Coordination in air traffic management: Describing coordination procedures of flexible use of airspace concept in Turkey

Workload of the global air traffic management system increased due to growing global civil aviation demands. Considering over 100.000 departure traffics at airports all over the world, inevitably the global air traffic management system expanded to support the increased workload. Thousands of new air traffic control units were required to enable the expansion of the global air traffic management system. The addition of the large number of air traffic control units highlighted the importance of coordination, specifically coordination which facilitates air traffic flow management, airspace management and air traffic control. Ineffective coordination within the global air traffic management system is detrimental to flight safety. Therefore, conceptual research with regards to air traffic control unit coordination across the global air traffic management system enterprise is necessary. The flexible use airspace concept is possible only through effective civil-military coordination. This concept employs various types of coordination such as inner unit coordination, coordination between external units and coordination between institutions. Regulations governing the flexible use airspace concept were introduced in April 2014; however, Turkey has not fully implemented the concept and efforts are ongoing. Therefore, this research takes a conceptual point of view to describe flexible use of airspace coordination procedures. This research reveals the flexible use airspace concept in Turkey is an intense information and advisory sharing coordination mechanism. The mechanism has fast response organizations and organic organization characteristics. Direct information sharing and standardized processes are coordination techniques used in the flexible use airspace concept.