Category: DANUBE FAB EN

BULATSA participated in the 5^th InterFAB Coordination Meeting together with representatives from Ministries of Transport, National Supervisory Agencies and Air Navigation Service Providers representing BALTIC FAB, BLUE MED FAB, DANUBE FAB, FAB CE, FABEC and South-West FAB met in Sibenik, Croatia, on September 21, to discuss current and upcoming challenges of European aviation.

A diverse range of topics at stake like the airspace architecture strategy, the preparation of RP3, the advantages and disadvantages of fragmentation and a system approach for European Air Traffic were discussed. In addition, participants agreed on several actions to address severe issues like the impact of climate change and volatility. FAB representatives shared best practices on social dialogue, agreed on further steps on the execution of the common InterFAB communication strategy and discussed studies on the EU-US Comparison as well as on the added value of FABs.

Following to the intense and constructive discussions, participants concluded that the InterFAB initiative – and by this the FABs as such – are demonstrating substantial benefits and agreed to further streamline the work to be conducted in the upcoming years.

The DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies held their eleventh meetings on 21st and 22nd of May 2018 in Bucharest, Romania.

21st of May 2018
The ANSP Board met on the 21st of May in Bucharest for the eleventh time since the creation of DANUBE FAB in December 2012. The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. CARNU Fanica, Director General of ROMATSA and by Mr. Georgi PEEV, Director General of BULATSA.
During the meeting, the members of the ANSP Board discussed on the ATM/ANS service provision related strategic FAB prospects for the next 5 years’ planning cycle, the status of DANUBE FAB procurements, operational activities (e.g. SEEN FRA, seasonal FRA in the Bulgarian airspace, SEEN FRA extension to 24H, LoAs, etc), so as on future technical projects, such as the assessment of the use of space-based ADS-B capabilities in DANUBE FAB.
During the meeting, the members of the Board were also updated on the recent activities of the DANUBE FAB Common Training Board and decided to take advantage of ROMATSA and BULATSA wide experience in the field of training, maintaining the competence and assessment of competence, thus, taking the development of the content and delivery of courses at regional level.
Regarding the FAB external environment, the two ANSPs tackled, among other important subjects, the FAB enlargement, a high priority objective settled for DANUBE FAB, inter-FAB coordination matters and nonetheless the outcome of the DANUBE FAB participation at the sixth World ATM Congress, Madrid 2018.
22nd of May 2018
The DANUBE FAB Governing Council held their eleventh meeting on the 22nd of May in Bucharest, Romania. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Transport, Civil and Military Aviation Authorities, National Supervisory Authorities and ANSPs from both countries. Delegates from the Republic of Macedonia were welcomed to the meeting as Observers following the official mandate received at the sixth Governing Council meeting in 2015. The Macedonian delegation expressed their appreciation of the support from DANUBE FAB and their interest to participate in the work of DANUBE FAB on topics of mutual interest.
The members of the Council took note on the NSA Board and ANSP Board reports, the status of current DANUBE FAB procurements and plans for 2018 and the high priority projects under the Annual Plan, including the new template of the planning documents, which were designed to make the documents easier to follow and understand.

During the meeting, the Council’s members analyzed the prospects for the FAB developments, both in political and economic terms, as well as regarding the technical and operational particularities reported by NSA Board and by the ANSP Board. In this context, the Council took note of the status of the recent developments regarding the FAB enlargement. Also, the members of the Council were updated regarding the status of the inter-FAB cooperation and the recent development taken under this platform: the workshops on Volatility in Air Traffic and its impact on ATM Performance, Performance in ATM and Communication.
From an operational perspective, the Governing Council took note of the status of implementation of SEE/SEEN FRA, as well on the on the information provided regarding the seasonal FRA in the Bulgarian airspace.
Following the DANUBE FAB Governing Council meeting, Bulgaria and Romania extended an official invitation to Serbia to join DANUBE FAB with an observer status. Within this initiative and in the framework of an official delegation led by the President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev in Serbia on 21 and 22 June 2018, BULATSA Director General Georgi Peev held discussions with the Serbian ANS provider (SMATSA) on the same topic.
The next round of DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies meetings is planned for autumn 2018 in Bulgaria.

Mr. Veselin Stoyanov, Director European Programmes, Projects and Strategy at BULATSA, presented DANUBE FAB experience and know-how at the InterFAB Panel – Volatility in ATM: Cases, Challenges, Solutions at the FABEC OPS Theatre in the framework of the World ATM Congress 2018. Together with other functional airspace blocks representatives and the Performance Review Unit, participants discussed how different kinds of volatility (political conflicts, weather, low fare carrier behavior, ANS fees) impact the operational management of day-to-day business and how predictability should be improved in the given framework.

DANUBE FAB partnered SESAR in delivering transformation in air traffic management. The series of walking tours at the World ATM Congress in Madrid displayed solutions delivered and deployed across Europe for the benefit of the European Air Traffic Management.
BULATSA and ROMATSA experts showcased various SESAR related projects within the SESAR walking tour at the WATMC 2018. The projects represent deliverables in various ATM deployment areas such as Advancing ATM systems to support advanced concepts, Advanced air traffic services, Connect, communicate, share: enabling technologies in ATM, delivering tomorrow’s ATM platform and Building a user-centric network.
At WATMC 2018 DANUBE FAB presented the implementation of the following SESAR solutions related projects: 2015_174_AF5 “Advantages and applications of New pan-European network services (NewPens)”, the South Eastern European Night Free Route Airspace (SEEN FRA) project, the 2015_217_AF4 Traffic complexity assessment Tool (tCAT) BULATSA project, the 2014-EU-TM-0136-M Pilot platform for access services to OPMET (worldwide/ECAC) data (METAR, TAF, SIGMET) in WXXM format in ROMATSA and the 2016_062_AF5 initial SWIM Implementation – creating local security operation centre in BULATSA. All projects except SEEN FRA are funded by EC under various CEF Calls.

DANUBE FAB partner ANSPs BULATSA and ROMATSA hosted a debate on cyber security addressing the current and future challenges within the ATM cyber security domain.
Participants discussed the latest developments in the European legislation related to Cyber Security and necessity for implementation of new technologies to reflect the new requirements in the light of Directive (EU) 2016/1148 and Security in terms of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/373 of 1 March 2017 laying down common requirements.The implementation of a Cyber Security Operational Centre (SOC) was also presented along with its concept, platform (software, hardware), roles, responsibilities and future developments.
Participants highlighted the exchange of information for cyber incidents between local SOCs, within DANUBE FAB, with EATM-CERT, EU-CERT and other stakeholders. Exercises and training on cyber security at European level (Cyber 2018) were also discussed.

The thirteenth DANUBE FAB Social Consultation Forum (SCF) was held in Sinaia, Romania on 15 February 2018. The meeting between BULATSA and ROMATSA social partners and management representatives was focused on recent developments in the EU ATM, joint activities and related social aspects. These regular consultations provide a good mechanism for common understanding, collaboration and trust for the benefit of operational and technical progress in both ANSPs.
DANUBE FAB management facilitated the active participation of the social partners in the meeting, noting the importance of the social dialogue. The latest FAB developments and activities as well as updates on the outcomes of the DANUBE FAB governing bodies meetings were presented. The evolution of the Free Route Airspace project and the joint participation at the World ATM Congress and Exhibition in Madrid in March 2018 were also discussed
Parties analysed the status of planned activities, focusing primarily on the high-priority projects for 2018 such as the InterFAB cooperation, FAB enlargement and common procurements.

The CEOs of BULATSA, ROMATSA and SMATSA had a meeting in Belgrade, Serbia to discuss potential areas of cooperation in airspace, CNS (communication, navigation and surveillance), interoperability and cyber security.
DANUBE FAB and SMATSA management representatives reviewed the status of cooperation between the ANSPs and agreed to strengthen their efforts in the operational domain (such as coherent Free Route Airspace implementation), as well as in the technical field (GNSS, use of satellites in communication, navigation and surveillance, cybersecurity).
Longer term perspectives related to the future accession of Serbia to the EU were also in the focus of this high-level meeting. These were mostly related to the RP3 regulatory developments, future of FABs and development of airspace initiative along the common border of the three countries.
The parties expressed their interest in working together on joint regional initiatives and agreed on collaboration in the operational and technical areas so as to deliver common benefits.

DANUBE FAB hosted the first InterFAB Performance Workshop in Sofia on 31 January and 1 February 2018. The workshop was attended by representatives of FABCE, FABEC, Baltic FAB and BLUE MED FAB, as well as delegates from the Republic of Macedonia as observers to DANUBE FAB.
The ATM network performance and the evolution of the performance and charging schemes in RP3 were at the heart of discussions. Attendees debated on traffic volatility and its impact on performance and inter alia fragmentation in air traffic management. Key performance areas of environment and capacity were also pointed out as being in the focus ofFABs. Recommendations by the European Court of Auditor’s Report were correspondingly addressed.
The workshop provided a platform for FABs to exchange views in sight of the upcoming changes to the Performance and Charging Regulations for RP3. All stakeholders will continue to actively cooperate, however unforeseen factors outside of their scope, could affect performance and this needs to be taken into consideration in RP3 and the future Single European Sky legislation.
Recognising the importance of the subject a dedicated workshop “Volatility in Air Traffic and its impact on ATM Performance” will take place in Warsaw on 15-16 May 2018.

31^st October 2017
High level representatives of ROMATSA and BULATSA held their tenth meeting of the DANUBE FAB ANSP Board in Sofia, on 31st October. The meeting was co-chaired by the two Directors General of ROMATSA and BULATSA and was an opportunity for the Board’s representatives to take stock of the latest intra/inter FAB developments, to provide information on the status of the current operations and to agree on the way forward and to prioritize the DANUBE FAB activities and projects.
In order to ensure the timely contribution in respect with their commitments, the ANSPs provided more focus on the SEEN FRA implementation and its expansion into SEE FRA, i.e. 24/7 operations, in autumn 2019 and updating the FAB representatives with the latest developments concerning the implementation of seasonal FRA in the Bulgarian Airspace. With regard to the accommodation of neighboring SEEN FRA States – the Republic of Moldova and Slovakia, within the project, it was decided to further review the challenges and opportunities from a technical and operational perspective, reaffirming their readiness to work together to implement the wide FAB objectives.
The parties also highlighted the special importance of the FAB strategy and planning, particularly in the field of technical rationalization and infrastructure, common projects, communications activities, including the inter-FAB coordination and nonetheless, towards identifying common overarching topics for a better partnering.
1st November 2017
The DANUBE FAB Governing Council held their tenth meeting on the 1st of November in Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Transport, Civil and Military Aviation Authorities, National Supervisory Authorities and ANSPs from both countries. Delegates from the Republic of Macedonia were welcomed to the meeting as Observers following the official mandate received at the sixth Governing Council meeting in 2015. The Macedonian delegation expressed their appreciation of the support from DANUBE FAB and their interest to participate in the work of DANUBE FAB on topics of mutual interest.
Main items for discussion of the meeting were the NSA Board and ANSP Board reports, the status of current DANUBE FAB procurements and plans for 2018 and the high priority projects under the Annual Plan.
During the meeting, the Council’s members analyzed the prospects for the FAB developments, both in political and economic terms, as well as regarding the technical and operational particularities reported by NSA Board and by the ANSP Board. In this context, the Council took note of the status of harmonized procedures in DANUBE FAB, the FAB Performance Plan activities status updates and took note of the NSA Board decision to implement a common coordinated approach in regard to the modification and implementation of some EU regulations, namely Reg. 2017/373, Reg.1079/2012 and Reg. 677/2011.
From an operational perspective, the Governing Council was updated with the latest developments under the high priority projects developed under the Annual Plan for 2017, urging the ANSPs to focus on the timely implementation of FRA project and to ensure all necessary resources in order to perform the technical rationalization and infrastructure related projects, namely the implementation of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) in ATM and the implementation of an extended set of OLDI messages.
During the meeting, aspects of multilateral cooperation within the DANUBE FAB were also addressed, including the FAB enlargement, the inter-FAB cooperation, other FAB activities and outputs of recent meetings and related external communications activities. At the same time, the Council was informed by the military representatives about the possible methods for the regulation and cooperation at regional level in respect with the Cross-border Search and Rescue for state aircraft.
The next round of DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies meetings is planned for spring 2018 in Romania.

The twelfth DANUBE FAB Social Consultation Forum (SCF) was held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on 7 June 2017. As a part of the social dialogue within DANUBE FAB the meeting was focused on the recent developments in ATM and the related social aspects. These regular consultations provide a good tool for the mutual understanding between the social partners and their organizations – ROMATSA and BULATSA.
The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Valentin CIMPUIERU, Director General, ROMATSA and by Mr. Georgi PEEV, Director General, BULATSA. Both Directors General facilitated the active participation of the social partners in the meeting, noting the many recent operational changes to be discussed and the importance of social dialogue between all parties involved.
The staff representative bodies of the two ANSPs were presented with the latest FAB developments, activities since the last Social Consultation Forum and updates on the outcomes of the DANUBE FAB governing bodies meetings. The evolution of DANUBE FAB Free Route Airspace and the way forward regarding DANUBE FAB in the light of the recent EU studies were both key topics of discussion.
Having in mind that the Strategic Program 2017-2021 and the Annual Plan for 2017 were adopted by the Governing Council, discussions took place regarding the status of planned activities, focusing primarily on the high-priority projects such as the DANUBE FAB RP2 Performance Plan, common procurements and technical rationalization and infrastructure.
The next SCF meeting will be held in Romania.