Eighth meetings of the DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies (Bulgaria, 26-27 October 2016)

The DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies held their eighth meetings on 26th and 27th October 2016 in Bulgaria.
Sofia, Bulgaria, 26 October 2016
The management of ROMATSA and BULATSA met in Sofia on 26th October for the eighth meeting of the DANUBE FAB ANSP Board. The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Georgi PEEV, Director General BULATSA, and Mr. Gabriel DUMITRESCU, Director General ROMATSA.
The Status of the DANUBE FAB RP2 Performance Plan was discussed with a view to securing safe and efficient service provision. The main drivers for the Performance Plan are related to the high traffic levels due to the situation in Ukraine and the commissioning of the new airport in Istanbul, which would lead to significant changes in air traffic flows and increased complexity of the airspace. The participants were updated on the steps taken for revision of the DANUBE FAB Performance Plan for the part concerning Bulgaria with the caveat that no key performance indicators, which are monitored and measured at FAB level, will be affected from the proposed amendment of the RP2 Performance Plan.
The participants were updated on the trilateral discussions to consider Free Route Airspace (FRA) implementation between Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary that led to the initiation of the South East Europe Night Free Route Airspace project within Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania (SEEN FRA) with the support of the Network Manager. The implementation date is agreed to be 30 March 2017. It was stated that DANUBE FAB transition to full FRA operations will be dependent on several factors, including airspace design and enhanced ATCO tools. The participants were also informed about the status of the Gate One Free Route study project that aims at investigating the potential benefits of the implementation of free routes in the Gate One area covering the airspace of DANUBE FAB, FAB CE, Baltic FAB, Belgrade and Skopje FIRs.
Pravets, Bulgaria, 27th October 2016
The DANUBE FAB Governing Council held their eighth meeting on 27th October in Pravets, 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 DANUBE FAB RP2 Performance Plan developments and the initiation of South East Europe Night Free Route Airspace within Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania (SEEN FRA) with the support of the Network Manager. The last step to gradually deploy 24-hour cross-border FRA in the DANUBE FAB airspace (PHASE III FRA) is proposed to be before the end of 2019. The Governing Council noted that Phase FRA III will be implemented in a trilateral manner, without delay expected at this stage, taking into consideration also the results of the Real Time Simulations held in 2015.
The members of the DANUBE FAB Governing Council took note of the Technical Rationalisation and Infrastructure projects, common procurements, Inter-FAB cooperation including the active role of DANUBE FAB in the Inter-FAB Coordination Platform and bilateral initiatives with other FABs.
The Governing Council members were also informed of the series of studies and surveys towards the FABs across the European airspace launched by the European Commission. Particular focus was given to the study assessing the organisational, operational and technical progress of FABs with the aim to collect FAB-specific factual data from individual FABs.
The outcomes from the NSA Board and ANSP Board meetings were also discussed.
The next round of DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies meetings is planned for spring 2017 in Romania.