5 August 2024
+VIDEO NATS has revealed how Europe’s airspace – including the UK – was impacted by the opening ceremony of this year’s Olympic Games being held in Paris, France.
“Friday 26 July and all eyes were on Paris for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics,” said Steve Fox, head of Network Operations in a blog post on the NATS website.
“Our eyes were on the skies, though, where a huge 80-mile exclusion zone around the French capital kicked in at 4.30pm and stayed in place till 10pm.
“How to deal with air traffic unable to fly through some of Europe’s busiest airspace had been the subject of six months’ planning co-ordinated by the French ATC provider DSNA and Eurocontrol.
“For neighbouring countries like the UK this meant a massive amount of planning for the air traffic likely to reroute through our airspace.”
As can be seen in the NATS video below, the exclusion zone around Paris created a ‘huge donut’ as air traffic squeezed around it.
