Flight Information Regions Research Articles

The Air Iron Curtain of the 21st Century: the Ukraine of the Air | A Cortina de Ferro Aérea do Século XXI: as Ucrânias do Ar

“Ukraine” means borderland and the concept of border encompasses the notion of lines that determine the land, sea and air spaces of sovereignty and responsibility of all Nation-States. As so, we can argue that aerial ukraines are defined by the so-called Flight Information Regions (FIR). The Nation-States or the groups of Nation-States should guarantee the safety and assistance ofaircraft operating in their respective FIR. However, they can also close them for national security reasons, especially in cases of war, or use them as political and geopolitical tools, to obtain advantages over other Nation-Sates, namely their opponents. By studying the main events regarding aviation’s history like the first international flight and the events occurred since the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine and the political decisions regarding sanctions, this article addresses the effects of the Ukrainian war on the Eurasian aviation, discussing, among other themes, the geographical, geopolitical, social, and economic implications. After three decades of globalization, it was perhaps inconceivable to return to a world of closed skies. However, that reality is back and even if it isn’t transversal to the entire world, the political weight of the rise of an aerial iron curtain of the 21st century is undeniable.

Airspace Delegation: Preserving Indonesia Territorial Sovereignty through Flight Information Regions Realignment

Airspace Delegation: Preserving Indonesia Territorial Sovereignty through Flight Information Regions Realignment

SINGLE CROSS-BORDER FREE ROUTE AIRSPACE CONCEPT IN THE ASEAN REGION

Single Cross-Border Free Route Airspace (FRA) represents the ultimate long-term idealistic routing rules allowing airspace users freely plan a route in en-route airspace, which is not immediately possible from the administrative and technological point of view. In Single Cross-Border FRA, the whole ASEAN airspace is treated as a single-large FRA where all 12 Flight Information Regions (FIRs) implement FRA, with direct routing between the entry (horizontal entry into FIR or end of Standard Instrument Departure Route, SID) and the exit (horizontal exit from FIR or beginning of Standard Arrival Route, STAR). Single Cross-Border FRA is the most fuel-efficient reference that we could ever reach in the future.All otherhypothetical routing rules fall between the Single Cross-Border FRA and those hypo-thetical routing rules in terms of fuel efficiency. In this paper, we described the potential in fuel efficiency (or benefit achievement scaling) with refer-ence to this ultimate basic fuel requirement and scaled the excess fuel with different routings. We evaluated the fuel burn with a fast-time simulation (FTS) in 12 different scenarios (3 traffic volume levels × 4 routing scenarios). As for the traffic volume scenarios, we simulated 1-day of commercial ASEAN flight schedule data of 3 traffic volume levels (100%, 150%, and 200% of pre-COVID19 traffic volume). As for four routing scenarios with increasing levels of directness: conventional Air Traffic Service route network (ATS) (R1), hypothetical Several-Small FRA route network (R2), Single Cross-Border FRA route network with Danger Areas (R3) and Single Cross-Border FRA network without Danger Areas (R4). Results showed that flight time, fuel burn, and distance travelled were less in R2, R3, and R4 than in R1. There was an average difference of 2.2% in flight time, 1.9% in fuel burn, and 2.2% in distance travelled from R1 to R4.

Identifying Weather Patterns Associated with Increased Volcanic Ash Risk within British Isles Airspace

Abstract Icelandic volcanic emissions have been shown historically and more recently to have an impact on public health and aviation across northern and western Europe. The severity of these impacts is governed by the prevailing weather conditions and the nature of the eruption. This study focuses on the former utilizing an existing set of 30 weather patterns produced by the Met Office. Associated daily historical classifications are used to assess which weather patterns are most likely to result in flow from Iceland into four flight information regions (FIRs) covering the British Isles and North Atlantic, which may lead to disruption to aviation during Icelandic volcanic episodes. High-risk weather patterns vary between FIRs, with a total of 14 weather patterns impacting at least one FIR. These high-risk types predominantly have a northwesterly or westerly flow from Iceland into British Isles airspace. Analysis of the historical classifications reveals a typical duration for high-risk periods of 3–5 days, when transitions between high-risk types are considered. High-risk periods lasting over a week are also possible in all four FIRs. Additionally, impacts are more likely in winter months for most FIRs. Knowledge of high-risk weather patterns for aviation can be used within existing operational probabilistic weather pattern forecasting tools. Combined probabilities for high-risk weather patterns can be derived for the medium-range (1–2 weeks ahead) and used to provide a rapid assessment as to the likelihood of flow from Iceland. This weather pattern forecasting application is illustrated using archived forecast data for the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

Aviation Turbulence Forecasting over the Portuguese Flight Information Regions: Algorithm and Objective Verification

Aviation turbulence remains one of the leading causes of weather-related aviation accidents. Therefore, turbulence prediction is a major concern of aviation forecasters. This paper describes the turbulence index (TURBIPMA) developed and used operationally at the Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), based on several diagnostics derived from ECMWF forecasts, using a new calibration approach. The forecast skill of the TURBIPMA and of individual diagnostics are evaluated using turbulence observations over the Portuguese Flight Information Regions and surrounding areas, for 12 months between February 2020 and March 2021 (excluding May and June). The forecasting skill of the predictors is discussed in terms of the Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves, which is widely applied, but also in terms of novel measures such as the Symmetric Extremal Dependence Index (SEDI) and Symmetric Extreme Dependency Score (SEDS). The new measures are particularly relevant in assessing forecasts of rare events, such as moderate-or-greater turbulence. The operational index outperforms individual diagnostics (such as Ellrod) in terms of all verification measures. Furthermore, the use of a new Richardson number function was proven to be beneficial. Finally, the turbulence prediction by IPMA was comparable to that of the London WAFC for one turbulence episode.

Back to Air in Disarray?: Disparity in Practices and Interpretations on ADIZs Disrupting the Safety of Civil Aviation

The interconnectivity of civil aviation has been long praised with the success of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in harmonizing navigation standards and procedures, along with the utilization of Flight Information Regions (FIRs). However, continuing geopolitical tensions with different implementations of Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZs) have belittled the technical achievement. Among different State practices, some ADIZs have expanded beyond territorial airspace and even overlapped with other FIRs, requiring overflying air- craft to submit flight plans and abide by procedures separate or in addition to air traffic control obligations. The purpose of this Article is to review the ongoing political tensions that are common in issues with ADIZs beyond territorial airspace and to explore different legal schemes put forth by States. While there is no prevailing rule of law that defines the scope and procedure of ADIZs, this Article further revisits the due regard principle under international law and State practices beyond territorial airspace. Due to its reciprocal characteristic, this principle does not solely advocate for the coastal State to arbitrarily put limitations on the freedom of flight beyond its territorial airspace. Rather, the established FIRs have already given considerable certainty and accountability to the overflown State, where the principle also directs both the overflying and overflown States to actively engage in communication and practices involving liaisons. This principle envisions regional confidence-building measures on aerial communication and the technical leadership of ICAO to support these States in reducing the relational gap and facilitating civil–military cooperation.

Implementation of a Long-Range Air Traffic Flow Management for the Asia-Pacific Region

We provide a concept of operations and a corresponding implementation of a long-range air traffic flow management in the Asia-Pacific region. This management will provide an appropriate demand-capacity balancing considering both aircraft sequencing by local arrival management procedures and flow optimization to prevent over-demand in the approach area around the airport. Thus, coordination of long-range international flights demands collaboration between different flight information regions and local regulations. As Singapore Changi Airport is a central element of the Asia-Pacific flow management high share of long-haul air traffic, we use this airport to demonstrate our approach. To derive the operational conditions and actual traffic patterns at the airport, ADS-B messages and flight plan information are processed. The data are cleaned, analyzed, and filtered to provide information about arrival flows within given distances to the airport. We provide an efficacy analysis of the long-range air traffic flow management using two approaches. First, we applied a mixed-integer optimization of time shifts of normal distributed flight times. Here, the regulation of long-range flights by time shifts (e.g., achieved by speed advisories) shows a significant relief from periods of over-demand at the airport approach sector. Second, we implement a reference and a test case scenario in an agent-based simulation environment including the local arrival management procedures. Here, the number of holdings and the associated holding time could be reduced by at least 26%.

Эгейское море противоречий (Часть I)

The Aegean Sea as part of the Eastern Mediterranean has been a clash of national interests between Greece and Turkey for decades. In particular, this process has intensified since 1974, and although there have been certain peaks and troughs along the way, now it seems to be at a point of new aggravation in bilateral relations. In general, this state of affairs is due to the particular geographical characteristics of the Aegean Sea, namely the large number of Greek islands, rocks and island formations scattered throughout its waters, often close to the Turkish coastline. Through them, Athens can lay claim to significant areas of both waters, seabed and subsoil, as well as airspace, over which its sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction would extend. Such rights and powers are granted to Greece under the current international law of the sea and, above all, under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Greece is a full party. However, the Aegean will in any case continue to be a region where other countries, including extra-regional ones, have their own interests in shipping and other maritime activities. In particular, it applies to the Russian Federation and the U. S. Turkey, for its part, is directly dependent on unhindered passage of its ships and warships from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea and vice versa. The first part of this paper analyzes the historical and documentary background of the Turkish-Greek controversy, based on different understandings of the provisions and language of international agreements, such as the Lausanne Peace Treaty of 1923 and the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947. Turkey’s reasons for linking the issue of Greek sovereignty over particular islands in the Aegean Sea to their demilitarized status as prescribed in these international treaties is described. The reasons why incidents between Greek and Turkish warplanes regularly occur in the Aegean airspace, which have different interpretations of the boundaries between national and international airspace, is explored. Special attention is paid to the legal basis for the formation of air defense identification zones and flight information regions by various states, including Greece. It is shown, which legal documents regulate the establishment of Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and Flight Information Area (FIR).

Multi-Objective Flight Altitude Decision Considering Contrails, Fuel Consumption and Flight Time

The rapid growth of air travel and aviation emissions in recent years has contributed to an increase in climate impact. Contrails have been considered one of the main factors of the aviation-induced climate impact. This paper deals with the formation of persistent contrails and its relationship with fuel consumption and flight time when flight altitude and true airspeed vary. Detailed contrail formation conditions pertaining to altitude, relative humidity and temperature are formulated according to the Schmidt–Appleman criterion. Building on the contrail formation model, the proposed model would minimise total travel time, fuel consumption and contrail length associated with a given flight. Empirical data (including pressure, temperature, relative humidity, etc.) collected from seven flight information regions in Chinese observation stations were used to analyse the spatial and temporal distributions of the persistent contrail formation area. The trade-off between flight time, fuel consumption and contrail length are illustrated with a real-world case. The results provided a valuable benchmark for flight route planning with environmental, flight time, sustainable flight trajectory planning and fuel consumption considerations, and showed significant contrail length reduction through an optimal selection of altitude and true airspeed.

Equitable optimized airspace sectorization based on constraint programming and OWA aggregation

PurposeAirspace sectorization is an important task, which has a significant impact in the everyday work of air control services. Especially in recent years, because of the constant increase in air traffic, existing airspace sectorization techniques have difficulties to tackle the large air traffic volumes, creating imbalanced sectors and uneven workload distribution among sectors. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new approach to find optimal airspace sectorization balancing the traffic controller workload between sectors, subject to airspace requirements.Design/methodology/approachA constraint programming (CP) model called equitable airspace sectorization problem (EQASP) relies on ordered weighted averaging (OWA) multiagent optimization and the parallel portfolio architecture has been developed, which integrates the equity into an existing CP approach (Trandac et al., 2005). The EQASP was evaluated and compared with the method of Trandac et al. (2005), according to the quality of workload balancing between sectors and the resolution performance. The comparison was achieved using real air traffic low-altitude network data sets of French airspace for five flight information regions for 24 h a day and the Algerian airspace for three various periods (off peak hours, peak hours and 24 h).FindingsIt has been demonstrated that the proposed EQASP model, which is based on OWA multicriteria optimization method, significantly improved both the solving performance and the workload equity between sectors, while offering strong theoretical properties of the balancing requirement. Interestingly, when solving hard instances, our parallel sectorization tool can provide, at any time, a workable solution, which satisfies all geometric constraints of sectorization.Practical implicationsThis study can be used to design well-balanced air sectors in terms of workload between control units in the strategic phase. To fulfil the airspace users’ constraints, one can refer to this study to assess the capacity of each air sector (especially the overloaded sectors) and then adjust the sector’s shape to respond to the dynamic changes in traffic patterns.Social implicationsThis theoretical and practical approach enables the development and support of the definition of the “Air traffic management (ATM) Concept Target” through improvements in human factors specifically (balancing workload across sectors), which contributes to raising the level of capacity, safety and efficiency (SESAR Vision of ATM 2035).Originality/valueIn their approach, the authors proposed an OWA-based multiagent optimization model, ensuring the search for the best equitable solution, without requiring user-defined balancing constraints, which enforce each sector to have a workload between two user-defined bounds (Wmin, Wmax).

A Hierarchical Heuristic Approach for Solving Air Traffic Scheduling and Routing Problem With a Novel Air Traffic Model

Efficient flight routing and scheduling play an important role in air traffic flow management, which aims to maximize the utilization of airport and enroute capacities to ensure safety and efficiency of air transportation. In this paper, we first propose a novel discrete-time flow dynamic model for an air traffic network, consisting of airports, waypoints, and air links, upon which we formulate an air flow routing and scheduling problem as an integer linear programming problem. Considering the NP-hard nature of the problem, we present a novel hierarchical flow routing and scheduling approach, where the hierarchical architecture is derived naturally from the network containment relationship, and computation is carried out in a bottom-up manner, which relies on an incremental strategy. On the resulting flow routes and schedules, a heuristic algorithm is carried out to determine flight plans for individual aircrafts. The effectiveness of the proposed hierarchical approach is illustrated by air traffic data in four flight information regions in the association of Southeast Asian nations.

Air route network optimization in fragmented airspace based on cellular automata

Air route network optimization, one of the essential parts of the airspace planning, is an effective way to optimize airspace resources, increase airspace capacity, and alleviate air traffic congestion. However, little has been done on the optimization of air route network in the fragmented airspace caused by prohibited, restricted, and dangerous areas (PRDs). In this paper, an air route network optimization model is developed with the total operational cost as the objective function while airspace restriction, air route network capacity, and non-straight-line factors (NSLF) are taken as major constraints. A square grid cellular space, Moore neighbors, a fixed boundary, together with a set of rules for solving the route network optimization model are designed based on cellular automata. The empirical traffic of airports with the largest traffic volume in each of the 9 flight information regions in mainland China is collected as the origin-destination (OD) airport pair demands. Based on traffic patterns, the model generates 35 air routes which successfully avoids 144 PRDs. Compared with the current air route network structure, the number of nodes decreases by 41.67%, while the total length of flight segments and air routes drop by 32.03% and 5.82% respectively. The NSLF decreases by 5.82% with changes in the total length of the air route network. More importantly, the total operational cost of the whole network decreases by 6.22%. The computational results show the potential benefits of the model and the advantage of the algorithm. Optimization of air route network can significantly reduce operational cost while ensuring operation safety.

An Oceanic Trajectory Based Operations Concept Shaped by Operational Influences

Oceanic operations suffer from multiple inefficiencies, including large separation requirements relative to domestic airspace, time-consuming processes for amending en route trajectories, difficulties exchanging data between Flight Information Regions (FIRs), and restrictions on User Preferred Routes (UPRs). The result is that aircraft fly suboptimal trajectories, burning fuel and time that could be conserved. Transitioning to Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) is expected to improve operational efficiency. However, few TBO research initiatives involve operational personnel before it is too late for operational feedback to do more than de-scope the implementation to a single dimension. A human-centered approach to developing a concept for applying TBO to improve trajectory efficiency in oceanic airspace yielded a concept that explicitly incorporates uncertainty in strategic planning and requires careful consideration of the fourth dimension – in this case, altitude – in trajectory negotiation and conformance monitoring.

Analysis on network properties of multivariate mixed air traffic management technical support system based on complex network theory

Air traffic management technical support system provides communication, navigation and surveillance service for air traffic management system and air traffic controller. The failures of some facilities may lead to large delay, even affect air transportation safety. In order to improve the ability of air traffic management technical support system to respond to emergencies, a network model of air traffic management technical support system is presented. The network model of air traffic management technical support system is established according to the effective coverage of communication, navigation and surveillance facilities, the position of air traffic management technical support system and air route network. Flexibility, robustness and efficiency are used to measure the network. The measure index of air traffic management technical support system network includes degree, degree distribution, strength, clustering coefficient, network performance, betweenness centrality, average shortest path and diameter. For Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kunming, Shenyang and Lanzhou flight information regions, the air traffic management technical support networks are built by using the data of air traffic support facilities, air route, air traffic flow, etc. The average degrees, degree distributions, degree-degree correlations, clustering coefficients, average shortest paths and diameters of these netwoks are comparatively analyzed. The results show that the degrees of most nodes are between two and four. The network has a power law distribution, which is the same as that of air transportation network. The degree-degree correlation of air traffic management technical support system network is not assortative nor disassortative mixing, which has random network characteristics. The clustering coefficients of several air traffic management technical support system networks are between 0.25 and 0.39. The clustering value is lower than that of air transportation network. The shortest paths of air traffic management technical support system networks are between 3.16 and 5.05. The average shortest paths of these networks are all 3.4, which exhibits small world characteristics. Network attack based on degrees of priority and random is conducted to several flight information regions of air traffic management technical support network, showing the network is vulnerable. The network performance decreases quickly after degree priority attack. Some key nodes play an important role in the network. The network survivability can be improved after targeted immunized key nodes. The network performance can be improved by using more satellites based air traffic management technical support system. These rules provide theoretical support for improving and expanding air traffic management technical support system, and have practical significance for reducing the influence of emergency on air traffic management system support ability and ensuring the continuous safety of air traffic.

A multi-scale risk assessment for tephra fallout and airborne concentration from multiple Icelandic volcanoes – Part 2: Vulnerability and impact

Abstract. We perform a multi-scale impact assessment of tephra fallout and dispersal from explosive volcanic activity in Iceland. A companion paper (Biass et al., 2014; "A multi-scale risk assessment of tephra fallout and airborne concentration from multiple Icelandic volcanoes – Part I: hazard assessment") introduces a multi-scale probabilistic assessment of tephra hazard based on selected eruptive scenarios at four Icelandic volcanoes (Hekla, Askja, Eyjafjallajökull and Katla) and presents probabilistic hazard maps for tephra accumulation in Iceland and tephra dispersal across Europe. Here, we present the associated vulnerability and impact assessment that describes the importance of single features at national and European levels and considers several vulnerability indicators for tephra dispersal and deposition. At the national scale, we focus on physical, systemic and economic vulnerability of Iceland to tephra fallout, whereas at the European scale we focus on the systemic vulnerability of the air traffic system to tephra dispersal. This is the first vulnerability and impact assessment analysis of this type and, although it does not include all the aspects of physical and systemic vulnerability, it allows for identifying areas on which further specific analysis should be performed. Results include vulnerability maps for Iceland and European airspace and allow for the qualitative identification of the impacts at both scales in the case of an eruption occurring. Maps produced at the national scale show that tephra accumulation associated with all eruptive scenarios considered can disrupt the main electricity network, in particular in relation to an eruption of Askja. Results also show that several power plants would be affected if an eruption occurred at Hekla, Askja or Katla, causing a substantial systemic impact due to their importance for the Icelandic economy. Moreover, the Askja and Katla eruptive scenarios considered could have substantial impacts on agricultural activities (crops and pastures). At the European scale, eruptive scenarios at Askja and Katla are likely to affect European airspace, having substantial impacts, in particular, in the Keflavík and London flight information regions (FIRs), but also at FIRs above France, Germany and Scandinavia. Impacts would be particularly intense in the case of long-lasting activity at Katla. The occurrence of eruptive scenarios at Hekla is likely to produce high impacts at Keflavík FIR and London FIRs, and, in the case of higher magnitude, can also impact France's FIRs. Results could support land use and emergency planning at the national level and risk management strategies of the European air traffic system. Although we focus on Iceland, the proposed methodology could be applied to other active volcanic areas, enhancing the long-term tephra risk management. Moreover, the outcomes of this work pose the basis for quantitative analyses of expected impacts and their integration in a multi-risk framework.

CO2 emissions associated with hubbing activities in air transport: an international comparison

Hubbing is an important operational practice in air transport. Many studies have been conducted to examine the benefits and impacts of hubbing from an economic perspective. However, its impact on CO2 emissions, especially across different air spaces, is not well understood. This paper explores the impact of hubbing activities in air transport from an environmental perspective. With a detailed methodology and data from the Greek and Hong Kong/Sanya flight information regions (FIRs), three levels of CO2 emissions are estimated: airport-based, airspace-based and flight-based. After contrasting the CO2 emission efficiencies of Athens International Airport (AIA) and the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), aircraft type and flight distance are examined to explain their emission efficiency differences. It is found that HKIA is associated with poorer CO2 emission efficiency at the airport and airspace levels because of the larger aircraft and longer flight distance. However, when CO2 emission efficiency at the flight level is considered, HKIA, with a higher passenger load factor, performs better. Major international hub airports should implement additional environmental measures to minimize the impact of hubbing activities on CO2 emissions at the airport and airspace levels.

Solution of sectorization problems for air traffic control area. III. Algorithm for determining configurations and schedule for traffic control sectors

This is the third (final) part of paper [1] devoted to the problem of sectorization of air traffic control areas, which are also called flight information regions (FIRs). Algorithmic and technological aspects of determining the configuration and schedule for air traffic control sectors are considered. The solution is based on genetic optimization procedures. Examples of using the proposed algorithms for solving practical problems are discussed.

Algoritmos de fluxo máximo em rede aplicado em gerenciamento de fluxo de tráfego aéreo

This paper presents the air traffic Flow Balancing Model (FBM) which uses network maximum flow algorithms to accomplish air traffic flow management in the flight information regions under Brazilian control responsibility . Four maximum flow algorithms were implemented and tested in this work: Edmonds-Karp, Dinic, FIFO Preflow Push and Highest Label Preflow Push. Each algorithm has its particular method to calculate the maximum flow value, that results in different air traffic flow balancing solutions. A case study comparing the results for each algorithm is presented, and the results represent different balancing options that allow the traffic flow managers to choose which one better adapts to the tactical air traffic management scenery under analysis.

Integration of the European Air Traffic Control Network

A large percentage of the air traffic flow in the UK is associated with movement to or from other European countries. It would therefore be unrealistic to consider further development of the UK air traffic control network other than on an inter-European basis, although this would necessarily raise many problems.Throughout Europe, during the period since the Second World War, the various nation states have developed their individual air traffic control systems based on national centres and extending to the boundaries of their own Flight Information Regions (FIR). The movement of aircraft across the FIR boundaries of neighbouring states is at present governed by a series of bilateral agreements, whilst attempts to reach international agreement on integration of the European ATC system have not as yet met with much success.

Royal Air Force search and rescue facilities

I would like to begin by suggesting a small but important correction to the title of this Symposium. We must not refer to “the UK”, which infers the islands and surrounding coastal waters, but to the entire area for which the United Kingdom has search and rescue responsibilities.The ICAO Convention, to which we were signatories in Chicago 1947, laid down that “Contracting States, separately or jointly, shall delineate Search and Rescue Areas for which they will be responsible, and establish one Rescue Co-ordination Centre in each”.This Agreement went on to recommend that the areas might extend beyond national boundaries, by agreement with neighbouring States, and, as the Search and Rescue Services were to operate in close conjunction with the Air Traffic Services, there would be mutual operational advantages in having the Flight Information Regions and Search and Rescue Areas co-extensive.