Etymologically both words are of Latin origin "spatium" which means the part that an object occupies and "aereus" which means everything related to air. Therefore, the airspace is every fraction of the terrestrial environment, located on land as well as on water, regulated particularly by each nation.
The airspace of each country must be under constant surveillance by the aeronautical authorities in order not to allow the entry of foreign aircraft without due permission, since the airspace represents a very important and susceptible area of the territory since it can lend themselves to the intrusion of elements that may be a threat to the nation. Based on international laws, the principle of autonomous airspace is linked to the maritime definition of national waters of 12 nautical miles out of the coastline, that airspace that is outside this line is assumed as international airspace.
The airspace is divided by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) into seven classes described by a letter from “A” to “G”, the flight conditions and the assistance provided by each class are determined in the airspace classification table (ATS). Depending on the class of operations carried out by the aircraft, their movement or movement and the level of confidence required, different classes of airspace can be determined, such as controlled airspace, uncontrolled airspace and special use airspace.
The controlled airspace (class A, B, C, D, E) and uncontrolled (class F, G) differ because the controlled one must present a flight plan to be able to fly and the uncontrolled one does not need it, on the other hand When it comes to air traffic control, the controlled carries the supervision of the aircraft, while the uncontrolled only supervises the aircraft that are supposed to be in the area.
