Skyguide optimises route network within Swiss airspace

8 maart 2012 skyguide / Skyguide optimises route network within Swiss airspace . Processed and transmitted by Thomson Reuters ONE. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Geneva, 8 March 2012. Skyguide, Switzerland's air navigation service provider, is introducing ten more-direct transit routes through its airspace today. The new routes should save around 1,000 kilometres of flight per day. The opportunity is also being taken to bring more separation to existing routes, a move that will simplify skyguide's air traffic management and monitoring activities. These optimisations of the present route network form part of the current work aiming to harmonise Europe's airspace. The new and more efficient transit routes through skyguide airspace have been made possible by the company's collaborations within the Functional Airspace Block Europe Central (FABEC) undertaking, in which the air navigation service providers of Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland have been working for several years now to create a common airspace block. The FABEC partners and Eurocontrol, Europe's umbrella organisation for ensuring safe air traffic management, identified 50 frequently-used routes between prime airport pairs that entailed major deviations for their users - such as Amsterdam-Madrid and Paris-Munich - and set out to optimise them. "We are very pleased to be able to make our contribution to optimising the prime traffic flows within FABEC and thereby offer our customers more direct transit routes," says Xavier Heinzer, the head of skyguide's Zurich air traffic control operations. "We have also taken the opportunity to bring greater separation to our existing routes, which will substantially facilitate the work of our air traffic controllers." The shorter transit routes are flown on average by more than 550 aircraft every day. Their modification will save some 1,000 kilometres of flight per day and over three tonnes of fuel. This in turn means both lower costs for the airlines involved and, on the environmental front, fewer CO(2 )emissions. As is customary with any modifications of this kind, skyguide will initially reduce its system capacity in the Eastern Swiss airspace concerned for safety reasons. This capacity will then be gradually restored to its usual levels over the following few days. To minimise delays, additional controllers will be assigned for duty at skyguide's Dübendorf control centre during the period concerned. Skyguide swiss air navigation services ltd. media relations CH-1215 Geneva 15 Contact: phone:    +41 22 417 4008 email:     presse@skyguide.ch internet:  www.skyguide.ch Skyguide is responsible for providing air navigation services within Swiss airspace and in the airspace of certain adjoining regions in neighbouring countries. The company guides the civil and military aircraft entrusted to its care - around 3,270 flights a day or 1.2 million a year - through the busiest and most complex airspace in Europe. Skyguide is a non-profit limited company which has its head office in Geneva. The majority of its shares are held by the Swiss Confederation. The company generated total operating revenue of over CHF 365 million in 2010, and employs some 1,400 people at 14 locations in Switzerland. Skyguide is a member, together with its partner organizations in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, of the FABEC initiative to create a common functional airspace block that will bring greater efficiency to Central Europe's air traffic management services and activities. The media release can be downloaded from the following link: Media release (PDF): http://hugin.info/134388/R/1592397/500770.pdf This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: skyguide via Thomson Reuters ONE [HUG#1592397]