Weekly review #135 - 2nd February

Looking back in 2021, there is some good news from Switzerland as they report an increase of 29.7 percent in airtraffic activity over 2020. It's good to see numbers moving in the right direction!

However, unfortunately, S&P Global Ratings say the recovery of European airports looks 'volatile' going into 2022. Latest estimates suggest European air traffic will reach 45 to 65 percent of 2019 levels in 2022.

Four companies are set to begin prototyping Australia's first Flight Information Management System. The service will support safe integration of new airspace users, including air taxis and drone operators. Find out more by exploring the full article here.

In further big news from Australia, Airservices and Skykraft are set to trial space-based surveillance and communications capability. Airservices will provide technical engineering and ATM expertise, supporting Skykraft as they strive to launch trials of a satellite constellation as soon as June 2022!

Finally, we're excited to share another Radar Contact podcast. In this episode, we talk with Marcel Bakker about the latest ATM projects in the Netherlands. Here's the link so you can give it a listen.

ANSP news

• Airservices begins development of Australia’s Flight Information Management System - Airservices Australia has selected four companies to begin prototyping Australia’s first Flight Information Management System which will support the safe and efficient integration of emerging airspace users, including drone operators and air taxis, into Australia’s low-altitude airspace.
• Crocontrol Certified for Flight Procedure Design Service - As of January 27, 2022, Croatia Control has been certified for providing the Flight Procedure Design service in line with the EU law, which makes it richer for a new service and places it among reputable air navigation service providers.

Market news

• Contract award and remote installation of ATC simulator in Malaysia - Micro Nav - Micro Nav Limited has been selected by CLEARWISDOM SDN BHD to install its BEST ATC 3D tower and radar simulator at a new training facility for air traffic controllers in Malaysia.
• Ras Al Khaimah International Airport-UAE Complete the Upgrade of Copperchase ATC AFTN Messaging System - Copperchase has managed to successfully build, install, and commission an ATC Message Processing System for Ras Al Khaimah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates. The project is an Upgrade of the Copperchase ATC AFTN Messaging System, a system that has been in use in the ATC environment at RAK International Airport since 2006.
• Airservices and Skykraft to trial space-based surveillance and communications - Airservices Australia has partnered with space services company, Skykraft, to support the development of a space-based communication and surveillance air traffic management capability. Under the collaboration, Airservices will share its air navigation technical engineering and air traffic management expertise to support design, development, and validation of the system, as well as support Skykraft to conduct space-based proof-of-concept trials of the satellite constellation from June 2022.

Reports and data

• Volatile recovery ahead for European airports, says S&P – Airport World - European air traffic will only reach 45%-65% of 2019 levels in 2022, according to latest estimates published by S&P Global Ratings.
• No recovery for UK air traffic in 2021 as pandemic continues - NATS - Overall, just 1,062,945 flights were managed by NATS in 2021, similar to the 1,028,254 flights in 2020, both significantly less than 2019 flight numbers, which were more than 2.5 million.
• EUROCONTROL Comprehensive Aviation Assessment of COVID-19's Impact on European Air Traffic - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, EUROCONTROL’s Comprehensive Aviation Assessment has been charting pandemic impacts on European aviation, using the latest traffic data to track the recovery across airlines, airports, States, ACCs and regional flows.
• Review 2021: Moderate traffic recovery in Switzerland during ongoing pandemic - Last year, air traffic in Switzerland recovered moderately but above forecasts. Total movements in the airspace above Switzerland and in the delegated areas managed and monitored by Skyguide increased by 29.7%.
• 2022 can be year of sustainable recovery for Irish Aviation - Figures produced by the IAA ANSP show there were 586,273 flights managed in Irish controlled airspace last year, compared to 497,648 in 2020 (a 17% increase). However, the overall level of activity for 2021 was 50% lower than those reported for 2019, before the outbreak of COVID-19, when 1,176,490 flights were safely managed by the IAA ANSP.
• Rapid growth offset the decreased number of flights at the beginning of 2021 completely - Oro navigacija - As the countries went into lockdown due to the quarantine, the beginning of the previous year was complicated for all the airlines. Nevertheless, since April we have recorded an obvious growth in the number of flights

Research and innovation

• New use cases enable a strategic approach to Air Traffic Services resilience - Egis - Virtualisation and digitalisation are hot topics, but what do they really mean for air navigation service providers? Ben Stanley explains the link to resilience and the help provided by CANSO and EUROCAE documents.
• Training for change – a human algorithm - NATS Blog - We talk often about airspace modernisation, how it’s progressing, and the CAA's process for approving a change to the route network that criss-crosses the UK’s skies. But we haven’t talked before about how we prepare our controllers for a new airspace design.

UAV and UTM

• CORUS-XUAM eVTOL to fly between Swedish cities in 3Q22 to demonstrate U-space services - Unmanned airspace - The European CORUS-XUAM research project has announced a demonstration in Sweden due to take place in October 2022. Consortium members plan to conduct an autonomous intercity flight of 52 km between Linköping and Norrköping as part of wider large-scale live demonstrations.
• LFV commissioned to establish systems and services for unmanned aviation - Within the framework of its operational area, LFV is to establish systems and services for UTM, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management in a socio-economically efficient manner and in accordance with regulations for U-space where applicable. The purpose is to ensure airspace capacity for the structured, secure development of drone traffic in lower airspace.
• An A-C in integrating remotely-piloted aircraft systems - SESAR JU - Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a remotely piloted aircraft system or RPAS! Ermanno Girardelli, Leonardo, is coordinator of ERICA, a SESAR research and innovation project dedicated to integrating these aircraft into non-segregated airspace alongside commercial manned traffic. In this Q&A, he explains how RPAS can make a difference to citizens’ lives and what the SESAR project is doing to enable these aircraft to take off.