Croatia Control Ltd (CCL) and Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency Ltd (SMATSA) are among the first air navigation service providers in Europe to implement the project of Free Route Airspace, enabling airlines to use night cross-border direct routes between the areas of responsibility (AoR) of the Zagreb and Belgrade Area Control Centres (ACCs).
Cross-border direct routes connect an entry point of one ACC AoR with an exit point of the other ACC AoR, which simplifies planning and increases efficiency of flights.
This project is one of the key improvements within the EU initiative on establishing the Single European Sky regardless of state borders, aiming to enhance safety and efficiency, and to increase capacity of air traffic in Europe.
As compared to the existing structure of routes and air traffic, the establishment of these direct routes will, just in a single night, enable a 1650 km reduction in planned route distance, which equals to savings in 5.3 Tonnes of fuel, 16.2 Tonnes of CO2 emissions and 65.7 kg less NOx.
In addition to this project launched on 2 May 2013, by the end of 2013 CCL plans to expand the routes to more directions and their availability to H24, and to start the implementation with other neighbouring countries, particularly with member states of the Functional Block of Airspace Central Europe (FAB CE), established in 2012 as a common initiative of seven countries and national service providers in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, as reported from
Croatia Control Ltd (CCL).
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