LFV Annual report 2018 1
L F V 2018 DIRE C T OR ’ S REPOR T AN EVENTFUL YE
AR AND MORE GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONS In 2018, 99.8 percent of all flights in Swedish airspace took place without any delays caused by LFV. DELIVERY OF AIR NAVIGATION SERVICES 2018 was a year of major traffic increases, especially in transit flights, and of strained resources mostly across the board. The high traffic volume brings challenges, and resources are especially stretched during the summer holiday period. LFV has worked hard to cope with the en route traffic increases. The two control centres in Stockholm and Malmö, which handle most of the en route air traffic in Swedish airspace, delivered 99.8 percent of all flights without delays caused by LFV, thanks to constant efficiency improvements. This is amongst the best results in Europe. In the European airspace, the average number of delays has been quite high, whilst the number of delays in the Danish-Swedish airspace has been low, and capacity was achieved in spite of the increasing number of flights. Preliminary comparisons show that, in 2018, en route traffic in the Danish-Swedish airspace was second best in Europe in terms of capacity. Air traffic management services provided to the state-owned airports for the Swedish Armed Forces, Swedavia and other domestic airports were carried out according to the signed agreements. LFV keeps a dialogue open and monitors the services provided to these customers. Together with the Swedish Armed Forces, LFV participated in the planning and implementation of several military exercises over the year without adverse effect on civil air traffic. Globally, there is a shortage of trained air traffic controllers, and Sweden is no exception. LFV is balancing its operations against a small deficit that is expected to increase over the coming years. In 2018, recruitment and training of air traffic controllers began, and long-term planning commenced for taking various measures to compensate for the shortage of resources in the future. The control centre in Stockholm was affected by a technical disruption for a few hours on 19 May, which resulted in delays for approximately 250 flights. Disruptions that led to delays were otherwise marginal, and were mainly due to weather, runway works at Arlanda or other factors beyond LFV’s control. Overall, LFV has reached its targets. THE SWEDISH ARMED FORCES LFV is subject to the law on national defence and heightened preparedness (lagen om totalförsvar och 26 höjd beredskap – 1992:1403) and, in 2011, became a specially designated authority according to the Emergency Preparedness Regulation (krisberedskapsförordningen – 2015:1052). This means, among other things, that LFV must perform civil/military air navigation services in all contingency situations. Since 1978, the military and civil airspaces in Sweden have been integrated with each other. The advantage of this is that the airspace can be used flexibly and efficiently. From an international perspective, an integrated air navigation service is unique, which has led to many visits from other countries through the years. During the autumn, for example, representatives visited Sweden from LFV’s counterpart in the Netherlands – the Royal Netherlands Air Force – and their government. LFV participated in the visit together with the Swedish Armed Forces. Collaboration between LFV and the Swedish Armed Forces takes place on all levels within these authorities, and the relationship is based on partnership and cooperation. LFV works continuously with the Swedish Armed Forces to develop working methods and concepts related to air navigation service. LFV carries out air navigation services at the seven airports and two bases run by the Swedish Armed Forces in Sweden. As regards technology, new developments are continuous, and existing systems in airport towers are continually updated. LFV participates in national and international meetings, where the interests of LFV and the Swedish Armed Forces are monitored according to the principal agreement concluded between the parties. LFV was also represented at the Armed Forces' air show, which took place in August in Uppsala. Several employees from LFV were present in Hälsingland to coordinate the efforts of fire-fighting flights during the summer’s forest fires. Others worked with MSB staff in Karlstad to allocate and facilitate work for the national fire-fighting air resources. In October, the Trident Juncture 2018 exercise was conducted in the northern parts of Sweden, Norway and Finland. It was NATO's largest exercise since 1990, with participants from NATO's 29 member states as well as Sweden and Finland. The purpose was to test the NATO Response Force (NRF). Sweden's participation is based on the Swedish declaration of solidarity, which states, amongst other things, that we must be