Category: Activities

The management of ROMATSA and BULATSA met in Bucharest on 20th April for the seventh meeting of the Air Navigation Services Providers (ANSP) Board.
The co-chairs of the two ANSPs underlined their joint commitment to organizing air traffic management within the airspace of the DANUBE FAB and pointed the significant efforts invested from both sides to enable the route network to be updated to cope with the large increases in traffic predicted for the 2016 summer season.
Also, the management of the two ANSPs noted with satisfaction the close and long standing relationship within the FAB, and wished for the pragmatic cooperation to continue in order to continue the improvement of operations in DANUBE FAB airspace.
Mr. Alain Siebert, Chief Economist and Master Planning from the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU) was welcomed to the meetings, and presented an overview of recent SESAR developments and future priorities, along with potential opportunities for DANUBE FAB, noting that forging a growing relationship between the SJU and FABs is a priority for the SJU.

The tenth DANUBE FAB Social Consultation Forum (SCF) took place in Borovets, Bulgaria on 15th & 16th December 2015. The aim of the meeting was to promote the social dialogue and to ensure that attention is given to the social issues arising from the DANUBE FAB implementation.
The DANUBE FAB social partners were informed of the outcomes of the last ANSP Board and Governing Council Meetings, and the recent regulatory FAB developments including the dropping of infringement proceedings against the FAB along with the status of the RP2 performance plan.
The recent focus on cooperation with regional and pan European partners was presented. This included the successful Inter-FAB coordination workshop hosted by DANUBE FAB in Bucharest, recently signed ANSP cooperation agreements and the proposed plans to investigate FAB enlargement.
The social partners were briefed on the high priority initiatives, including DANUBE FAB’s technical domain’s plans to provide seamless surveillance coverage across the border, and enhanced cross border operations building on the jointly procured communication system. The outcomes of the recent successful Real Time Simulations for Free Route Airspace held at EUROCONTROL’s Experimental Centre were presented, detailed results of which will be published in the beginning of 2016.
The participants also took a wider look at recent SES developments including SESAR Deployment, Network Functions and the Performance scheme, discussing opportunities for DANUBE FAB to jointly participate in various European Initiatives.
The next SCF meeting will be hosted in Romania in the first half of 2016

BULATSA and ROMATSA are currently performing a series of real-time simulations for the development and implementation of Free Route Airspace (FRA) in DANUBE FAB. The objective of these simulations is to determine the conditions under which FRA operations can be extended beyond night hours safely and efficiently, within an acceptable controller workload.
FRA will allow airspace users to freely plan a route between entry and exit points without having to adhere to a fixed route network, therefore optimising flight paths and reducing environmental impact and cost. Free Routing is already implemented in both FAB states at night, and the RTS aimed to support its extension to full time operations planned for 2019.
With this occasion, BULATSA and ROMATSA welcomed visitors to observe the simulations on 5th November, which are being performed at EUROCONTROL’s Experimental Centre in Bretigny. Representatives of the State authorities on transport, military and civil aviation authorities from both DANUBE FAB States, together with neighbouring ANSPs were in attendance to take part in the simulation activities, share experiences of Free Route implementations so far, and learn about the recent developments of DANUBE FAB.
Commenting on the project benefits, Mr Georgi Peev, BULATSA Director General noted: “The flights through Bulgaria and Romania will become faster, safer and cheaper as the airlines will plan their own air routes to fly. The free routes are a prelude to the elimination of the air borders in Europe”.
The results of the FRA simulations will be published in December 2015. Co-financed by the European Union with funding from the Trans-Europeean Transport Network (TEN-T, now INEA), the simulations are part of a larger set of activities which aim to support the implementation of the SESAR Interim Deployment Program within DANUBE FAB.

The DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies held their sixth meetings on 27th and 28th October 2015 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The ANSP Board meeting was co-chaired by Mr Georgi Peev (Director General, BULATSA) and Mr Carnu Fanica (Director General, ROMATSA). In the welcome address, Mr Peev expressed DANUBE FAB’s commitment and strong collaboration in responding to regional challenges which have caused significant shifts in traffic flows, and pointed to the many successful projects within the FAB which allowed the European Commission to close the Infringement Proceedings against the States.
A key topic for discussion was Technical Rationalisation and Infrastructure. The DANUBE FAB decided to initiate FAB level projects for seamless surveillance coverage across the border, and enhanced cross border operations building on the jointly procured communication system.
The ANSP Board were also briefed about the closure of the infringement proceedings against the DANUBE FAB, the successful Inter-FAB Coordination Workshop, signing of a working level Agreement with FAB CE, development of the RP2 Performance Plan and the upcoming Free Route Airspace Real Time Simulation activities.
The sixth meeting of the Governing Council was held on 28th October 2015, which was co-chaired by Mr. Anton Ginev, Deputy Minister of Transport, IT and Communications, Republic of Bulgaria and Mrs. Maria Magdalena Grigore, Secretary of State, Ministry of Transport for Romania. The meeting was attended by representatives of the State authorities on transport, authorities responsible for military aviation, Civil Aviation Authorities, National Supervisory Authorities and ANSPs of both countries.
The main item of the meeting was granting Observer Status to the Republic of Macedonia, who were in attendance at the meeting. As part of the DANUBE FAB Observers Policy, States are allowed to attend the Governing Council meetings. This new observer status for Macedonia, endorsed by the Governing Council, demonstrates DANUBE FAB’s commitment to cooperate with its neighbours to the fullest extent possible in order to improve the European ATM Network.
Mrs Svetlana Grigorovska, Deputy Head of Aviation Department from the Macedonian Ministry of Transport and Communications thanked the DANUBE FAB for accepting the Republic of Macedonia’s observer status and looked forward to future fruitful cooperation which this new status will provide.A further measure to increase regional cooperation is the planned pre-feasibility study for DANUBE FAB Enlargement, expected to deepen DANUBE FAB’s understanding of its current position within Eastern Europe and relationships with neighbouring third countries, providing a solid foundation to actively investigate areas for regional cooperation or integration.
The Governing Council also took note of recent developments in the FAB, along with the activities of the NSA and ANSP Boards.
The next meeting of the DANUBE FAB Governing Council will be held in the spring of 2016 in Romania.