Madrid ACC (LECM), Canarias ACC (GCCC) and Santa Maria OCC (LPPO)

1. Purpose

The purpose of this Letter of Agreement (LoA) is to define the coordination procedures to be applied between Spanish ACCs (Madrid and Canarias) and the Santa Maria OCC when providing Air Traffic Services (ATS) operating under IFR or VFR flight rules.

The content of the agreement is approved by the concerned ATC Operation Department and FIR Chiefs and its application is mandatory for all IVAO members providing ATS within an active ATC position concerned by this LOA.

2. General Procedures

This separation between traffics in sequence at the same flight level must be constant (aircrafts restrained to the same speed) or increasing (succeeding aircraft is not faster).

Coordination of speed control should be granted via entries in radar labels and does not need neither approval nor acknowledgement by receiving sector.

Traffic shall be handed over as soon as practical and, whenever possible, at latest 3000 ft before reaching the cleared flight level and in case the transfer point is not defined within this LoA, at latest 5 minutes before the airspace limits.

Traffic in sequence shall be handed over properly separated and clear of any conflict. The receiving ATC unit cannot issue a clearance modifying the traffic’s route, altitude, or speed (unless by direct coordination between ATC units) until it enters his sector and therefore leaves the area of responsibility from the transferring ATC unit, which remains responsible for separation.

Free Route Airspace Operations within Spanish airspace (HispaFRA) in Madrid UIR is defined from FL245 to FL660 and in Canarias UIR is defined from FL305 to FL660. However, the use of the traditional ATS route network is available too.

Free Route Airspace (FRA) is a specified airspace within which users may freely plan a route between a defined entry point and a defined exit point, with the possibility of routing via published intermediate significant points, without reference to the ATS route network.

3. ATS Unit Description

The ATS unit in charge of the North-Western part of Madrid FIR and UIR airspaces is Madrid Control and includes one primary sector (LECM_R1_CTR) and one secondary sector (LECM_SAS_CTR).

The ATS unit in charge of Canarias FIR and UIR airspaces under the responsibility of Canarias ACC is Canarias Control and includes two main sectors: GCCC_CTR and GCCC_OCE_CTR.

The ATC unit in charge of FIR and OCA (Oceanic Control Area) under the responsibility of Santa Maria OCC is Santa Maria Radio and includes one primary sector (LPPO_OCC_CTR) and one secondary (LPPO_D_CTR).

The lateral and vertical boundaries of the airspace under the responsibility of the ACC are indicated in the image and tables below.

3.1. Madrid ACC

ATC Position	Callsign	Frequency	Remarks
Primary sector
Madrid Control	LECM_R1_CTR	135.700	SFC-FL660
Secondary sector
Madrid Radar (Santiago-Asturias)	LECM_SAS_CTR	118.200	SFC-FL305

3.2. Canarias ACC

ATC Position	Callsign	Frequency	Remarks
Primary sectors
Canarias Control	GCCC_CTR	127.900	SFC-FL660
Canarias Control (Oceanic)	GCCC_OCE_CTR	133.000	SFC-FL660

3.3. Santa Maria OCC

ATC Position	Callsign	Frequency	Remarks
Primary sectors
Santa Maria Radio	LPPO_OCC_CTR	133.550	SFC-UNL
Secondary Sectors
Santa Maria Oceanic Clearance	LPPO_D_CTR	132.075	SFC-UNL

4. Airspace Description

4.1. Madrid FIR/UIR

Area	Vertical limits	Airspace Classification
MADRID UIR	From FL660 to UNL	G
MADRID UIR	From FL195 to FL660	C
MADRID FIR	From FL145 to FL195	C
MADRID FIR	From SFC to FL145	G

4.2. Canarias FIR/UIR

Area	Vertical limits	Airspace Classification
CANARIAS UIR	From FL660 to UNL	G
CANARIAS UIR	From FL195 to FL660	C
CANARIAS FIR	From FL145 to FL195	C
CANARIAS FIR	From SFC to FL145	G

4.3. Santa Maria FIR/OCA

Area	Vertical limits	Airspace Classification
SANTA MARIA OCA	From FL55 to UNL	A
SANTA MARIA OCA	From SFC to FL55	G

5. Coordination Procedures

Coordination procedures between the ATC under the responsibility of the Santa Maria FIR/OCA, Madrid FIR/UIR and Canarias FIR/UIR are defined as follows. They represent a general framework that does not replace the coordination between ATC. Any coordination procedure not mentioned in this LoA must be established on a case by case basis.

5.1. From Madrid to Santa Maria (LECM → LPPO)

Oceanic clearance must be obtained by the latest 40 min prior to the OCA entry point. Madrid ACC is recommended to temporarily handoff traffic to Santa Maria OCC to get their clearance 40 minutes before reaching the transfer point.

Madrid ACC is responsible to assign the FL requested by the aircraft by the latest 5 minutes before the transfer point.

Transfer Point	Route	Receiving Sector	Restrictions
MUDOS	HispaFRA X (eXit) FL>245	LPPO_OCC_CTR	ODD FL
RETEN			EVEN AND ODD FL
KOPAS
HIDRA
PASAS

5.2. From Santa Maria to Madrid (LPPO → LECM)

A coordination message should be sent to Madrid ACC around 5 min prior to reaching the entry point. Traffic coming from OCA may not have a FL compatible to guarantee separation in the Domestic Airspace, so Madrid ACC will be responsible to assign a new flight level once the aircraft is handed-off to him.

Transfer Point	Route	Receiving Sector	Restrictions
MUDOS	-	LECM_R1_CTR	EVEN AND ODD FL
RETEN
KOPAS
HIDRA
PASAS

5.3. From Canarias to Santa Maria (GCCC → LPPO)

Handoffs between Santa Maria and Canarias should be coordinated on an individual basis as the majority of flights will be on random tracks. Ideally transfer of communications should occur when crossing the border.

Transfer Point	Route	Receiving Sector	Restrictions
KETID	HispaFRA X (eXit) FL>305	LPPO_OCC_CTR	EVEN AND ODD FL
NEXUX
OSLEV
PIBIL
RIPOD
GOBEG
INSAD
IXIKU
KUXOV
LAPTU

5.4. From Santa Maria to Canarias (LPPO → GCCC)

Handoffs between Santa Maria and Canarias should be coordinated on an individual basis as the majority of flights will be on random tracks. Ideally transfer of communications should occur when crossing the border.

Transfer Point	Route	Receiving Sector	Restrictions
KETID	-	GCCC_CTR	EVEN AND ODD FL
NEXUX		GCCC_OCE_CTR
OSLEV
PIBIL
RIPOD
GOBEG
INSAD
IXIKU
KUXOV
LAPTU

6. Contributions

This document has been drafted in coordination between the ATC Operations Departments of Spain and Portugal, Madrid and Canarias FIR staff.

7. Changelog

Version	Date	Changes
1.0	21/4/2022	Initial version.