DANUBE FAB and FABEC organize a workshop “Single European Sky and Resilience in ATM”

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DANUBE FAB and FABEC organize a workshop “Single European Sky and Resilience in ATM”

Media centerNews

DANUBE FAB and FABEC organize a first-of-its-kind research workshop entitled, “Single European Sky and Resilience in ATM”. The event is hosted by BULATSA in cooperation with ROMATSA. The workshop will be held on 15 and 16 September in Sofia at Vivacom Art Hall Oborishte 5.

The extraordinary pandemic situation caused by Covid-19 has shown that the European Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) are capable of coping with this situation, ensuring the safety of air traffic and the quality of service, while maintaining the critical infrastructure.

The aviation industry is also posed to a new challenge – the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with its economic and political consequences. Climate changes and extreme weather phenomena are also on the agenda and quick and timely solutions are expected.

The resilience in air navigation services is related to the operational and technical part of the system, as well as to the safety and security of flights and the development of contingency plans in case of emergency.

At the forum, experts from the aviation industry and representatives of the international academic community are expected to present scientific developments aimed at proposing strategic guidelines and alternatives to improve the sustainability of ANS in Europe in technological, economic and operational terms, so that flight servicing can be stable in future crises and can fulfill its mission as critical infrastructure.

In the conditions of difficult recovery and increasing volatility of traffic, the planning for the coming years is a complex and challenging task. The financial implications for the ANS providers are also very serious and require unified efforts of the sector.

Keynote speakers at the event will be:

Georgi Peev, Director General of BULATSA;

Michael Lokey, Chairman of FABEC, Federal Ministry of Digital Technology and Transport, Germany;

Professor Markus Brunnermeier, Edwards Sanford Professor of Economics, Director of the Bendheim Center for Finance, Princeton University, USA;

Radu Babiceanu, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach in Florida, USA;

Alessio Quaranta, Director General of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority and President of the Coordinating Committee of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC);

Denis Bouvier, Member of the European Air Navigation Performance Review Body (PRB);

Jesus Caballero, CEO of SOF Connect, Sofia Airport;

John Santurbano, Chairman of the FABEC CEO Board and Director of Eurocontrol MUAC.

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Publication of Aeronautical chart 1:500 000, edition 9.0

Media centerNews

Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority (BULATSA) notifies aircraft operators and users of the Bulgarian airspace regarding the publication of Aeronautical chart 1:500 000, edition 9.0. The chart is available free of charge only in electronic form on the corporate website of BULATSA: Services/Airspace management /Aeronautical chart 1:500 000.

Changes in edition 9.0:

  • Change of identification and lateral limits of danger areas for anti- hail activity;
  • Implementation of a new danger area for anti – hail activity – LBD11B;
  • Removal of information for LBBA – Bahovica, LBBR – Breznik, LBBZ – Bazan, LBDM – Dve Mogili, LBSE – Staro Selishte, LBVR – Vratsa and LBMD -Marina Dinevi;
  • Withdrawal of temporary reserved areas LBTRA41, LBTRA43, LBTRA72, LBTRA75, LBTRA76

and LBTRA77;

  • Implementation of new temporary reserved areas LBTRA41A, LBTRA41B, LBTRA43A,

LBTRA72A and LBTRA72B;

  • Renaming of LBTRA74 to LBTRA74A and changes in vertical limits of the area.
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Participation in CANSO 26th Annual General Meeting, CANSO Executive Summit 2022 and the World ATM Congress 2022

ActivitiesMedia centerNews

The Director General of BULATSA, Mr. Georgi Peev, participated in CANSO 26th Annual General Meeting and CANSO Executive Summit 2022, which took place on 20 June 2022, before the opening of the World ATM Congress (WATMC) – the largest international air traffic management event, organized by CANSO in partnership with the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) between 21 and 23 June 2022 in Madrid, Spain.

The discussions were focused on 3 main topics:

• “A laser-like focus on the needs of all airspace users” – a high-level discussion on the role and values ​​that air navigation service providers must uphold in order to ensure a sustainable future for all air transport, taking into account all new types of aircraft – drones, spacecraft, etc.;

• “Sustainability, and CANSO’s plans to fast track sustainability efforts in ATM”, with a focus on environmental protection, measurable indicators in this regard and imposing the right models of the public opinion;

• “The launch of the Complete Air Traffic System Global Council’s roadmap to deliver its vision for the sky of 2045”, which developed the detailed expectations for achieving the vision over the next 20 years.

The Director General of BULATSA also visited the World ATM Congress 2022, where the latest technological achievements and developments in the field of ANS and the trends in the aviation industry were presented, with the participation of leading product developers, experts, stakeholders and ANS providers from over 100 countries and 160 exhibitors.

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Record traffic in the sky over Bulgaria after the pandemic

Media centerNews


BULATSA serviced 3082 flights

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, on Sunday BULATSA serviced 3082 flights over Bulgaria without delays.

After the lifting of restrictions on passenger transport, in the second quarter of 2022 there is an intensive recovery in the number of flights. Traffic levels vary between 85-95% on a daily basis compared to the number of flights in 2019, reaching up to 98% on the weekends. So far, there are registered single cases in which the daily levels now surpass those of the respective days in 2019.

Traffic in our airspace is expected to continue to recover, with some shift to the west in the flows and concentration in the central sectors due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The development of the conflict, the prices of energy carriers and their impact on the world economy and the COVID-19 pandemic will be key to the future development. An important factor will be the ability of airports and airlines to cope with the peak demand, because some flights are being canceled due to the lack of personnel in those two sectors.

The air traffic controllers in BULATSA are prepared for the increased traffic and all measures have been taken to ensure safe flight services. The expected highest values are in July and August.

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Press Release: Eighteenth Meeting of the DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies

ActivitiesDANUBE FAB ENMedia centerNews

Eighteenth Meeting of the DANUBE FAB ANSP Board

On Wednesday 13th April 2022, the management teams of BULATSA and ROMATSA held their eighteenth meeting of the DANUBE FAB ANSP Board, maintaining the important role in shaping the strategic direction and priorities for the FAB. 

The meeting focussed on the three high priority projects outlined in the 2022 versions of the DANUBE FAB Strategic Programme and Annual Plan. These include Free Route Airspace, InterFAB Coordination, and FAB Enlargement. In addition to this, the ANSP Board was briefed on recent Single European Sky developments as well as on the completion of the Strategic Impact Study, with the recommendations of the currently being implemented across the FAB.

During this meeting, attendees were updated on projects which have recently been completed and significantly progressed within the FAB. Most notable was the expansion of SEE FRA to include the Republic of Moldova, while cross-border FRA operations also commenced with BALTIC FRA, meaning the airspace from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea is now open for free route operations.

Members were informed of DANUBE FAB’s intended participation in the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking programme, with both BULATSA and ROMATSA investigating areas of common interest in order to bid for funding in the rounds which opened on 7th April 2022. Finally, the members were updated on the InterFAB Research Workshop due to take place in Sofia on 15th-16th September 2022, with a number of activities ongoing to ensure the event is a great success for all parties involved.

Eighteenth Meeting of the DANUBE FAB Governing Council

Having regard to the requirements of the DANUBE FAB State Agreement which foresee that the meetings of the Governing Council shall be organised twice a year, the Council members held their eighteenth reunion on 14 of April 2022, one day after the ANSP Board, thus ensuring the bridge between the relevant strategic and planning bodies of the FAB and the Governing Council.

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 were also welcomed as observers from the Republic of Moldova.

The Council was briefed on the status of the DANUBE FAB strategic planning and reporting for 2022, status of key FAB activities and procurements, the NSA Board Activity Report and the progress made on the FAB’s high priority projects.

The Strategic Programme 2022 – 2026, Annual Plan 2022 and Annual Report 2021, which had been updated based on interviews with DANUBE FAB experts and project managers, were approved by the meeting participants. These documents focus on areas for development within the FAB to ensure of the continued and quick recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 and to ensure the High Priority projects, and other key tasks and activities, are progressed significantly in 2022.

Members were informed of the main ongoing regulatory initiatives taking place at European level, such as SES 2+ (recast) and the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking programme, with participants then discussing their potential impact on the FAB and how the FAB can take maximum benefit from these initiatives.

The next round of DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies meetings are planned for Autumn 2022.

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Republic of Moldova joins SEE FRA

ActivitiesMedia centerNewsProjects

Starting from 24th of February 2022 the Aircraft Operators are able to plan their flights freely across the airspace of Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Republic of Moldova 24/7 without the limitations of the geographical boundaries. The inclusion of the airspace of the Republic of Moldova represents the second expansion of the SEE FRA project (South East Europe Free Route Airspace, successfully implemented on the 7th of November 2019), thus making possible cross border free route operations across the airspace of the 5 states. Therefore, SEE FRA becomes one of the largest free route airspace blocks in Europe.

In addition to the SEEFRA expansion cross border operations between SEEFRA and BALTIC FRA are also implemented which makes airspace spanning from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea open for free route operations.

The new flight planning rules significantly optimize the flight trajectories not only by using the shortest connections but also allowing the use of the most effective routings when the impacts on the flights are inevitable e.g adverse weather avoidance.

According to the simulations, SEE FRA contributes to a significant reduction of emissions and of millions of miles (NM) daily, from the total mileage.


It should be acknowledged that the Network Manager has a central role as an enabler and driver of the airspace improvements at European level. Thanks to the active involvement and full support of EUROCONTROL Member States and EUROCONTROL Agency, the Aircraft Operators will be able to fly on optimised profiles, using less fuel, hence reducing aviation´s environmental footprint.

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Local deployment of MARIA Model within BULATSA successfully completed

News

After just over a year and despite the pandemic that shook lives and organizations, the project to implement NAV Portugal’s “Model of ATM Reality In Action” (MARIA) at BULATSA was successfully completed.

Thanks to the successful partnership between the Portuguese and the Bulgarian ANSP, the MARIA is now a reality in BULATSA. This collaboration involved training, data collection and the modelling of the functional system used by BULATSA’s to provide ANS and MET services at both Sofia’s Area Control Center and Control Tower.

According to Nikolay Sokolov, Director of Safety and Quality at BULATSA, the model’s great potential will be used in the change management process, enhancing the scoping of the change and allowing for identification of the change impacts both within the functional system and external to the change interfaces. MARIA is very much appreciated in BULATSA as it introduces a very pragmatic approach towards safety assessment development which follows the everyday operations.

The BULATSA Director also praised «working with Paula Santos and Paulo Monteiro on all the aspects of the project – from the data collection and model development to the Safety Assessment validating the local Model was a fantastic experience», considering that their knowledge, enthusiasm and adaptiveness helped enormously towards completing the project entirely online due to the established travel restrictions.

Paula Santos, responsible for the MARIA project at NAV Portugal, highlighted in turn that the commitment and cooperation of Galina Lavrova and Marin Petrov and the ever-present support of Nikolay Sokolov were decisive in the success of this project. This support was particularly decisive as the travel ban resulted in all work having to be performed remotely, and this significantly hampered the task of collecting and validating data and modeling of the Bulgarian units.

It was a challenge that has been overcome and which required increased communication and understanding effort from both parties. In addition, the MARIA model evolved: already identified and prepared changes were validated and other improvements resulting from issues raised by Bulgarian technicians were introduced. One can say that this was indeed a fruitful cooperation», summed up Paula Santos.

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Official launch of SESAR 3

News

On 14 December 2021 the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking (SESAR 3 JU) was officially launched, marking a new chapter in the modernization of the European air traffic management.

A new European partnership, with the participation of BULATSA, brings together the EU, Eurocontrol and more than 50 organizations covering the entire aviation spectrum, including drones. Its participants will invest more than € 1.6 billion by 2030 to accelerate the achievement of a sustainable, inclusive and green digital European sky through research and innovation.

Building on the achievements of its predecessor, SESAR 3 shall drive an ambitious programme to prepare European aviation infrastructure for the digital age. The new partnership will also act as a catalyst to accelerate the transition to climate-neutral aviation, by focusing on solutions that can be implemented rapidly and bring environmental benefits in the short term.

SESAR 3 will work closely with regulatory and standardization bodies – the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and EUROCAE and the Deployment Manager to accelerate the implementation of decisions, create synergies between research and innovation activities at European and national level.

https://www.sesarju.eu/news/new-sesar-3-joint-undertaking-promises-be-bigger-bolder-better
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Airbus Defence & Space and BULATSA tested the jointly developed functionalities of the prototype TESLA

News

BULATSA hosted a meeting with representatives of Airbus Defence & Space to test functionalities of the prototype TESLA (Tactical Encounter SoLver Assistant). The activities are performed as part of project PJ.18 (PJ.18 PROSA Controller Tools and Team Organization for the Provision of Separation in the Air Traffic Management), Wave 2 under SESAR 2020 programme.

The TESLA prototype was developed by Airbus D&S, with the assistance and operational expertise of BULATSA. TESLA should provide Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) with automated means of detecting and preventing conflicts between aircraft, increasing capacity and assisting the traffic management.

During the test sessions was installed up-to-date TESLA software and BULATSA ATCOs together with operational experts from both sides monitored the behavior of the functionalities of the prototype developed so far, through Air Traffic Management (ATM) simulation. The sessions were conducted in a test platform, specially equipped with workstations for ATCOs and pseudo-pilots – BULATSA Innovation Grid. The purpose was to identify areas for improvement and to find solutions with high added value, as well as to analyze the system interface. Various elements of TESLA were reviewed – in the context of safety, capacity, human factor, flight efficiency and environment.

“The thorough expertise of BULATSA colleagues helps Airbus D&S develop safe and sustainable future air traffic management systems. The strong and fruitful cooperation between the Bulgarian and French colleagues strengthens the connection between the teams and their effective work. SESAR programme connects the professionals.” said Andrian Nazaroi, Director ATM Products and Unmanned Aircraft Systems at Airbus D&S.

The test sessions facilitate the preparation for the upcoming validation of the new functionalities under SESAR 2020 PJ.18, before they are ready for implementation in an existing operational system.

“The conducted tests proved the progress in the jointly developed functionalities. BULATSA highly appreciates the years of joint work with the Airbus D&S team to help its French colleagues develop their innovative ideas and technologies for the future ATM systems” confirmed Valentin Vitekov, ATCO and PJ.18 Project Manager for BULATSA.

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SESAR 2020 is a program of the European Union that focuses on the development and validation of technological solutions in the field of air traffic management. It is funded by the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

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Seventeenth Meeting of the DANUBE FAB Social Consultation Forum

News

To ensure all stakeholders in DANUBE FAB are up to date with the progress made within the FAB in 2021, the 17th meeting of the Social Consultation Forum was held on 7th December 2021. The meeting allowed the social partners to hear about and comment on key initiatives ongoing in the FAB.

A presentation on the internal Strategic Impact Study was provided for the staff representatives who supported the FAB’s attempts to ensure it continues developing and adapting to the technical and regulatory changes currently ongoing at European level. The attendees were then informed of the FABs ambition to implement the recommendations identified as soon as possible to ensure the FAB is well placed in the coming months and years.

Next, the status of the DANUBE FAB High Priority Projects was outlined for attendees. Notable progress has been made on the expansion of SEE FRA with Moldova joining in February 2022, while the coordinated implementation of an extended set of OLDI messages has progressed significantly this year. The attendees were informed of upcoming projects too, for example, that DANUBE FAB shall look to jointly participate in SESAR 3 projects where possible, SEE FRA shall continue to expand with a merger with FRA Czech approved by both ANSPs, and new technical projects have been identified and shall be discussed in further detail before the end of 2021.

Finally, InterFAB coordination was discussed, with DANUBE FAB to hold an InterFAB Research Workshop in Sofia in September 2022 on the topic of Resilience.

The next DANUBE FAB social consultation will be organised in Spring 2022.

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