What this theme covers
Collaborative Operations for Sustainable Skies addresses how the ATM network operates as a system — the coordination mechanisms, data-sharing frameworks, and operational agreements that determine whether 35,000 daily European flights are managed efficiently or wastefully.
At ASW 2026 the track covers the EUROCONTROL Network Manager's role in pre-tactical and tactical capacity planning; free route airspace expansion and the fuel savings it delivers when properly implemented; Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) between ANSPs, airports, and airlines; and the environmental dividend that operational efficiency generates through trajectory optimisation and reduced holdings.
The sustainability dimension is direct and quantifiable. EUROCONTROL's analysis consistently shows that airspace fragmentation and suboptimal routing generate millions of tonnes of avoidable CO₂ annually — not from the aircraft themselves, but from the inefficiency of how the network is managed. Better collaboration between the 37 European ANSPs coordinated through the Network Manager is the fastest available route to measurable emissions reduction in European aviation.
The track also examines the summer 2026 capacity outlook — one of the most closely watched outputs of the Network Manager — and the pre-tactical measures designed to prevent the systemic delays that have characterised European airspace in peak seasons.
Why it matters now
European airspace capacity failed to keep pace with traffic recovery in 2023 and 2024. ATFM delays climbed well above SES Reference Period 3 targets. The political and commercial pressure on ANSPs and the Network Manager to prevent a repeat in 2026 is intense, and ASW 2026 takes place three weeks before the start of the European summer traffic peak — making the Network Manager's summer forecast one of the most consequential sessions of the conference.
At the same time, the EU's SES2+ performance scheme, now operational, directly links ANSP funding eligibility to environmental performance metrics, creating a financial incentive for collaboration that did not exist under previous frameworks.
Five questions, answered
What does the EUROCONTROL Network Manager do?
The EUROCONTROL Network Manager provides the central coordination function for the European ATM network — managing airspace capacity and demand at the network level so that the 37 participating ANSPs can collectively handle traffic peaks that no single ANSP could manage alone. Its principal functions are the Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU), which issues Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) regulations restricting departure times when demand exceeds sector capacity; the Centralised Services for aeronautical data, meteorology, and surveillance; and the Network Operations Centre.
The Network Manager does not control aircraft — that remains the responsibility of national ANSPs. It manages the flow of traffic across the network to prevent the cascade of delays that occur when a single overloaded sector blocks hundreds of flights across multiple countries.
What is free route airspace and how much fuel does it save?
Free route airspace (FRA) is an operational concept in which airspace users can plan direct, optimised flight trajectories between defined entry and exit points rather than following a fixed route network. Where implemented, it eliminates the detours built into the historical route network and allows aircraft to fly closer to the great-circle track between their origin and destination.
EUROCONTROL's assessments show that free route airspace implementation across European core area airspace delivers fuel savings of 30–50 kg per flight on average on routes where the constraint is binding. Across the full European network, the annual fuel and CO₂ saving from complete FRA implementation is estimated in the hundreds of millions of euros and millions of tonnes. The 2026 sessions assess which airspace volumes remain constrained — primarily due to military activity and political coordination gaps — and what the implementation pipeline looks like.
What is Collaborative Decision Making in aviation?
Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is the operational process by which ANSPs, airports, and airlines share real-time information on aircraft movements, ground handling status, and airspace conditions to make joint decisions that improve predictability and reduce waste across the whole system.
Airport CDM — standardised by EUROCONTROL — integrates ground handling milestones, departure clearance times, and ATFM slot management so that aircraft push back only when their ATFM slot is imminent and the gate is needed. The result is less fuel burnt on the apron, fewer missed slots, and better departure punctuality. Network CDM extends the same principle to pre-tactical flight planning, allowing airlines to file routes that the network can accommodate without generating downstream ATFM restrictions.
How does ATM efficiency reduce aviation's CO₂ emissions?
ATM efficiency reduces CO₂ through three mechanisms: trajectory optimisation (flying direct routes rather than historical airways), vertical profile optimisation (continuous climb and descent rather than level-off segments dictated by congested airways), and reduced holding (eliminating airborne holding by absorbing delay on the ground as ATFM rather than in the air).
EUROCONTROL's environmental analysis consistently shows that the gap between actual and optimal trajectories in European airspace represents an avoidable environmental cost of several per cent of total aviation emissions. At 2026 traffic volumes, even a one-per-cent improvement in network trajectory efficiency produces a multi-megatonne annual CO₂ reduction. The track at ASW 2026 examines where the biggest gains remain available and what the operational and political obstacles are.
What is the European summer 2026 traffic and capacity outlook?
The EUROCONTROL Network Manager's summer 2026 forecast — published in the weeks before Airspace World — projects European traffic levels by region, identifies the sectors and airports with the highest risk of ATFM delay, and sets out the pre-tactical measures planned to manage peak periods. The forecast is the authoritative reference for airlines, airports, and regulators planning summer operations.
ASW 2026 takes place on 26–28 May, three weeks before the start of the European summer peak. The Network Manager session is one of the most attended at the conference — it is where the industry gets the first public view of how the summer will be managed and which bottlenecks have not been resolved since the previous season.
Sessions covering this theme
ASW 2026 sessions under this track cover the summer 2026 network forecast, free route airspace progress, CDM maturity, and the environmental case for operational efficiency.
What ASW 2025 told us about this theme
ASW 2025 addressed post-pandemic capacity recovery and the first operational year under the revised SES performance framework. Read the ASW 2025 retrospective
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