South East Common Sky Initiative Free Route Airspace - implementation aftermath

Abstract

In a short period since South-East Axis Free Route Airspace (SEAFRA) and Slovenian Austrian Cross-Border Free Route Airspace (SAXFRA) were established, during 2018 these two Free Route Airspace (FRA) areas operationally merged into South East Common Sky Initiative Free Route Airspace (SECSI FRA). Nowadays, SECSI FRA represents a joint venture with the aim of sustainable future development of European Air Traffic Management (ATM). It’s a good example of regional cooperation since it includes stakeholders from six adjacent states and four Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs). Also, successful deployment of SECSI FRA have led to the creation of one of the largest areas with applicable FRA concept. Therefore, that represent a major step towards achieving a 2022 plan - implementation of FRA concept across whole Europe. This research aims to assess deployment effects of SEAFRA, SAXFRA and SECSI FRA and based on quantitative research it provides information on hypothetical question how did implementation of South East Common Sky Initiative Free Route Airspace (SECSI FRA), and its earlier versions - SEAFRA and SAXFRA, reflected on the performances at South East Axis in terms of airspace complexity. In addition, this research is based on the computation of real data obtained from Performance Review Unit (PRU) and it covers period from 2014 till end of 2018. Lastly, deployment impacts have been analysed and compared in relation to other European ATM network’s performances and presented throughout this research paper.