​​Global standards

As of 10 November 2016, certain separation minima shall be applied only to those pairs of aircraft meeting required communication performance (RCP) and a required surveillance performance (RSP) specifications in accordance with provisions in:

• ​​Annex 6 — Operation of Aircraft;
• Annex 11 — Air Traffic Services;
• Procedures for Air Navigation Services — Air Traffi​c Management (PANS-ATM, Doc 4444); 
• Regional Supplementary Procedures (Doc 7030).

​In particular, Amendment 7 to the PANS-ATM (Doc 4444) made changes to the 30NM lateral and 30NM/50NM longitudinal separation standards and introduced a new time-based longitudinal separation as described in in Figure below.

Regional implementation

​The Asia and the Pacific (APAC) and North Atlantic (NAT) R​​egions, which had applied 30NM lateral and 30/50 NM longitudinal sep​aration minimu​​​​m, agreed to transition to the implementation of these new requirements from 29 March 2018 in part of their airspace. ​For more information, click here - APAC​ and NAT​.