EUROCONTROL sets up new civil-military Coordination Function to support Flight Efficiency

Today, in the presence of David McMillan, Director General of EUROCONTROL, Jacques Dopagne, Director CFMU and Jean Robert Cazarré, Director CMAC & SESI signed a Memorandum of Cooperation officially implementing the new Military Liaison Officer (MILO) function in the CFMU.

This new function is expected to improve civil-military coordination and resulting collaborative decision-making processes, particularly with regard to
flexible use of airspace and associated management processes. It will be executed jointly by the CFMU Operational Staff and three EUROCONTROL
Military Experts seconded from Member States.

"This function is a significant element inserted in the CFMU operational organisation to support Member States and pan-European ATM efficiency by
facilitating the civil-military coordination process between the local Airspace Managers and the network operations, proactively proposing airspace
allocation alternatives for optimising the use of airspace," said Jacques Dopagne.

The Flight Efficiency Plan, a common EUROCONTROL/CANSO/IATA initiative for fuel and emission savings, calls for an improved utilisation of civil/military airspace structures. "The creation of the Military Liaison Officer function in the CFMU is one of our responses to this Plan, which will help improving airspace utilisation and route network availability for the benefit of civil and military users. It will also help us achieve the common objective of a Single European Sky," said Jean Robert Cazarré.

"By putting in place this improved cooperation, we are confident that we will be better able to accommodate military needs and will at the same time increase capacity and efficiency of civil aviation across the European continent," concluded David McMillan.