The VOLCEX18 Preparatory Workshop was held at the ICAO EUR/NAT Office, Paris, France from 6 to 7 September 2018. The Workshop was attended by a total of 45 participants from 18 States, 6 airlines, and 4 International Organizations.
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The objectives of the workshop were to 1) Review the Volcanic Ash Contingency Plan (VACP) for the EUR/NAT Regions with an emphasis on the use of Danger Area, NOTAM and SIGMET and 2) Review the draft VOLCEX18 Exercise Directives.
States planned to align their practices on the issuance of Danger Area, NOTAM and SIGMET with the VACP in the EUR/NAT Regions and for those States concerned, consider ceasing the closure of airspace for medium- and/or high-contamination volcanic ash. VOLCEX18 will take place on 28 November 2018 from 0800 – 1600 UTC and the results of the exercise will be reviewed at the VOLCEX18 debrief meeting that will be held in Napoli, Italy on 15 January 2019.
