INTER-REGIONAL APAC/EUR/MID SWIM WORKSHOP

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The Inter-regional APAC/EUR/MID Workshop on ‘Service improvement through integration of AIM, MET and ATM Information Services’ (SWIM) was successfully conducted at EUROCONTROL Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium from 2 to 4 October 2017. The workshop was attended by 138 participants from 37 States of the ICAO Asia and Pacific (APAC), European and North Atlantic (EUR/ NAT) and Middle East (MID) Regions and 6 international organizations. In addition, 8 industry stakeholders provided exhibits at the workshop. The organizing partners included the ICAO APAC, EUR/NAT and MID Regional Offices and EUROCONTROL (host).

The objective of the workshop was to address planning and implementation issues of the Performance Improvement Area 2 (PIA2) Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) Modules related to Aeronautical Information Management (AIM), Air Traffic Management (ATM), Meteorology (MET), Flight and Flow Information for a Collaborative Environment (FF-ICE) and System Wide Information Management (SWIM), including the pre-requisites for an efficient and timely implementation of ASBU Block 1 modules. In addition, the workshop provided a forum to share experiences and best practices, and address the challenges and lessons learned associated with the PIA2 Block 0 and Block 1 implementation. The exhibition, which was organized concurrently with the workshop, showcased the latest SWIM-related industry developments.

The workshop also provided an opportunity for each Region to address their regional issues/challenges in the regional break-out sessions. The EUR Region break-out session related to SWIM implementation discussed the challenges faced in SWIM implementation in the EUR Region and proposed the establishment of a SWIM Project Team by the European Air Navigation Planning Group (EANPG). The terms of reference of the EUR SWIM Project Team may include, inter alia, the following:

  • Develop and maintain EUR SWIM implementation roadmap in coordination with the current relevant programmes and activities (GANP, SESAR, NextGen, AIM/SWIM Team, etc.) and considering the upcoming SWIM ICAO global provisions and revised 2019 GANP;
  • Benchmark best practices in SWIM implementation;
  • Monitor global development and promote SWIM in the EUR Region;
  • Review EUR SWIM implementation status;
  • Assist States in SWIM implementation in the EUR Region; and
  • Provide guidance and training, as appropriate.

The Project Team should consider and facilitate implementation of the recommendations provided by the workshop as well as take account of the various air navigation disciplines involved in SWIM, geographic balance and existing group(s), such as the EUROCONTROL AIM/SWIM Team that has been peforming tasks in this area for the ECAC States, in order to prevent duplication of efforts.

The EUR SWIM Project Team should take into consideration the importance of global and regional/ inter-regional harmonization of SWIM implementation and the activities already undertaken in other relevant programmes at global and regional/inter-regional levels (GANP, SESAR, NextGen, etc.). In this connection, the target for the initial SWIM ICAO global provisions is envisaged to be submitted by the ICAO Information Management Panel in January 2019. Therefore, the first set of activities of the EUR SWIM Project Team should focus on completion of ASBU Block 0 and pre-requisites for Block 1 and SWIM implementation.

The workshop agreed on some recommendations to be taken into consideration by States and Regions for SWIM planning and implementation. It was concluded that inter/intra-regional coordination in planning and implementation of SWIM will facilitate harmonized implementation. The workshop was successful in achieving its objective and similar inter-regional workshops/seminars should be conducted on a regular basis.

The outcome and presentations of the Inter-regional APAC/EUR/MID SWIM Workshop are available on the EUROCONTROL website at: http://www.eurocontrol.int/ node/11540/


This article was originally written for the ICAO EUR/NAT Office’s Newsletter (Issue 3) on May 2018. A full list of their newsletters can be found here