Commission Regulation (EU) No 255/2010 of 25 March 2010 laying down common rules on air traffic flow management (Text with EEA relevance)

• Published date: 26 March 2010
• Subject Matter: tutela dei consumatori,trasporti,protección del consumidor,transportes,protection des consommateurs,transports
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale dell’Unione europea, L 80, 26 marzo 2010,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 80, 26 de marzo de 2010,Journal officiel de l’Union européenne, L 80, 26 mars 2010

02010R0255 — EN — 11.12.2017 — 003.001

---

This text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. The Union's institutions do not assume any liability for its contents. The authentic versions of the relevant acts, including their preambles, are those published in the Official Journal of the European Union and available in EUR-Lex. Those official texts are directly accessible through the links embedded in this document

►B COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 255/2010 of 25 March 2010 laying down common rules on air traffic flow management (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 080 26.3.2010, p. 10)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 923/2012 of 26 September 2012	L 281	1	13.10.2012
►M2	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2016/1006 of 22 June 2016	L 165	8	23.6.2016
►M3	COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2017/2159 of 20 November 2017	L 304	45	21.11.2017

---

▼B

COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 255/2010

of 25 March 2010

laying down common rules on air traffic flow management

(Text with EEA relevance)

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

1. This Regulation lays down the requirements for air traffic flow management (hereinafter ATFM) in order to optimise the available capacity of the European air traffic management network (hereinafter EATMN) and enhance ATFM processes.

2. This Regulation shall apply within the airspace referred to in Article 1(3) of Regulation (EC) No 551/2004 to:

(a) all flights intended to operate or operating as general air traffic and in accordance with the instrument flight rules (hereinafter IFR) in whole or in part;

(b) all phases of flights referred to in point (a) and air traffic management.

3. This Regulation shall apply to the following parties, or agents acting on their behalf, involved in ATFM processes:

(a) operators of aircraft,

(b) air traffic service (hereinafter ATS) units, including ATS reporting offices and aerodrome control services;

(c) aeronautical information services;

(d) entities involved in airspace management;

(e) airport managing bodies;

(f) the central unit for ATFM;

(g) local ATFM units;

(h) slot coordinators of coordinated airports.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation the definitions provided for in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 549/2004 and Article 2 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 ( 1 ) shall apply.

The following definitions shall also apply:

1. ‘air traffic flow management (ATFM) measure’ means the actions taken to perform air traffic flow management and capacity management;

2. ‘operator’ means a person, organisation or enterprise engaged in or offering to engage in an aircraft operation;

▼M1

3. ‘IFR’ means the symbol used to designate instrument flight rules;

▼B

4. ‘air traffic services (ATS) reporting office’ means an ATS unit established for the purpose of receiving reports concerning ATS and flight plans submitted before the first delivery of an air traffic control clearance;

5. ‘local air traffic flow management (ATFM) unit’ means a flow management entity operating on behalf of one or more other flow management entities as the interface between the central unit for ATFM and an ATS unit or a group of such units;

6. ‘critical event’ means an unusual situation or crisis involving a major loss of EATMN capacity, or a major imbalance between EATMN capacity and demand, or a major failure in the information flow in one or several parts of the EATMN;

7. ‘air traffic flow management (ATFM) departure slot’ means a calculated take-off time attributed by the central unit for ATFM with a time tolerance managed by the local ATS unit;

8. ‘route and traffic orientation’ means policies and procedures for the use of routes by aircraft;

9. ‘multiple flight plan’ means more than one flight plan for the same intended flight between two airports;

10. ‘air traffic service (ATS) unit sector configuration’ means the four dimensional description of an ATS unit airspace sector, or group of sectors, which may be operated on a permanent or temporary basis;

11. ‘aerodrome taxi time’ means the pre-determined time value from off-block to take-off, expressed in minutes and valid during normal airport operations;

12. ‘updated flight position’ means aircraft position, updated by surveillance data, flight plan data or position reports;

13. ‘air traffic control clearance’ means the authorisation for an aircraft to proceed under conditions specified by an air traffic control unit;

14. ‘flight plan suspension’ means the process initiated by an entity performing ATFM to ensure that a change is made to the flight plan by the operator before the execution of the flight;

15. ‘air service’ means a flight or a series of flights carrying passengers, cargo or mail for remuneration or hire;

16. ‘operational log’ means a log of the ATFM system, converted into a database to allow quick search of ATFM data.

Article 3

Air traffic flow management framework

1. The planning, coordination and execution of the ATFM measures by the parties referred to in Article 1(3) shall comply with the ICAO provisions specified in the Annex.

2. ATFM shall be governed by the following principles:

(a) ATFM measures shall:

(i) prevent excessive air traffic demand compared with declared air traffic control (ATC) capacity of sectors and airports;

(ii) use EATMN capacity to the maximum extent possible in order to optimise the efficiency of the EATMN and minimise adverse effects on operators;

(iii) optimise the EATMN capacity made available through the development and application of capacity enhancing measures by ATS units;

(iv) support the management of critical events;

(b) local ATFM units and the central unit for ATFM shall be considered as part of the ATFM function.

3. The allocation of ATFM departure slots shall give priority to flights according to the order of their planned entry into the location at which the ATFM measure will apply, unless specific circumstances require application of a different priority rule which is formally agreed and is of benefit to the EATMN.

The first subparagraph may be applied to flights which are unable to accept the re-routing option to avoid or alleviate congested areas, taking into consideration the location and extent of the congested area.

Article 4

General obligations of Member States

1. Member States shall ensure that the ATFM function is available to parties referred to in Article 1(3) on a 24 hour basis.

2. The definition and implementation of ATFM measures shall be compatible with Member States security and defence requirements, in order to ensure efficiency in airspace planning, allocation and use for the benefit of parties referred in Article 1(3).

3. Consistent procedures shall be established for the cooperation between the parties involved in ATFM function, ATS units and entities involved in airspace management, in order to optimise the use of the airspace.

4. A common reference document containing the policies, procedures and description for route and traffic orientation shall be created. Where applicable, publication of route availability in national aeronautical information publications shall be fully consistent with this common reference document.

5. Common procedures for requesting exemption from an ATFM departure slot shall be...