It was announced at the end of April that EUROCONTROL’s Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) had implemented a third vertical sector layer in the western part of its airspace, in The Netherlands. The purpose of this airspace redesign is to increase capacity in the Delta sector by creating new sector configurations based on three layers instead of the previous two.

The three layers consist of a low sector (from flight level 245 to 335 [that is 24,500-33,500ft]), a middle sector (from flight level 335 to 365 [33,500-36,500ft]) and a high sector (extending from flight level 365 to 660 [36,500-66,000ft]). This new vertical division allows for a better distribution of workload in the Delta sector and thus ensures a safer and more sustainable service, it is reported by EUROCONTROL.