Press Release
Free Route towards net zero: The environmental benefits achieved so far by the Borealis Alliance Free Route Airspace implementation
09-07-2021
The Borealis Alliance is a pioneer in the implementation of a complete, truly cross-border, free route airspace (FRA) amongst the airspace managed by its nine members. Whilst full implementation has been slowed down by the COVID crisis and is now planned by end 2023, partial FRA implementation has already delivered very substantial benefits.
We have recently completed a study to analyse the environmental improvement delivered through full implementation of the Northern Europe Free Route Airspace (NEFRA) project by the ANSPs composing the NEFAB (Northern Europe Functional Airspace Block): EANS (Estonia), LGS (Latvia), FinTraffic (Finland) and AVINOR (Norway, including the Bodø oceanic zone), and the ANSPs composing the Denmark/Sweden FAB (NAVIAIR and LFV).
Using data from the Eurocontrol Network Manager and the SESAR Deployment Manager about the performance gains achieved between 2018 and 2020, NEFRA has saved over 151,281 tonnes of CO2 corresponding to a saving in 800,000 Nautical Miles based on real flights with data provided by, and cross-checked with, NM and SDM, using a well-known and accepted methodology developed by the Performance Review Unit of Eurocontrol.
This is a conservative view as it is limited to the NEFRA implementation, and whilst more emissions reductions have been achieved through FRA implementation in other parts of the Borealis FRA airspace they are not included in the results for the time being.
Against the backdrop of the European Green Deal and proposals for SESII+, the Borealis Alliance and its members remain committed to the full implementation of FRA and helping the industry on its flightpath to net zero emissions.
