Heathrow marked the reopening of the US to travellers from the UK with a synchronised, parallel runway take-off. Thanks to the collaboration between air traffic control and the airline flight planning teams, this rare spectacle went off without a hitch—a testament to the teamwork of everyone involved.
In Greece, EUROCONTROL NM has launched the first wave of ECRA, theEuropean Connected Regional Airports programme. The aim of this programme is to foster connectivity, as well as improve airport performance and situational awareness for small and regional airports across Europe. This is great timing as it looks as though Greece will have seven more regional airports by next spring!
More good news for airline traffic, with reports from across the world showing promising figures.African airportshave reached 64 percent of pre-pandemic flight activity, whileCanada,GermanyandItalyare reporting sharp upturns in their numbers, too.
And there'sinnovation in Francewith the Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile acquiring an Unmanned Traffic Management platform. This will provide a simulated training environment featuring aircraft pilots, drone pilots, air traffic controllers, U-space service providers, and more.
ANSP news
ENAIRE launches new satellite navigation approach procedures - ENAIRE made new improvements to the operational performance at the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport with new satellite-based approach procedures for runways 25R/L, 07R/L and 02.
NATS - “3, 2, 1… Now!” The story behind Heathrow’s parallel runway take-off - Blog - Earlier this morning, we celebrated the reopening of the US to UK travellers with a spectacular synchronised, parallel take-off from Heathrow, something that’s extremely rare. But why exactly is it so uncommon, and what does it take operationally to pull it off?
EUROCONTROL - New EUROCONTROL Network Manager programme to integrate small and regional airports into the network successfully kicks off - Small and regional airports account for around 50% of traffic across the European aviation network, with an important role to play in overall network performance. To foster network connectivity and improve airport performance as well as situational awareness, the EUROCONTROL NM has launched ECRA, the European Connected Regional Airports programme, with Fraport Greece and the HCAA, partnering NM in a first implementation wave.
Market news
FREQUENTIS and T-Systems – strategy for the digital airport - With T-Systems and Frequentis, two experts are now pooling their aviation expertise. The aim of the partnership is the far-reaching digitisation of airports for more efficient processes in the passenger area as well as in the airside and logistics area of the airport. The two companies signed their partnership agreement on Tuesday at the inter airport europe trade fair in Munich.
EUROCONTROL Data Snapshot #21 - The 21st EUROCONTROL Data Snapshot is here, focusing on aircraft flying higher, creating extra airspace capacity and burning less fuel, saving 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
SITA - Regional African airports set for post-pandemic rise - According to SITA's data, Africa continues its strong aviation recovery in the week start October 6, 2021, already reaching 64% of pre-pandemic flight activity. Forty-three percent of traffic carried by African airlines during 2020 was domestic, while 38 percent was intercontinental and 19 percent intra-African.
NAV CANADA reports October traffic figures - In October 2021 weighted charging units increased by an average of 69.9 percent compared to the same month in 2020. As compared to the same month in 2019, October 2021 weighted charging units decreased by an average of 30.7 percent.
UAV and UTM
Skeyes - New features for Droneguide platform - Conditions for accessing UAS geographical zones will be directly available on the Droneguide platform. skeyes further improves the service provided to drone users, in collaboration with the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority of the FPS Mobility and Transport. This will further enhance the safety of all airspace users.
Unmanned airspace - French training school ENAC adds UTM platform to train future air traffic controllers - French training academy École Nationale de l’Aviation Civile has acquired an Unmanned Traffic Management platform offering a simulated real environment that brings together all the players in air transport: aircraft pilots, drone pilots, pilots, air traffic controllers, U-space service providers, and other new entrants.
Unmanned airspace - Drone Delivery Canada begins flights from Edmonton International Airport, operating in a complex environment - Drone Delivery Canada reports the start of drone flights at Edmonton International Airport following agreements with several companies first announced in July 2021. The flights are designed to enable defined-route delivery from Edmonton to deliveries off airport property utilizing the Sparrow drone and its DroneSpot takeoff and landing zones as well as additional drone flight infrastructure as required.
