 5 Borealis Alliance March 2016 RECOGNISED BY THE CEF AS ONE OF THE KEY EUROPEAN PROJECTS
Free Route Airspace (FRA) Programme INCREMENTAL STEPS TO JOIN EXISTING FRA VOLUMES Irish and Danish/Swedish FAB NEFAB and NEFRA Icelandic and UK airspace joining from 2016 onwards Page 6 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Irish/DK-SE FAB Free Route Airspace The IAA s ENSURE (En-Route Shannon Upper Airspace Re-Design) project removed the airway structure from its enroute airspace, thereby changing its nature to route free DK-SE FAB implemented Free Route Airspace from November 2011 In both cases, well ahead of the EU requirements Page 7 Borealis Alliance March 2016
NEFAB Free Route Airspace NEFAB FRA kicked off in November 2015 in Estonia, Finland, Latvia (FL95+) and Norway (FL135+) Enables airspace users to plan and operate according to business trajectories Flight planning and operations can take into account factors impacting costs: prevailing winds shortest routes airspace reservations Well ahead of the EU requirements Page 8 Borealis Alliance March 2016
NEFRA Programme NEFRA is the interface connecting Free Route Airspaces volumes in NEFAB and DK/SE FAB above FL285+ Pioneers multi-fab Free Route Airspace across two FABs or six States In November 2015 common flight planning rules in FRA introduced accross NEFAB and DK/SE FAB In progress: remaining requirements to use fixed points at FAB borders are being gradually removed Once finalised, the whole area will seem as one continuous FRA to airspace users Page 9 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Borealis FRA Implementation Steps Seven implementation steps 2016 2021 ID Lead ANSP Step Planned S1 IAA Extension of FRA in Shannon FIR down to FL75 2016 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 Isavia Isavia NATS Isavia NATS FRA for flights departing/arriving within Reykjavik FIR via Norway FIR FRA for flights departing/arriving within Reykjavik FIR via Scottish FIR Implementation of FRA in seven Scottish FIR sectors FRA for all flights transiting via Norway and Scottish FIRs Full implementation of FRA in Scottish FIR and in parts of London FIR 2017 S7 NATS Full implementation of FRA in London FIR 2021 Page 10 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Borealis FRA CONOPS First CONOPS developed and agreed across nine ANSPs Defines implementation of the seamless interface between FRA volumes in DK-SE FAB, NEFAB, UK/Ireland FAB and Iceland FL135/195+ Enables airspace users to plan and execute user-preferred trajectories without reference to any existing ATS route structure within the FRA volumes of the nine Borealis Alliance Members FL55+ FL75/55/55+ FL255/ FL335+ FL285+ FL95+ Borealis FRA volumes (planned vertical extension) are shown on the graph Page 11 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Industry and stakeholder support EASA Flight Standards Director (Ricardo Genova Galvan): Ø EASA welcomes the harmonised approach taken for the Borealis Free Route Airspace initiative. In line with the European regulatory framework it aims to provide efficiency benefits for airspace users in Europe. MAJOR STEP FORWARD FOR SES Chair of 9-State NSA Group (Kari Seikkinen): Ø The 9-State NSA Group established to support the Borealis Alliance s work is a benchmark for regulatory cooperation across Europe. We are committed to working together to explore how we can best help this exciting initiative deliver for Europe s airspace users. SETTING THE BENCHMARK FOR REGULATORY COOPERATION Deputy Director Operations Control Ryanair (Choorah Singh): Ø Free Route Airspace (FRA) in Europe will enable Ryanair to fly more environmentally friendly flight trajectories and help reduce greenhouse emissions by reducing fuel consumption. Ryanair looks forward to working closely with the Borealis Alliance to deliver the benefits of FRA as soon as possible and to further enhance cooperation between European ATM stakeholders. Page 12 Borealis Alliance March 2016 SAVING AIRLINES TIME, MONEY AND FUEL
Example 1 ENRY (Moss Airport Rygge) EGCC (Manchester) Operated by Ryanair 4 times a week Length (Nm) Time (min) Fuel (kg) CO2 (kg) NOx (kg) -2.1-0.3-10.7-33.8-0.1 Page 13 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Example 2 BIKF (Reykjavik - Keflavik) EKBI(Billund) Operated by many airlines (e.g. SAS, Turkish, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Lufthansa, KLM, Finnair, BA, Icelandair, Ryanair, Air Berlin, Air Baltic) Length (Nm) Time (min) Fuel (kg) CO2 (kg) NOx (kg) -4.2-0.6-32.1-101.3-0.3 Page 14 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Estimated Benefits from Borealis FRA (incl. NEFRA) 2018 1 à 2021 2 (per annum) Seamless Airspace 2.5M Nm à 4.7M Nm 390K min à 770K min Cost Savings 21M à 39M Reduced Fuel Burn 15K t à 26K t Less Emissions 47K t à 83K t CO 2 206t à 365t NOx 1 Borealis FRA SAAM modelling results for the first five implementation steps 2 NEFRA SAAM modelling results extrapolated for Borealis traffic, assuming all seven implementation steps Page 15 Borealis Alliance March 2016
Thank you very much! For more information please contact: Branka Subotić Borealis Alliance Executive Director branka.subotic@nats.co.uk For more information please go to: www.borealis.aero Page 16 Borealis Alliance March 2016