With the adoption of the U-space regulation, the EU has created the legal basis for the establishment of U-spaces. This regulation leaves the member states some freedom of design with regard to the definition of processes, actors and responsibilities. To utilize this leeway, recommendations must be developed for the national implementation. The "LUV" project develops an operational concept for the realization of an U-space airspace with a single common information service provider (SCISP) and several U-space service providers (USSP) including economic and simulative analyses, taking into account technical, legal and organizational requirements. These results will be used to develop recommendations for action for the national implementation. This paper presents initial results of this ongoing work.