IFAV3

Europe's air traffic system is facing one of the greatest challenges in its history. After dramatic declines during the COVID-19 crisis, air traffic is now reaching record levels. However, geopolitical developments, in particular the Ukraine conflict, have led to massive changes in the transport network. The future of air transport remains uncertain due to political and economic instability, both in terms of traffic volumes and routes.

One of the key challenges is to adapt the provision of air traffic control (ATC) services flexibly and at short notice to these ever-changing circumstances. There is already a shortage of around 700 air traffic controllers, and the licensing system for training and endorsing controllers is not equipped to meet the demands of a dynamic traffic environment. Currently, controllers must complete a set number of hours and pass assessments to become and remain authorised to control a sector - a process that is not flexible enough to respond to current changes in traffic volumes.

Flexibility, efficiency, and innovation for a safe and sustainable air traffic control system

This is where the SESAR project IFAV3 (Increased flexibility of ATCO validations - V3) comes in, which aims to make controller rostering more flexible. As part of this project, DLR is developing and investigating the innovative concept of skill- and competency-based endorsements in en-route upper airspace.

This new approach uses specialised algorithms to reliably measure and quantify the skills, competencies and experience of air traffic controllers based on the traffic they have previously handled in different sectors under different conditions, and to compare them with the predicted requirements for a given sector and time.

This innovative approach will be validated at Maastricht Upper Area Control by the end of 2025 and will allow more flexible deployment of controllers.

IFAV3 is a three-year project of the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking, the main objective of which is to increase the flexibility of air traffic controller (ATCO) rostering in the upper airspace by enabling them to hold and maintain more endorsements for specific sectors / sector groups than today. New tools and processes will not only help to improve the cost-efficiency of air traffic control, but will also help to compensate for possible staff shortages.

Building on from the previous SESAR research (e.g. PJ.33-01a and PJ.10-73 IFAV), IFAV3 develops and validates solutions to:

1. Simplify the ATCO validation process by investigating ready-to-use procedures, advanced tools, automation, as well as training, rating maintenance and regulatory changes, while creating a standard and methodological framework that will ensure increased safety;
2. Use and further validate solutions from previous projects and apply them to remote tower centres.