Further deepening the exchanges between Europe and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the Air Traffic Management (ATM) domain, the EU-ROK Aviation Partnership Project (APP) held a workshop on the subject of Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA, to add airspace capacity and improve safety, efficiency and flexibility of aircraft operations in airspace frequently reserved for military or other special activities). The workshop took place in Seoul from 23 to 25 January, and was attended by close to 40 participants. 

Over the course of three days, many topics were covered including the FUA regulatory framework in Europe and ROK, use cases, cross-border activity, threat management, National Airspace Management System (NAIMS) of ROK, the LARA and CIMACT support systems in Europe, and Free Route Airspace application, among others. Experts contributing the presentations to this workshop represented the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) of ROK, Eurocontrol, the French Air Defence and Air Operations Command, Austro Control and Eurocontrol’s Maastricht Upper Area Control Center (MUAC). 

The event successfully helped raise the participants’ mutual understanding of the technology, procedures and practices in Europe and ROK for civil-military cooperation and FUA and their potential for enhancing safety and efficiency of airspace usage. It was concluded that trust is the basic building block for civil-military cooperation and the two sides will continue exchanging on these and other subjects to the benefit of improving the airspace environment for all air operators.

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