2006 FIFA World Cup Germany - CFMU - Eurocontrol

2006 FIFA Worlld Cup Germany – but what 

happens wiith the addiitiionall aiir traffiic demand? 

CFMU takes iits ATFCM measures 

�� 

The 2006 FIFA World Cup might keep you in front of your screen, guessing what, in 

front of your television screen during the entire period from the 9 th of June till the 

9 th of July. You are maybe one of those other millions of people around the world 

watching the most popular sport in the world. Or you are one of the many 

passengers that need to be transported safely and punctually to and from 

Germany. 

But at the same moment, many people within the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the 

Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ATFCM) domain are sitting in front of 

their screen, ready to handle the additional traffic from and to the German areas 

and around. The CFMU process started already, as from the 7 th of June to the 11 th of 

July, noting the many preparations already made in advance. Through this article 

we wish to give you some background information. 

The total amount of additional air traffic demand during this World Cup is estimated 

to be around 5000-6000 flights. Following the knock-out of the games, it is clear 

that a lot of measures taken within ATC & ATFCM will occur on short notice. 

The games have started! Enjoy!

What is involved in the games? 

Just as at France 98 and Korea/Japan in 2002, thirty-two teams and 1 team of 

referees are taking part in the football games. In total 736 players, trainers and 

support staff, 12,000 journalists, thousands of VIPs and several million fans have to 

be transported safely and punctually during the FIFA World Cup – at the busiest 

time of the year in terms of tourist travel in Germany. FIFA says, if the German 

stadiums are filled to capacity, it will accommodate 3.5 million fans during the 

World Cup. But they expect a total of ten million visitors, one million from abroad, 

of course not all travelling by air. 

The 66 games will be played in 12 towns: 

Berlin, Dortmund, Frankfurt, 

Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, 

Hanover, Kaiserslautern, 

Cologne, Leipzig, Munich, 

Nuremberg and Stuttgart. 

The International Media Centre 

(IMC) will be based in Munich, 

while the media centres in 

Berlin and Dortmund will offer 

more extensive facilities than 

the other venues. World 

governing body FIFA will 

establish its headquarters in 

Berlin. 

The phase one of the 2006 FIFA World Cup starts as 

follows: 

You might be participating in prediction polls, but to what extend can ATFCM be 

built on the results? 

Group A: Germany, Costa Rica, Poland, Ecuador 

Group B: England, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Sweden 

Group C: Argentina, Côte d’Ivoire, Serbia and Montenegro, Netherlands 

Group D: Mexico, Iran, Angola, Portugal 

Group E: Italy, Ghana, USA, Czech Republic

Group F: Brazil, Croatia, Australia, Japan 

Group G: France, Switzerland, Republic of Korea, Togo 

Group H: Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia 

And then? You guess. A number of factors concerning the travel behaviour of fans 

will be quite difficult to anticipate. If popular teams with a great number of 

supporters are unexpectedly knocked out of the tournament of the games, this 

would also affect the travel behaviour of larger fan groups. Besides, important 

security measures are taken. 

Specific measures taken by DFS, in the mean time 

CFMU stands by 

DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH is 

responsible for air traffic control in 

Germany. As a company organised 

under private law, DFS is 100% 

owned by the Federal Republic of 

Germany. 

The company's Headquarters are 

located in Langen, near Frankfurt. 

DFS is represented at 19 international 

and regional airports throughout 

Germany. The remaining airports also 

operate under the supervision of DFS. 

Various German airports have 

been defined as coordinated 

airports. As such, the 12 

following coordinated airports 

require aircraft operators to 

obtain an airport slot from 

the German airport 

Coordinator (FHKD). 

The increase in air traffic in Germany are 

particularly to and from the airports 

which are near the football venues and at 

the opening match and the final. 

The increased traffic especially concerns 

the following international airports: 

Frankfurt Main (EDDF), München (EDDM), 

Berlin (EDDT/EDDI/EDDB), Hamburg 

(EDDH), Nürnberg (EDDN), Stuttgart 

(EDDS),Leipzig/Halle (EDDP), Köln/Bonn 

(EDDK) and Hannover (EDDV). 

Coordinated Airports in Federal 

Republic of Germany WMCOORD 

Airport ICAO Code IATA Code 

Berlin-Schonefeld EDDB SXF 

Berlin-Tegel EDDT TXL 

Berlin-Tempelhof EDDI THF 

Cologne - Bonn EDDK CGN 

Dusseldorf EDDL DUS 

Frankfurt/Main EDDF FRA 

Hamburg EDDH HAM 

Hannover EDDV HAJ 

Leipzig/Halle EDDP LEJ 

Munich EDDM MUC 

Nuremberg EDDN NUE 

Stuttgart EDDS STR

Other Airports 

World Cup Specific WMOTHER 

Airport ICAO Code IATA Code 

Augsburg EDMA AGB 

Bremen EDDW BRE 

Dortmund EDLW DTM 

Dresden EDDC DRS 

Erfurt EDDE ERF 

Frankfurt Egelsbach EDFE QEF 

Frankfurt Hahn EDFH HHN 

Friedrichshafen EDNY FDH 

Giebelstadt ETEU GHF 

Karlsruhe–Baden-Baden EDSB FKB 

Lahr EDTL LHA 

Monchengladbach EDLN MGL 

Munster/Osnabruck EDDG FMO 

Niederrhein-Weeze EDLV NRN 

Oberpfaffenhofen EDMO OBF 

Paderborn EDLP PAD 

Saarbrucken EDDR SCN 

Siegerland EDGS SGE 

Zweibrucken EDRZ ZQW 

Other airports (19) are not 

coordinated via the German airport 

Coordinator. Instead each airport 

has their own individual 

requirements in respect of handling 

particular flights. 

Airport slots are allocated by the national slot coordinators for the purpose of 

operating (arriving and departing) into a particular airport on a specified date and 

time. 

ATC slots override the airport slots in cases where an ATC restriction (regulation) is 

applied for a particular airport or en-route sector. ATC slots (CTOTs – Calculated 

Take Off Times) are calculated and sent by the CFMU. 

Besides, neighbouring Area Control Centres (ACC’s) and Flow Management 

Positions (FMP’s) colleagues have to deal with the changed flow and capacity also. 

(France (Paris, Reims), Switzerland (Geneva, Zurich), Austria (Vienna), Benelux 

(Maastricht, Brussels, Amsterdam), Czech (Prague), Poland (Warsaw), Denmark 

(Copenhagen), Sweden (Malmo)).

Planned DFS measures during the World Cup 

• Set up central (Situation and Information Center in Langen - Germany) and 

decentralized points of contact (at the Control Centres and Tower branches) 

• Employ more staff during early morning, late in the evening and at night 

(depending on venues, teams playing and time of the matches) 

• Check airport slots 

• Establish special operating positions 

- Flight Information Service (FIS) 

- Coordination with police force and Bundeswehr 

- FRA APP: Special operating positions for IFR/VFR change procedures 

within the Terminal Manoeuvring Area (TMA) 

• Secondment of staff 

- to the CFMU 

- if necessary, to police station 

DFS has established a Coordination Team for the World Cup which is in permanent 

contact with airports and airlines, the Ministries of Transport, the Interior and 

Defence as well as the federal and regional security authorities. 

More specific, a lot of co-ordination takes place with the: 

• State and federal authorities 

• German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs 

• German Federal Ministry of Defense 

• German National Air Security Centre / National Air Policing Cell 

• German (State) police / federal police 

• Customers 

- civil customers (IATA, IACA, BARIG) 

- military airspace users 

- general aviation (German Aero Club, AOPA) 

• FIFA Organisational Committee (OC) 

• Airports (German Airports' Association) 

• Airport Coordinator Germany 

• Eurocontrol/CFMU 

• ANSP Portugal 

• ANSP of adjacent states 

• Eurocontrol/Maastricht UAC

Despite the available data, it is difficult to quantify the effects which the World Cup 

2006 will have on air transport and the air traffic volume in Germany and related 

areas. Experience gained during the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea and the 

Euro 2004 in Portugal has been used in the planning but the results of these 

analyses cannot be simply transferred to the situation in Germany. In the final 

stages, between 165 -250 additional flights might be accommodated per game. 

Currently, (DFS estimates (based on past experience with fairs and other events): 

High traffic increase (+60 flights) to a small number of matches (10%) 

(opening match, final) 

Moderate traffic increase (+40 flights) to some matches (30%) 

(involving attractive team constellations) 

Low traffic increase (+20 flights) to a high number of games (60%) 

Higher number of business aviation flights 

Whatever approach is taken; statistics, estimates or flights known to date, the 

exact impact cannot be defined at the current status (beginning of June). 

Flight under Visual Flight Rules - Restricted areas (VFR flights) 

Private airplanes, sports and hobby pilots as well as other air traffic under visual 

flight rules (VFR) which can only be conducted in appropriate weather conditions 

will have to observe restricted areas around the stadiums. 

3 hours before and 3 hours after a match, VFR (Visual Flight Rules) pilots will not 

be allowed to fly within a radius of 5.5 kilometres (3 NM) around the stadiums, up 

to a level of 1,500 metres. This prohibition can be extended to a radius of up to 55 

kilometres (30 NM) and a level of 3,000 metres, and this 1.5 hours before and 1.5 

hours after a match depending on the threat level. Scheduled, charter and cargo 

flights, however, will not be affected by these restrictions but are required to check 

specifically the allocation of airport slots. Exempt from flight restrictions are police 

flights and mission flights by the German Federal Armed Forces, rescue flights, and 

special flights of the FIFA Organising Committee (FIFA OC) which have received 

clearance from the air operations unit of the police force responsible for the 

respective "Land". 

The 30 NM restricted areas will be activated between 9 June 2006 and 

9 July 2006 at short notice depending on the security situation (generally 24 hours 

in advance). The activation periods will be announced by DFS via NOTAM. Some of 

these restricted areas are located close to international borders. Therefore 

neighbouring Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) are requested to nominate a 

point of contact which will be informed (parallel to the NOTAM) about the activation 

of restricted areas - if this is deemed necessary.

Furthermore, there may be certain restrictions concerning the usability of individual 

airports. But anyhow, pilots remain advised to obtain a detailed pre-flight briefing 

prior to every flight during the World Cup as further restrictions may be made at 

short notice. 

Flights under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) 

IFR flights to coordinated airports (as already indicated above) must be assigned an 

airport slot. Furthermore, during certain published time periods, the airports of 

Frankfurt and Munich will not be available as alternates for IFR flights. 

CFMU concentrates on some specific measures in 

close contact with DFS 

CFMU/OPSD strongly involved 

The Operational Division of the CFMU (OPSD), responsible for the real time service 

provision in the Initial Flight Planning Service (IFPS) and the Enhanced Tactical 

Flow Management Service (ETFMS), will be highly involved. Specifically the 

operational support, flow management and network management teams. 

The centralisation and rationalisation of flight plan reception, the verification 

(remark: not checking the airport slots as this is done by DFS) and distribution of 

flight plans from aircraft operators to all relevant players and the provision of traffic 

demand data for the Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management process will have to 

take the serious traffic increase into account. 

According to the area (traffic from Northern or Southern Europe), the provision of 

this service is shared between two sites, Haren (Belgium) and Brétigny (France). 

For real-time measures, ETFMS will play a role in order to optimise the ATM 

network capacity and to act as a facilitator when the network faces crisis situations. 

Each of these 24/7 services is delivered by the five operational teams for the day to 

day real time service provision. 

The DFS has seconded 1 FMP (Flow Management Position) employee to the CFMU 

who will assist in the ETFMS activities. The responsibility of this secondment will be 

shared with 3 individuals.

Check airport slots 

The following graph clarifies the exchange of information between CFMU & DFS 

Flight plans 

CFMU / IFPS 

Max. 4 hours 

prior to 

EOBT* 

Check by 

DFS 

Mismatch 

Info: 

• AO 

• AC Germany 

• CFMU 

• Airport 

Airport slots 

AC Germany Coordinator 

*Estimated Off Block Time 

In order to have a dataset which is consolidated to the greatest degree possible, 

the comparison of slots commences a maximum of 4 hours before EOBT (flight 

plans arriving later will be compared immediately). 

In the case of a mismatch, i.e. a slot does not exist or is not complied with, the 

designated units will be informed in writing (via AFTN or SITA). 

Aircraft operators must be aware, that in the case of non-compliance with an 

Airport Slot, a flight plan may still be rejected even if an automatic Acknowledge 

(ACK) message has already been submitted by IFPS.

Message given by DFS to aircraft operator without an airport 

slot 

If an aircraft operator has no airport slot, DFS will provide the following message: 

“No match has been found between your flight plan no. ……… from……. to…… 

and an airport slot. Given the special situation at coordinated airports during the 

FIFA World Cup in Germany which all airlines have been informed about, we 

strongly recommend that you alter your flight plan. 

If you follow your flight plan, you are herewith informed that you violate Council 

Regulation 95/93 (EWG) and, therefore, your flight risks either not being accepted 

at its destination or being subject to a heavy fine of up to € 50,000.“ 

Rejection of a flight without a slot by the destination aerodrome 

DFS must be informed about the rejection of a flight by the airport within 30 

minutes of receiving the message. 

DFS rejects the flight by informing the flight plan originator via AFTN or SITA 

that his flight may not land at the destination aerodrome. 

DFS will inform the pilot as early as possible that he must divert to the 

alternate aerodrome. 

Using slot measures (presuming there is an ARR regulation), the departure 

within the IFPS area can be postponed per CTOT up until 23:59 UTC at the 

latest. 

within 30 min! 

DFS 

Airport rejects flight? 

Rejection 

Rejection of FPL 

Diversion to 

alternate 

Slot measures

Regulations concerning destination alternate aerodrome 

Requests made during the flight to change the destination aerodrome to Frankfurt 

Airport (EDDF / FRA), Munich Airport (EDDM / MUC) or Berlin airports (EDDB/SXF, 

EDDI/THF and EDDT/TXL) airports cannot be approved during specific given 

periods. Diversions to these airports will only be permitted in declared emergencies. 

Air Traffic Flow Measures 

Increasing traffic FL 335+ may result in level capping (flight level restrictions) 

especially related to Rhine Radar - Frankfurt sector 

No World Cup related enroute flow measures are planned 

Arrival regulations likely for Frankfurt Airport (EDDF), Munich Airport (EDDM) 

and the Berlin Airports (EDDT/EDDI/EDDB) at certain days 

Daily briefings 

Daily briefings are organised to exchange the latest status of the air traffic situation 

between the partners involved. In that way, adapting appropriate measures can be 

adapted following the real-time traffic demand. 

11.00 hrs UTC: 

- Telephone conference between: 

- Branches of business unit Control Centre 

- Affected branches of business unit TWR 

- CFMU / NMC 

- German Meteorological Service (DWD) 

- National Air Policing Cell 

14.00 hrs UTC: CFMU NMC e-conference between NMCs, FMPs and aircraft 

operators. 

ATFCM measures will be applied as necessary via Eurocontrol CFMU and prenotified 

(confirmation of daily plan at 1400 UTC) via daily Network Management 

Cell (NMC) E-conference and published in network news (AIM – Air Traffic Flow 

Management Information Message) and ANM (ATFM notification message).

Some views from the operational specialists dealing 

with Special Events in CFMU/OPSD 

Keith Crawford (ATFCM Expert – Operations Support) and Philippe Lenne (Flight 

Planning & Operations Specialist) were closely involved with the planning, 

coordination and follow-up of the CFMU participation, together with the various 

teams on duty. 

Thanks to a combined effort, the CFMU contributes to the optimisation of the 

ATFCM for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. 

Keith, Philippe, it seems a quite challenging task to coordinate the CFMU 

measures for this important Special Event. Which message would you like 

to give to our ATFCM partners? What can we learn in order to further 

develop the most efficient measures to assure safety, capacity and 

punctuality? 

The very essential point is close collaboration. Establishing in-depth communication 

between the partners and sharing of information is essential for the success of the 

handling of this increase in air traffic demand. It is like a kind of family. 

There is no clear defined process and for each event an efficient way forward needs 

to be elaborated according to the specificities of the event. Also awareness to 

other’s situations with an ability to adapt as well as a strong availability are key 

elements in these relationships. 

Following our experience in the field, after so many events we have dealt with, it is 

important to start early enough with the preparations, having a working model with 

prior preparatory meetings, and elaboration of a timely documentation. With feet 

on the ground and with well established professional contacts. 

From our side, we experience that often we have to work as a facilitator of 

communication and to bring in the neighbours. We had FMP meetings in March, the 

Summer Briefing for AOs & FMPs in April, the preparatory meeting in Langen in the 

month of May with all German and adjacent FMPs involved. Now we have the four 

special e-conferences linked with the key moments during the World Cup and of 

course the daily NMC briefings. In the end all effort contributes to the success. 

Both Philippe and I are working in a complementary way, on ATFCM and on Flight 

Planning. We will reinforce this for the future in order to cover the various issues 

behind each event.

In terms of air traffic demand, which football teams will create the highest 

increase in traffic? 

Various factors influence the travel behaviour of those following the games for 

whatever reason. Of course the tournament and knock-out of the games itself, but 

also the economic situation plays a role. UK, France, The Netherlands, Spain, 

Portugal and Italy are the countries that contribute to the largest amount of 

additional flights. The combination of the games with the mixing of the air traffic 

flows will tell. 

While watching the first round of the games and then moving to the 

second round, the round of 16, the quarter and semi-finals and finally 

arriving to the final on the 09 July 2006, how will you watch the games? As 

a fan or as an ATFCM specialist? You better don’t tell us you don’t like 

football games… 

Philippe? 

For the air traffic, the less European teams who remain in the games, the better. 

But as a fan, I will speak differently of course. I am sure we will have one or two 

surprises. Yes, I watch the games as a fan, but not only as a fan for the football. I 

always ask myself if people really realise what’s behind the games and what is 

involved. 

And you Keith? 

I will give the World Cup the proper attention without being drawn in supporting a 

particular country. From a central coordination point, you have to maintain a 

certain objectivity. I will follow the games with a personal and professional interest 

and …. may the best team win. 

Sources: Internal CFMU/OPSD information & information from the websites from DFS & FIFA

2006 FIFA World Cup Germany - CFMU - Eurocontrol

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?