What to expect
The relationship between civil and military airspace users has always required careful coordination. Since 2022, the operational environment has shifted significantly. This session brings together civil and military airspace authorities to examine:
- Civil-military coordination frameworks — the current state of FUA (Flexible Use of Airspace) implementation across European states and where it is working well or falling short
- Impact of increased military activity — how heightened defence activity since 2022 has changed the operational calculus for civil airspace managers
- Airspace reservation and data sharing — the practical mechanisms for sharing restricted and danger area data between military and civil ATM systems in real time
- Governance and decision-making — how civil-military airspace committees are constituted, how fast they can respond to changed operational requirements, and where authority boundaries create friction
- Towards better integration — the technical and procedural innovations that could reduce the zero-sum nature of civil-military airspace allocation
Key questions this session will address
Has the FUA concept kept pace with current European security demands? Flexible Use of Airspace was designed for a post-Cold War environment with relatively predictable military activity patterns. This session will examine whether the concept's processes and timescales remain fit for purpose given more dynamic and geographically variable military requirements across the continent.
How are ANSPs managing the operational impact of increased restricted airspace? Increased military activity has resulted in larger and more frequently activated restricted areas in parts of European airspace. The panel will address how ANSPs are adapting their flow management and capacity planning to account for airspace that is more constrained and less predictable than in previous years.
What data-sharing advances are improving civil-military coordination? This session will explore technical and procedural improvements in the exchange of airspace status data between military and civil ATM systems, including progress on real-time conditional route availability and improved pre-tactical notification timescales.
Why it matters
Civil-military airspace integration is not only a technical and operational question — it is now a strategic one. The changed European security environment has put the coordination of civil and military airspace use under pressure, and the aviation industry needs to understand how European states and ANSPs are responding. This session provides direct testimony from the authorities responsible for that coordination.