The ICAO EUR/NAT VOLCEX22 Preparation Workshop was held in Madrid, Spain with hybrid capabilities from 17 to 18 October 2022. The purpose of this workshop was to prepare for a simulated volcano eruption of Pico del Teide (Canary Islands) that will allow aviation stakeholders to test their response to the resulting simulated volcanic ash plume that will impact a large part of the EUR and NAT Regions. This exercise called VOLCEX22 will take place on 17 November 2022 from 0800 to 1600 UTC.
The workshop reviewed the history and status of volcanic activity in Spain as well as the VOLCEX22 exercise scenario. The workshop also reviewed the EUR/NAT Volcanic Ash Contingency Plan as well as recent updates to this plan. Details on the production of Danger Areas, NOTAM, SIGMET (including cross-border SIGMET coordination) and special air-reports on volcanic ash were provided as well as an update to the Safety Risk Assessment approach in the EUR Region. Other topics discussed included: relaxation of airspace restrictions, review of the draft VOLCEX22 Exercise Directive, improvements made to the EVITA tool, airport diversion capability information service, and the use of Dynamic Airborne Reroute Procedures (DARP). Testing of DARP will be applicable to Santa-Maria Oceanic and Canarias Oceanic FIRs as well as Shanwick Oceanic FIR upon request since there are datalink limitations in non-oceanic airspace in Europe.
The workshop noted that the VOLCEX22 Debrief and VOLCEX23 Planning Meetings as well as associated steering group meeting will be held at the ICAO EUR/NAT Regional Office in Paris from 16 to 17 January 2023.
The workshop was attended by 121 participants from 26 States, 10 Airlines and 5 International Organizations.
