FRA (free route airspace) in Europe

[Bas Pennings]

Lately I have been trying to file routes in Europe that utilize FRA (free route airspace) as much as possible. We're getting there, there's a lot of FAB's that have implemented FRA but there's a lot lacking as well. We're hold up by countries like France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland. Yes their airspace is complicated, I get that but why are we not leading the pack? Austria can do it, large sectors of Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands can do it (MUAC FRA). Why can't you? Whenever I file a complex route in Europe I usually get a 200nm direct anyway so why is my route invalid when I deliberately try to file it that way? Just because your country has not yet implemented FRA to the letter? I get it, I try to file with real world restrictions but I had hoped we could be a bit more progressive perhaps. 

I usually take the time and effort to cross check with https://www.eurocontrol.int/publication/free-route-airspace-fra-points-list-ecac-area and yes I make mistakes and I'm sorry for that. But I feel the level of FRA awareness is very low at the moment and should be increased for both pilots and controllers alike. This is an important development in (European) aviation and we should not ignore it. The Single European Sky is one of the most important movements in European aviation and FRA is a big part of it. Even if your country is lagging, we can still lead virtually.

Edited August 18, 2021 at 09:29 AM by Bas Pennings

[Torben Andersen]

I'm uncertain to whom this is adressed. Could you please elaborate?

regards

[Bas Pennings]

Hi Torben,

My goal was just to get some insight on the level of FRA awareness on the VATSIM network and possibly learn a few things from it since it's a relatively new concept and information on the web seems to be scattered and not always consistent. However, because of how new it is and since implementation in the real world is still ongoing, me posting about it here was probably a little premature. Unfortunately I cannot remove my post but feel free to disregard.

Kind regards,

Bas

[Spender Vondel]

It's an interesting concept indeed. All info and implementation plan is available on the Eurocontrol website: https://www.eurocontrol.int/concept/free-route-airspace

The main headline is this:

Quote

We expect that most of Europe's airspace will have implemented FRA by the end of 2022 (see Commission Regulation (EU) 716/2014 for Europe-wide implementation).

Which is great 🙂

For VATsim flying it doesn't really matter to me: Simbrief will provide me with the best route - FRA or not - that I can just import in the MCDU of my plane, done. The main benefits of FRA are there for the real world and are more or less irrelevant for VATsim, especially since the volume of traffic in the real world is way larger.

Edited August 18, 2021 at 10:02 AM by Spender Vondel

[Andre Bohni]

54 minutes ago, Spender Vondel said:

especially since the volume of traffic in the real world is way larger

Well depends on the Daytime and if an Event is ongoing or not. Earlier this Year and last Year there was that much traffic on our weekly events that it qas bot that easy to keep the big Picture and every plane that was on an un expected routing need an extra Eye to keep the Seperation up.

And the FRA in Europe is strictly regulated so that there still Sectord where  Traffic can climb an Descend with out level Flights on directs

[Torben Andersen]

FRA is implemented as such. However, at least in Europe there are some regulations, as mentioned by Andre, which need to be fullfilled. So it is not entirely free. You can not always enter FRA from the end of the SID to the beginning of the STAR. One really need to check FRA Entry and Exit Points as well as Intermedient points. But in Scandinavia, where I control it is not uncommon to have long directs, eg. from the German border in Denmark to north of Stockholm, Sweden. If you have made the route according to RW/Eurocontrol, it will be accepted by atc. But there are (rare) cases, where we do not encourage it: Events like "Fly and see Santa" are so congested with planes, that fixed routes are normally given in order to allow controllers to have a fair chance - then FRA is not in use.