Free Route Airspace: What Does It Mean to Me?

Welcome back to Jump Seat. This article continues our series on sustainability initiatives by examining the in-progress implementation of Free Route Airspace, focusing on Europe. We appreciate your reading our newsletter and welcome your feedback. 

Free Route Airspace (FRA) is an initiative by Eurocontrol to provide greater flexibility and efficiency in the planning and execution of air traffic flows in Europe. In the past, Europe air traffic has been constrained by a complex network of predetermined airways. Sticking to these airways has led to longer flight paths and unnecessary delays, which can increase fuel consumption, thus increasing CO2 emissions. 

FRA is being developed in the context of SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) and is one of many initiatives underway by that organization, including use of AI, enhanced flight vision landing, and many sensor and surveillance projects.  

The implementation of Free Route Airspace allows aircraft to fly more direct routes providing significant benefits for both operators and passengers. Under the FRA concept, operators can plan their own routes through the airspace, subject to certain constraints and requirements. Eurocontrol’s CFMU (Centralized Flow Management Unit), which is responsible for coordinating and optimizing air traffic flow in Europe, works with national air traffic control organizations to ensure that flights are properly sequenced and managed to minimize delays and maximize efficiency. 

Free Route Airspace has been gradually implemented across Europe since 2015, and is now available in a growing number of countries and regions. Its benefits include reduced fuel consumption and emissions, shorter flight times, and increased capacity in the airspace.  

Figure 1: Map of FRA in Eurocontrol zone as of December 2022 

You can see that many Europe regions, particularly heavy-traffic areas, are now covered by FRA, and coverage continues to expand. See Useful Links below for maps and discussion of upcoming phases. Full implementation is expected by 2026. 

FRA already been shown to reduce route extension. Route extension is defined as the amount by which a flown flight exceeds the great circle distance. Route extension was nearly cut in half by December 2021 (from 3.6% to 2%). And that’s just the beginning; see the Figure 2 for annual savings after full implementation. Once fully implemented at the European level, these improvements should allow the following savings, compared with the current situation:

Figure 2: Savings in CO2 Emissions and Fuel from Full FRA Implementation 

On 23 March 2023, a major change affecting FRA went into effect in the London FIR. There is a detailed zoomable map describing this.  

• The public version (no password required!) of the Eurocontrol NOP is a great place to visit when searching for delay information throughout the airspace. 

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