Romania and Bulgaria will invite the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia to join the Danube FAB (Functional Airspace Block) project, for the creation of a joint airspace, which is part of a larger EU project. Romania and Bulgaria already signed an agreement in December last year to create the joint airspace.

This is part of the EU's Single European Sky project, started in 2004. The project will consist of blocks of air space between neighboring countries.

Danube FAB is the fifth of the planned nine European air space blocks. The total cost of the project for Romania is of EUR 5 million, of which EUR 2.5 million are EU funds, and the rest is covered by Romanian state company Romatsa and its Bulgarian counterpart Bulatsa.

The fragmented European air space, with 67 portions of airspace has lead to EUR 2-3 billion additional costs a year in recent years, compared to other similar systems in the world. The European air traffic management system currently handles around 26,000 flights daily and forecasts indicate air traffic levels are likely to double by 2020.

editor@romania-insider.com