The North Atlantic is a busy chunk of airspace. Each day, thousands of aircraft cross the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America. We want to tell you a little more about what it is like to fly over it though. //

The NAT HLA is from FL285-FL420 inclusive and it is divided up into 6 different FIRs (Flight Information Regions)/OCAs (Oceanic Control Areas). Shanwick looks after the UK/ Ireland section, Gander looks after the Canadian side, Reykjavik has the North, Bodø has the really north (east) part and down south you have New York Oceanic and Santa Maria on each side. There is also a small bit controlled by Nuuk. You can see these on Fightradar24 if you activate the ATC boundaries layer in Settings.

Within the NAT HLA, you have the organized track system which is defined each morning and evening based on where the best jet streams are. There are usually 5 or 6 tracks published, with the westbound ones utilized during the day, and the eastbound by night. The peak flow of traffic heading westbound cross 030° west between 1130 and 1900 UTC, and eastbound it is at its heaviest between 0100-0800 UTC.