For instance, the 2010 Icelandic Volcanic Ash Crisis saw the involvement of Eurocontrol in providing relevant data to the national authorities and air traffic control agencies to reduce airspace closure to a minimum.

Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Eurocontrol supported the monitoring of the steep decline in air traffic through strategic responses toward the adjustment of flight plans and, therefore, mitigating operational challenges.

Before the convention entered into force in 1963, there were already indications that the matter of national sovereignty would complicate the full implementation of the organisation's founding mission.

The other four original members (the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) agreed in 1964 to set up a single international air traffic control centre to manage their upper airspace, settling in the Dutch city of Maastricht.

[5] The European Parliament at the time expressed concern about the lack of clear intergovernmental agreements to ensure common air traffic control services across the continent.

By 1986, the pressure on the European ATC network was so big that a new, wider mandate was already being considered for Eurocontrol, with much of the initiative coming from ECAC’s Ministers of Transport.

MUAC has put in operation innovative technology and productivity enhancements: a new generation Flight Data Processing System,[7] Integrated Flow Management Position,[8] the Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA), Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) and stripless controller working positions.

The average flight duration is approximately 21 minutes and typically 80% of the traffic is climbing from or descending to the major European airports of London, Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Berlin.