Starting tomorrow, December 8, ENAV will give the green light to Free Route operations in Italian airspace. From 01.00 next night, in fact, it will be possible for all aircraft flying over 11.000 meters above sea level to cross the Italian skies with a direct route without referring to the route network, which will be completely eliminated.
It is a revolutionary event for national and European air transport because airlines will be able to plan the shortest route without constraints, saving fuel, harmful emissions and obviously costs, while maintaining safety levels unchanged.
The Free Route will be available not only for overflying air traffic, which therefore does not land or take off from an Italian airport, but for any flight that intends to cover a portion of its route above an altitude of 11.000 metres.
ENAV, thanks to the Free Route, will guarantee shorter routes for more than 3.500 flights a day an average of about 17.5 km for each flight, with a saving of about 1 minute and 20″, which translates into lower fuel consumption which varies from about 55 kg for an Airbus 300 to about 300 kg for an Airbus 380. Again the greater the environmental benefit will be, thanks to the 3 kg of lower CO2 emissions into the atmosphere for each kg less fuel consumed by each aircraft.
This is a total of 61.250 km less traveled per day by the airlines operating in our skies.
By attributing the lower consumption, i.e. the 3.500 kg of the Airbus 11.000, to the 55 flights a day above 300 metres, the total saving is approximately 140 thousand euros.
Enav is the first among the 5 major European service providers to implement the Free Route, in line with the European regulation of the Single European Sky which defines its obligation starting from 1 January 2022, for all European states.
With the implementation of the Free Route program, ENAV completes the reorganization plan of the Italian airspace, started in 2014, which guarantees to achieve maximum flight efficiency, generating benefits for both airlines and the environment.
Statement by CEO Roberta Neri: This result was possible thanks to two key factors: technological development and the quality of our operating personnel. We are particularly proud to have anticipated such an important project at European level and to offer the airlines flying over our skies a service that is increasingly oriented towards their needs, while maintaining the highest levels of safety.
