Some EU countries participate in a common action which identifies solutions to implement the Single European Sky II (SES II) legislation and aims to improve safety, capacity, environmental performance, as well as reduce air transport costs.

European Commission fixed the deadline on 4 December 2012 to establish the Functional Airspace Blocks (FAB) all over Europe so that air traffic management services can be harmonised throughout the continent. The “FAB Central Europe (FAB CE) Implementation of Static Area of Responsibility Scenario” study involves four Member States, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, with €1.4 million of EU co-financing. It aims to devise solutions to implement the performance targets of the SES II legislation, in particular in the areas of safety, capacity, flight efficiency, environment, and cost effectiveness.

The main objectives of the "FAB CE project" and the concerned Air National Service Providers (ANSP) are:

• Connecting the currently fragmented ANSP activities of the four countries within the FAB Network
• Improving the civil-military coordination by connecting the FAB activity with military airspace users needs and by the applying a flexible use of airspace management
• Harmonising and coordinating the capacity planning process
• Coordinating the FAB-FAB interface prior to the appointment of a network manager
• Working towards achieving full operational interoperability of the Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems by optimising existing functionalities
• Implementing the relevant parts of the Implementation Package 1 (IP1) concept defined in the SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) Master Plan to improve performance

In particular, while optimising flights movements and reducing air transport costs, this project will have a direct impact on safety, capacity and environmental performance, reducing gas emissions and fuel consumption.

After obtaining the first results through the Feasibility Study Master Plan in 2010, this study is the last major phase to meet the deadline. Besides it takes place in the global framework of the Single European Sky legislation which requires Member States and Air National Service Providers to develop policies to coordinate their services, with the aim of implementing their FABs by 2012.