Eurocontrol’s Maastricht Control Center next Monday will christen a new air-traffic control system in a ceremony attended by representatives from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Camiel Eurlings, the Netherlands Minister for Transport, Public Works and Water Management, will be deactivate the old system, dating to the early 1970s. Thereafter, air-traffic control over Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and northwest Germany will be provided via the new flight-data processing system.

The Maastricht system is the first in Europe developed in accordance with European standards on system interoperability, and is “entirely consistent with the philosophy behind the Single European Sky,” Eurocontrol said. The Single European Sky initiative reorganizes air traffic management into a flexible network of functional airspace blocks (FABs).

The flight-data processing system makes it possible to reduce flight distances by calculating the most direct air routes possible, helping to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Aircraft trajectories are thus calculated automatically in real time using radar data, information entered by the controllers and flight plan data.