Originally Posted by
Bergerie1
For all you ATC people, could something like this help at the London airports?
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I think NATS is up to speed on multi-airport sequencing they have also extended the sequencing out into adjacent FIR/UIR see:
Cross border arrival management
Cross border arrival management - Gatwick
Free route over the London FIR will come in. NATS are working on it. It'll probably be FL310+.
The problems with redesigning the London FIR are
1. There is limited space because of the closeness of the airports in and around London.
2. The amount of traffic that wants to go south and east from London and the same with overflights
3. No matter how well you design SIDs and Stars that theoretically miss each other IF the aircraft flies them exactly you will end up with some traffic being penalised at the expense of others (that's a big if...)
4. You can redesign the airspace around London as much as you want, take the traffic from one place to another, change this route and this route etc etc but you've still got to connect it to Europe which is not going to redesign their airspace to suit the UKs fancy plan...
5. The military
#4 - the FABEC as kontrolor stated above is already moving to 'Free Route' Airspace' (FRA) so it will actually simplify the adjacent FAB traffic management as the same concept will be in place seamlessly across Europe into the mid-line of the Atlantic and possibly into NAV Canada airspace as ADS-B surveillance is now available through AIREON.
#5 The military have been reluctant to let go of 'their MTAs' and ranges. However, there are ways that military can fit into FRA as it matches the existing Operational Air Traffic (OAT) ideas and the Flexible Use of Airspace. So a restricted area can be generated and removed as required this is a lot easier with automation and System Wide Information Management. There are similar issues with reserved airspace for civil operations. I would expect that flexible use of airspace will be part of the overall redesign of UK airspace.
The future is flexible. For airlines your FOCs should be looking at the issues raised for flight planning if there are no 'fixed routes' or 'preferred routes' (in NAS speak). So canned plans will no longer exist - or not for profitable aircraft operators - so lots more work for dispatch to plan efficient flights.