Introduction & Background
For Airspace, PANS-AIM requires some basic properties as part of the minimum AIP data set. These are
type, name,...
In addition, PANS-AIM also defines in Appendix 2 'CONTENTS OF THE AERONAUTICAL INFORMATION PUBLICATION (AIP)' requirements for the publication of the airspace type, name and designation.
Info
In this regard, it seems that PANS-AIM does not follow a common and consistent approach. For some airspaces only a name is required, for some a name and an identification and for some only a designation. See below.
'ENR 2.1 FIR, UIR, TMA and CTA' require a
...name,...
'ENR 5.1 Prohibited, restricted and danger areas', require a
...identification, name...
'ENR 5.2 Military exercise and training areas and air defence identification zone (ADIZ)' and 'ENR 5.3 Other activities of a dangerous nature and other potential hazards' do not require any name or designation or identification of the airspace.
'ENR 5.5 Aerial sporting and recreational activities ' require a
...designation...
'AD 2.17/AD3.16 Air traffic services airspace' require an:
...airspace designation...
The diagram below shows the AIXM classes, including the relevant data types and code lists, needed to encode that information:
Name
Many ATS airspace or P/D/R airspace have a pronounceable name, such as 'RIGA' FIR, 'LJUBLJANA' CTR, Danger Area 'BRAVO', etc.
The airspace name shall be coded as provided by the data originator (airspace designer) and as published in other AIS products.
AIXM 5.2 Improvements
Type
Whereas for the name the encoding in AIXM is quite obvious, the type of an airspace may have to be derived from some of its characteristics, e.g. the activity taking place or the kind of access restrictions that it enforces.
The following table gives the definition of all the airspace types provided by AIXM 5 ('CodeAirspaceType' class), including advice for the use of some additional Airspace attributes, such as the localType, in some situations. Some particular cases are explained below the table.
| Name | Definition |
|---|---|
| NAS | National Airspace System. [note: The airspace within which a State provides Air Traffic Services is usually composed of:1) the territories over which the State has jurisdiction;2) those portions of the airspace over the high seas or in airspace of undetermined sovereignty where the provision of ATS are provided as determined by regional agreements. It can usually be determined by the UNION of FIRs (including, where appropriate, NO-FIRs) of the UNION of NAS-P. .] |
| FIR | Flight information region. Airspace of defined dimensions within which flight information service and alerting service are provided. Description: ICAO Recognized. Might, for example, be used if service provided by more than one unit. |
| FIR_P | Part of an FIR. |
| UIR | Upper flight information region. An upper airspace of defined dimensions within which flight information service and alerting service are provided. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. Each state determines its definition for upper airspace. |
| UIR_P | Part of a UIR. [note: Might, for example, be used if more than one unites provide service in different parts of a UIR .] |
| CTA | Control area. A controlled airspace extending upwards from a specified limit above the earth. Description: ICAO Recognized. |
| CTA_P | Part of a CTA. |
| OCA_P | Part of an OCA. |
| OCA | Oceanic control area. A Control Area extending upwards in the upper airspace. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. |
| UTA | Upper control area. A Control Area extending upwards in the upper airspace. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. |
| UTA_P | Part of a UTA. |
| TMA | Terminal control area. Control area normally established at the confluence of ATS routes in the vicinity of one or more major aerodromes. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. Mainly used in Europe under the Flexible Use of Airspace concept. |
| TMA_P | Part of a TMA. |
| CTR | Control zone. A controlled airspace extending upwards from the surface of the earth to a specified upper limit. Description: ICAO Recognized. |
| CTR_P | Part of a CTR. |
| OTA | Oceanic transition area. |
| SECTOR | Control sector. A subdivision of a designated control area within which responsibility is assigned to one controller or to a small group of controllers. Description: ICAO Recognized. |
| SECTOR_C | Temporary consolidated (collapsed) sector. |
| TSA | Temporary segregated area (FUA). Airspace of pre-defined dimensions within which activities require the reservation of airspace for the exclusive use of specific users during a predetermined period of time. Description: (NATO) An area in which there are special restrictive measures employed to prevent or minimize interference between friendly forces. An area under military jurisdiction in which special security measures are employed to prevent unauthorized entry. |
| CBA | Cross border area (FUA). Airspace of defined dimensions, above the land areas or territorial waters of more than one state. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. Mainly used in Europe under the Flexible Use of Airspace concept. |
| RCA | Reduced co-ordination area (FUA). Portion of airspace of defined dimensions within which general aviation traffic is permitted "off-route" without requiring general aviation traffic controllers to initiate co-ordination with OAT controllers. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. Mainly used in Europe under the Flexible Use of Airspace concept. |
| RAS | Regulated airspace (not otherwise covered). Note 'RAS' is semantically equivalent to 'OTHER'. It was extensively used in earlier AIXM versions, where 'OTHER' was not yet available and it is still present in many AIXM 5 data sources. Therefore, the coding guidelines treat 'OTHER' and 'RAS' as equivalent values, as discussed at the end of this table in relation with the Airspace.localType attribute. |
| AWY | Airway (corridor). A control area or portion thereof established in the form of a corridor. |
| MTR | Military Training Route buffer. A control area or portion thereof, established in the form of a corridor around a military training route in order to protect it from other traffic. |
| P | Prohibited area. Airspace of defined dimensions, above the land areas or territorial waters of a State, within which the flight of aircraft is prohibited. Description: ICAO Recognized. |
| R | Restricted area. Airspace of defined dimensions, above the land areas or territorial waters of a State, within which the flight of aircraft is restricted in accordance with certain specified conditions. Description: ICAO Recognized. |
| D | Danger area. Airspace of defined dimensions within which activities dangerous to the flight of aircraft may exist at specified times. Description: ICAO Recognized. |
| ADIZ | Air Defence Identification Zone. Special designated airspace of defined dimensions within which aircraft are required to comply with special identification and/or reporting procedures additional to those related to the provision of air traffic services (ATS). Description: ICAO Recognized. |
| NO_FIR | Airspace for which not even an FIR is defined. [note: There are parts in the world for which there is neither an FIR nor any other airspace-type is defined. These airspaces will be marked as NO-FIR .] |
| PART | Part of an airspace (used in airspace aggregation). |
| CLASS | Airspace having a specified class. |
| POLITICAL | Political/administrative area. |
| D_OTHER | Activities of dangerous nature (other than a danger area). |
| TRA | Temporary reserved area (FUA). Airspace of pre-defined dimensions within which activities require the reservation of airspace during a predetermined period of time. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. Mainly used in Europe under the Flexible Use of Airspace concept. |
| A | Alert area. Airspace which may contain a high volume of pilot training activities or unusual type of aerial activity, neither of which is hazardous to aircraft. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. Mainly used in contiguous United States and its territories. |
| W | Warning area. A non-regulatory airspace of defined dimensions designated over international waters that contains activity which may be hazardous to aircraft not participating in the activity. The purpose of such warning areas is to warn non participating pilots of the potential danger. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. Mainly used in contiguous United States and its territories. |
| PROTECT | Airspace protected from specific air traffic. |
| AMA | Minimum altitude area. The lowest altitude to be used under instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) which will provide a minimum vertical clearance of 300 m (1 000 ft) or in designated mountainous terrain 600 m (2 000 ft) above all obstacles located in the area specified. Description: ICAO Recognized. Published by many States as rectangles of 1 x 1 degree on the ENR 6 charts. Note - In the exact calculation 984 feet can be used as an equivalent to 300 metres. |
| ASR | Altimeter setting region. Airspace of defined dimensions within which standardized altimeter setting procedures apply. Description: Non-ICAO Recognized. For example, during flight the altimeter shall be set to the current altimeter setting of the nearest station along the route of flight. |
| ADV | Advisory Area. An area of defined dimensions within which air traffic advisory service is available. Description: ICAO Recognized. Air traffic control service provides a much more complete service than air traffic advisory service; advisory areas and routes are therefore not established within controlled airspace, but air traffic advisory service may be provided below and above. |
| UADV | Upper Advisory Area. An area of defined dimensions in upper airspace within which air traffic advisory service is available. Description: ICAO Recognized. Air traffic control service provides a much more complete service than air traffic advisory service; advisory areas and routes are therefore not established within controlled airspace, but air traffic advisory service may be provided below and above. |
| ATZ | Airport Traffic Zone. Airspace of defined dimensions established around an airport for the protection of airport traffic. Description: ICAO Recognized. |
| ATZ_P | Part of an airport traffic zone |
| HTZ | Helicopter traffic zone |
| NAS_P | A part of a national airspace system |
| OTHER | Other |
For types of airspaces which are not specifically listed in the CodeAirspaceType class, the 'OTHER' value may be used, followed by the code (abbreviation) for the local/regional type of the airspace. In such a case, in addition the localType attribute may be encoded with the full name of the local airspace type (e.g. 'OTHER:MOA' and 'Military Operations Area').
As a rule localType should only be coded in case 'OTHER' or 'RAS' are used for type.
For ATS airspaces, which may be composed of several parts, AIXM provides a corresponding "Part" type (e.g. 'FIR-P', 'CTR-P', etc.). For all other airspace types, a generic type 'PART' is provided. This allows to encode a whole airspace as a composition of its parts. (See also Geometry of Airspace). This concept is not known by PANS-AIM but may be used, if needed.
To indicate that an airspace or area is under military, joint or civil control, the controlType attribute will be used. Examples of such airspaces include military ATS areas (TMA, CTR, MATZ), military operations areas, military training/exercise areas, R and D areas reserved for military activities, etc. This attribute is not known by PANS-AIM but may be coded, if needed.
Designator
In addition, for some ATS airspace types such as "FIR" or "Danger Area", a designator will be encoded. For some types of airspace PANS-AIM requires an designation (or identification) for other it does not (see Introduction above).
However, the designator shall be coded whenever this data is available/published.
The designator attribute is limited to 10 characters. This has been done for compatibility with the ARINC 424 specification where the designator of Restrictive Airspace records is also limited to 10 characters.
In case the designator is published in the ICAO Doc 7190, also the attribute designatorICAO should be encoded accordingly with 'YES'.
Coding Guidelines for Airspace Types & Designators
The following table contains coding guidelines for the specific airspaces mentioned in PANS-AIM. In addition, also guidance for airspaces as they are published in today's AIPs are given. The last column provides guidelines for the construction of the designator of an airspace.
Note: In Europe, the ERNIP Specification - Part 1 provides more constraining rules for Airspace designators.
| PANS-AIM | type | localType | controlType | designator | designatorICAO | Remarks concerning Airspace.type | Remarks concerning Airspace.designator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIR / UIR | 'FIR' | NA | optional | mandatory | 'YES' | The coded identifier shall be the one published in ICAO DOC 7910; if none, then the location indicator of the related FIC [Flight Information Center] shall be used. Examples: Langen FIR, EDGG Brussels UIR, EBUR | |
| TMA | 'TMA' | NA | optional | optional | optional | a. the ICAO Doc 7910 location indicator of the airspace or, in case it is not defined, the location indicator of the ATC centre providing services in the airspace; b. if there is no major ATC centre providing services in the airspace or if it does not have a location indicator, use the location indicator of the major airport situated within the airspace; or c. define a 4-letter code using the ICAO Country Code (provided in ICAO Doc 7910) and a unique combination of two letters such as the airspace identifier is not duplicated within the State or territory concerned for the same airspace type. Examples Tallin CTA (also Tallin ACC), EETT Palma TMA (also Palma TACC), LECP Luxembourg TMA, ELLX Split CTR, LDSP | |
| CTA / UTA / OCA | 'CTA', 'UTA', 'OCA' | NA | optional | optional | optional | UTA & OCA are Non-ICAO Recognized types of airspaces, but special types of control area, which are frequently used and published in AIPs. | |
| CTR | 'CTR' | NA | optional | optional | optional | ||
| ATZ / HTZ | 'ATZ, 'HTZ' | NA | optional | optional | optional | a. the ICAO Doc 7910 location indicator of the airspace; b. if it does not have a location indicator, use the location indicator of the related airport/heliport situated within the airspace; c. if there is no related airport/heliport or there are more than one airport/heliport situated within the airspace
Examples: Zvekovac ATZ, LDZE Borwin Alpha HTZ, EHHJ Ameland HPZ, EHHPZAMEL Schinveld ATZ, EHATZSV Woensdrecht ATZ, EHATZWO Coningsby MATZ, EGXC | |
| Prohibited Area | 'P' | NA | optional | mandatory | optional | For airspace affected by special activities the coded identifier shall be composed of a group of digits and / or letters as follows:
Examples: DROTTNINGHOLM restricted area, ESR24 MONT GRAND MORNE alert area, CYA619 MATHIATIS danger area, LCD21 ECHTEN area PJE, EHVECHTEN GREDA (SINJ) protected area, LDX90 LESMO area, LHSLESMO For regulated airspace with activity ‘ATS’ the coded identifier shall be defined as follows: a. the ICAO Doc 7910 location indicator of the airspace; b. if it does not have a location indicator, use the location indicator of the related airport/heliport situated within the airspace; c. if there is no related airport/heliport situated within the airspace or in case the coded identifier is duplicated (e.g. TIZ and TIA with the same related airport)
Examples: Sveg TIZ, ESTIZESND Sveg TI, ESTIAESND Parnu FIZ, EEPU Lelystad AFIZ, EHAFIZLE The coded identifier of special use airspace that do not fall under the rules above, shall be composed as follows: a. nationality letters for location indicators assigned to the State or territory, which has established the airspace; and b. three letters for:
and c. a combination of up to 5 digits and / or letters unduplicated within the State or territory concerned for the same airspace type. Examples: TSA-LO-RENINGE UAV AREA, EBTSA15 TRA-LANGELAND (LAN), EKTRALAN TRA-PAPA ALPHA, LHTRA11A For P, D, R areas where the coded identifier ends with a number, if the part is also identified with a number, then a separator character ('-') should be added before the digits of the part. For example, EDR11-1, EDR11-2. This is necessary in order to avoid confusion between EDR11-1 (part 1 of Restricted Area 11 in Germany) and EDR111 (Restricted Area 111). Examples: Germany Restricted Area 111, EDR111 Germany part 1 of Restricted Area 11, EDR11-1 Germany part 2 of Restricted Area 11, EDR11-2 | |
| Restricted Area | 'R' | NA | optional | mandatory | optional | ||
| Danger Area | 'D' | NA | optional | mandatory | optional | ||
| Military exercise and training areas | 'TSA', 'TRA', 'MTR', 'PROTECT', 'D_OTHER' | as applicable | 'MIL', 'JOINT' | optional | optional | In case no specific type is applicable, 'PROTECT' or 'D-OTHER' or 'OTHER' may be used for the coding. In addition a corresponding localType may be encoded. | |
| Other activities of a dangerous nature | 'D_OTHER' | as applicable | optional | optional | optional | ||
| Aerial sporting and recreational activities | 'A', 'D_OTHER' | as applicable | optional | optional | optional | Also another type may be used if applicable. | |
| Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) | 'ADIZ' | NA | 'MIL' | optional | optional | ||
| Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA) types | 'TRA', 'TSA', 'CBA' and 'RCA' | NA | optional | optional | optional | ||
| Other special activity airspace types | 'W', 'A', 'POLITICAL', 'ASR', | as applicable | optional | optional | optional | 'A' and 'W' are mainly used in North America, but also in other regions world-wide. 'POLITICAL' is used for aviation relevant regions like ICAO regions, ECAC, etc., but can a also be used for non-aviation related regions like States, Provinces, etc. | |
Traffic Information Zone | OTHER:FIZ | TIZ | optional | optional | NA | AIXM 5.2 Improvements | |
Traffic Information Area | OTHER:FIZ | TIA | optional | optional | NA | AIXM 5.2 Improvements | |
| Parts | 'FIR-P', 'UIR-P', 'TMA-P', 'CTA-P', 'UTA-P', 'OCA-P', 'CTR-P'', 'ATZ-P', 'PART' | NA | optional | optional | optional | These types of airspaces are used as components to define the whole airspace of that type. 'PART' is an artificial airspace, which can solely be used as parent in the scope of an Airspace Aggregation (see section Geometry of Airspace). | a. the four-letter coded identifier of the child airspace (FIR, CTA, TMA, etc.), followed by; b. a combination of up to 6 digits and / or letters, unduplicated within the composition of the child airspace Examples: FIR-P, ENOR1 CTA-P – Debrecen CTA1, LHDC1 TMA-P – Brussels TMA NINE A, EBBR9A The coded identifier of the airspace of type 'PART' shall be composed by: a. nationality letters for location indicators assigned to the State or territory, which has published the airspace; followed by b. a combination of up to 8 digits and / or letters unduplicated within the State or territory concerned for the same airspace type. If the airspace type PART is used to define a child airspace with an already published ICAO location indicator, it is recommended to compose the code identifier of the airspace type PART by
Examples: Airspace within Belgium part of a sector, EB00001 Airspace within Spain part of Sevilla TMA, LECS2 |
| Class | 'CLASS' | NA | optional | optional | optional | Some countries publish ATS airspaces in ENR 2.1 according to their class and not as defined types (e.g. AIP Germany). AIXM 5 provides also a dedicated 'CLASS' value for Airspace.type. | The rule defined for TMA may be applied. |
| Airway | 'AWY' | as applicable | optional | optional | optional | Airway (corridor). A control area or portion thereof established in the form of a corridor. | a. nationality letters for location indicators assigned to the State or territory, which has established the airspace; followed by b. the route designator of the route segment the AWY is based on Example: AWY L179 corridor, EHL179 |
| National Airspace Structure | 'NAS' | NA | optional | optional | optional | For airspace of type NAS (National Airspace Structure - usually, the assembly of all FIR and UIR belonging to one State) the coded identifier shall be the nationality letter(s) of the state concerned. Examples: United Kingdom, EG Hungary, LH | |
Control sector, Temporary consolidated (collapsed) sector. | 'SECTOR', 'SECTOR_C' | NA | optional | optional | optional | a. If a SECTOR or SECTOR-C is part of an ATS airspace (e.g. CTA, UTA, TMA, etc.) the coded identifier shall be defined as follows:
b. If there is no ATS airspace the SECTOR or SECTOR-C is part of, the coded identifier shall be composed of:
Examples: SECTOR within CTA LZBB, LZBBE7 SECTOR-C within CTA EPWW, EPWWTC SECTOR within TAMPERE CTA, EFESIN1 SECTOR (VERAM) within LISBOA FIR, LPVERAM | |
| Airspace for which not even an FIR is defined. | 'NO-FIR' | NA | optional | optional | optional | There are parts in the world for which there is neither an FIR nor any other airspace-type is defined. These airspaces will be marked as NO-FIR . | The coded identifier of the airspace of type NO-FIR shall be composed by the letters “XX” followed by a combination of up to 8 digits and / or letters, unduplicated for the same airspace type. Example: ANDORRA NO-FIR, XXANDORRA |
| Minimum altitude area. | 'AMA' | NA | optional | optional | optional |
| a. nationality letters for location indicators assigned to the State or territory, which has published the airspace; followed by b. three letters: ‘AMA’; followed by c. a combination of 5 digits and letters (allowed letter values are: N,S,E or W) defined as follows; the lower left corner point of the square defining the AMA shall be taken into consideration. Lower left corner point latitude and longitude are always expressed as full degree values so the following diagram applies for the composition of the coded identifier: Examples: AMA published by Sweden: ESAMA5713E Coordinates of the lower left corner of the square: 570000N 0130000E AMA published by Czech Republic: LKAMA4912E Coordinates of the lower left corner of the square: 490000N 0120000E |
| Military Operations Area | 'OTHER:MOA' | Military Operations Area | optional | optional | NA | necessary for Digital NOTAM, SAA.ACT and SAA.NEW scenarios | See rules for Military exercise and training areas |
| Remote Conflict Zone | 'OTHER:RCZ' | Remote Conflict Zone | optional | optional | NA | In support to the ICAO Remote Conflict Zone notification concept | |
Free Route Airspace | 'OTHER:FRA' | FRA | optional | mandatory | NA | Airspace types related to the European Free Route Airspace concept. AIXM 5.2 Improvements | |
Flight Plan Buffer Zone | 'OTHER:FBZ' | FBZ | optional | mandatory | NA | ||
| No Planning Zone | 'OTHER:NPZ' | NPZ | optional | mandatory | NA | ||
| Radio Mandatory Zone | 'OTHER:RMZ' | RMZ | optional | mandatory | NA | Supports the coding of airspace specified in the standardised European rules of the air. AIXM 5.2 Improvements | |
| Transponder Mandatory Zone | 'OTHER:TMZ' | TMZ | optional | mandatory | NA |
Note
There is a subtle difference between airspace of type 'PROTECT' and 'D-OTHER'. The data provider has to decide which type is the most appropriate one for his concerned airspace, based on the following guidelines:
- The type 'PROTECT' is especially used for airspace that are protected from heavy air traffic, such as 'noise abatement', 'sensitive fauna', etc.
The type 'D-OTHER' is especially used for airspace published in ENR 5.3 (Other activities of a dangerous nature) and also supporting demands, such as HIRTA - high intensity radio transmission area".
Another application may be an airspace published in ENR 5.5 (SPORT) such as an established Parachute Area, which is of danger for other air traffic (i.e. other air traffic may have entry permission but has to take care of dedicated air traffic).
Designator for Delegated Airspace
The coded identifier of delegated airspace will be composed by:
a. the ICAO Doc 7910 location indicator of the FIR owner of the airspace to be delegated; followed by
b. three letters: ‘DLG’; followed by
c. a sequential numbering unduplicated within the State or territory concerned for the same airspace type.
Examples:
Delegation from Portugal to Madrid ACC, LPPCDLG1
Delegation from Sevilla ACC to Almeria TWR, LECMDLG5
AIP context
In an AIP information about the name, designator and type of an airspace may be published in various ways.
The figure below shows the basic data of airspaces as they may be published in ENR 2.1
The figure below shows the basic data of airspaces as they may be published in AD 2.17.
Although AD 2.17 states "designation" the information published, will be rather encoded as the Airspace.name and not as the Airspace.designator.
The figure below shows the basic data of airspaces as they may be published in ENR 5.1.
The figures below show the basic data of airspaces as they may be published in ENR 5.2.
In this example the airspaces may have the generic type 'PROTECT' or 'D-OTHER' as there is no specific AIXM value for that kind of types. Also 'OTHER:MIL' may be used. The localType should then be used to encode the full textual name of the actual airspace type, e.g 'TRAINING AREA'.
In the following example the airspaces will be coded with type TRA or TSA (and not PROTECT, as there are dedicated types for that airspaces).
In this example the airspaces may not only have a name but also be coded with a designator, as published.
The figure below shows the basic data of airspaces as they may be published in ENR 5.3.
In this case airspace will carry different types. If available the specific type will be used , i.e. HTZ, if not the generic type D-OTHER will be used.
The figures below show the basic data of airspaces as they may be published in ENR 5.5
In this example the generic type PROTECT will be used as type for the airspaces.
In addition to the airspace name also a designator with may be coded which will be the same as the name.
.
In some AIPs in ENR 5.5 also specific types are listed, like in the example below where airspaces of type TRA are published.
Lower/Upper Separation
This information is not required by PANS-AIM.
In AIXM 5 it is possible to encode the flight level (FL) that indicates the division of airspace between lower and upper airspace. The upperLowerSeperation attribute is used for that purpose. This is only relevant for FIRs.
Coding Examples
See topic Airspace [ASE].