Maastricht, the Netherlands; Karlsruhe, Germany – Following the initial introduction, in 2011, of Free Route Airspace in the areas controlled by EUROCONTROL’s Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) and the DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung Karlsruhe Upper Area Control Centre, 298 new direct routes have been implemented today, bringing the amount of direct, flight-plannable routes in the area to a total of 656.

103 of these direct routes starting in MUAC airspace are now linked with direct routes in the Karlsruhe area, creating a large-scale free routing airspace over Belgium, most of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. At the same time, MUAC will be extending the availability of 83 directs to 24 hours, bringing the total number of direct routes now available in the MUAC airspace at weekends and on week days to 405.