Redrawing the boundaries for cooperation?

Poland and Lithuania, and their ANSPs, PANSA and Oro navigacija, are laying down the initial foundations for future FAB cooperation with third countries. All of the relevant stakeholders − including ANSPs, national regulators, military and State representatives − have spent the last year working with Helios, to review the scope and potential for cooperation with their neighbours.

The immediate focus for stakeholders from Poland and Lithuania is to establish a bilateral Baltic FAB by the end of the year and prepare the necessary material for submission to the European Commission. However, there is acknowledgement that this is only the first step in bringing performance improvements to airspace users.

Poland and Lithuania are surrounded by a number of European FABs, including FAB Europe Central, FAB Central Europe, NEFAB, and the Danish-Swedish FAB. Also close by are non-EU States (Belarus, Ukraine) and Kaliningrad, part of the Russian Federation. The impetus for this work was the recognition that cooperation should not be constrained to the FAB, and that extending regional cooperation outwards would increase the scale of benefits that are possible from intra-FAB cooperation.

Preliminary ideas for cooperation received a positive response during discussions with neighbours and have set the foundations for future cooperation; even the act of seeking cooperation can foster new ideas and bring forward surprising synergies between partners.

Comments Tymoteusz Gadomski, Baltic FAB PMO Director: “When Helios presented their Feasibility Study, they provided an initial indication of the many benefits from cooperating with our neighbours. These included route improvements, cross-border sectorisation and military areas, more efficient handovers across boundaries, coordinated planning and convergence of CNS/ATM systems, and coordinated procedures to improve flight efficiency.”

“Should we want to go further, Helios has already laid the groundwork by advising us on the steps that might be necessary for implementing future cooperation with the Baltic FAB neighbours.”

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Naheed Arshad

Naheed is a principal consultant at Helios and is central to our work for FABs In recent years she has led our work for FAB Europe Central, FAB Central Europe, the UK-Ireland FAB, and most recently the Baltic FAB Feasibility Study. She played a major role in the ATM/CNS fragmentation study for the Performance Review Commission, undertook a number of impact assessments on SES concepts for the European Commission, and provided support to the EC Industry Consultation Body.

Daniel Kominák

Daniel is a consultant who has worked on a wide range of projects across all Helios business sectors. He specialises in economic, financial and performance modelling, as well as aviation safety and safety management systems. For the Baltic FAB Feasibility Study he was responsible for the development of the cost-benefit analysis model and performance analysis. He is currently part of the team providing support to the Baltic FAB Project Management Office.