Supporting the Network Manager

At the end of the last century the continuous increase of air traffic combined with escalating delays led to the establishment of a European Network Manager (NM) in place of national airspace units. Based on a European network view, NM proposes and collects flight plans for individual airspace users. It also proposes changes to airspace design and routings from the network perspective.

Regional control centres support the Network Manager by managing demand at a local level, balancing demand with capacity and ensuring safety. FABEC control centres work very closely with NM. FABEC Flow Managers located in all control centres manage the local traffic flows to avoid congestion or overload. FABEC operational experts cooperate very closely with NM planning units to put in place structural measures such as airspace redesign or new routes to improve the efficiency of the airspace.

Sharing competences in this way leads to efficient decision-making and effective distribution of workload and influence. It ensures on the one hand that an overarching network perspective is taken into account while on the other hand final authority remains where the flights are controlled, at local level.