Study on building efficient airspace through implementation of free route concept in the Manila FIR

The air traffic volumes in ASEAN region are expected to triple by 2030 based on forecasting results.The concept of Seamless ASEAN Sky has been raised to increase air capacity and efficiency in the region.The current airspace structure may not be capable of meeting the anticipated future air traffic demand.As a result, the authors applied free route airspace structure to accommodate more aircraft under Manila FIR.The methodology proposed in this paper can increase the airspace capacity while decreasing the ATCs workload by using free route airspace concept.A case study was carried out on Manila FIR to examine the effectiveness of this method.