Weekly review #137 - 16th February

Let's first look at news from Australia where Airservices will soon begin trials to reduce aircraft noise. Indeed, from February 24th, Airservices will test different procedures to try to reduce aircraft noise in communities under Brisbane Airport flight paths. Here is the full story if you'd like to learn more.

In news from Eastern Europe, the newly built Brasoz-Ghimbac International Airport in Romania recently signed an order with Saab Digitial Air Traffic Solutions for a new digital tower. The tower will be operated by ROMATSA, the air navigation service provider of Romania.

There are some positive figures from Norway with Avinor releasing commercial air traffic figures for January 2022. (All the following figures are compared with January 2021). At Oslo Airport, traffic rose 72.8 percent, at Bergen Airport numbers rose 36.1 percent, at Stavanger Airport traffic increased 27 percent, and at Trondheim Airport, there was a 47.3 percent increase. These are good trends that will hopefully continue.

It's interesting to see Inmarsat expanding its operations further. Having acquired Altitude Angel, they have now made another significant move by purchasing Harvest Technology Group. As a specialist in ultra-low bandwidth live streaming technology, they will add further capability to Inmarsat.

Finally, why not check out another episode of Radar Contact? In this episode, we talk with Sharon Cooke, the CEO of Airways International, about ATM business both inside and outside of New Zealand.

ANSP news

• New technical features in ENAV meteo forecast unit - SITTI - ENAV decided to upgrade the services provided by the weather forecast offices and their related data repository. The target is to provide operators with a more efficient access procedure, thus giving them a better and more precise weather situation awareness.
• DFS Aviation Services announces cooperation with the Test Flying Academy of South Africa - With this partnership, DFS Aviation Services is entering and expanding its training expertise activities in Africa and the Far East.
• NAV CANADA New ADS-B Mandate to enhance aircraft operations in Canada - Canada is leveraging advanced surveillance capabilities to enhance safety and efficiency by implementing a new mandate that will require aircraft operators flying in certain domestic airspace to meet Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast Out Performance Requirements.

Airports news

• Airservices to begin trials to minimise aircraft noise for Brisbane community - Airservices will begin trialling new measures to minimise aircraft noise in communities under Brisbane Airport flight paths from February 24. The proposed trials will test different procedures when operationally safe to determine if they have any impact on reducing aircraft noise in affected communities.

Market news

• Saab Receives Order for a Digital Tower in Romania - Saab Digital Air Traffic Solutions has signed a contract to deliver a digital tower to providing air navigation services at the newly built Brasov-Ghimbav International Airport in Romania. The services will be operated by ROMATSA, the air navigation service provider of Romania.
• Aireon, Cirium Forge Data Sharing Partnership - Under the terms of the agreement, Cirium will gain access to Aireon’s real-time data service product, AireonSTREAM. AireonSTREAM is the world’s first and only global source of ATS grade surveillance data, which will enable Cirium to utilize the most precise and accurate global data available.
• SITTI VCSs and erad to Malaysia - In the frame of a commercial cooperation with LEONARDO, SITTI is going to provide Malaysia with new VCSs and Emergency Radio Access Devices. More specifically, the new installations are relevant to the Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre, the local Disaster Recovery facility and the control tower at Subang.

Reports and data

• Statistics Keflavik Airport 2022 - Isavia - Keflavik Airport observed the following number of flights in January 2022: Departures - 82.864; Arrivals - 75.798
• Traffic figures from Avinor for January 2022 - Traffic figures for the four largest Avinor airports in January are as follows (figures compared with 2021)*: Oslo Airport, Gardermoen - Commercial air transport movements: 72.8 % - a total of 11,070; Bergen Airport - Commercial air transport movements: 36.1 % - a total of 6,034; Stavanger Airport - Commercial air transport movements: 27 % - a total of 3,507; Trondheim Airport - Commercial air transport movements: 47.3% - 3,247.
• Fraport Traffic Figures 01-2022 - Aircraft movements grew strongly by 86.7 percent year-on-year to 24,639 takeoffs and landings.

UAV and UTM

• UK noise trials at Cranfield University help to build data on sound impact of drones - Unmanned airspace - Measurement trials with unmanned aerial vehicles at ARPAS-UK Member Cranfield University are paving the way for a better understanding of the noise impact of drones.
• EASA updates and extends drone guidance to support safe drone operations in member states - Unmanned airspace - EASA has published new and amended procedures and guidance to further harmonise and implement the EU drone regulation. The guidance included in the ED Decision 2022/002/R relates to geographical zones, cross-border operations and predefined risk assessment for beyond line of sight operations.
• Harvest Technology joins Inmarsat Velaris solution to expand secure high-definition connectivity - Unmanned airspace - Inmarsat has added Harvest Technology Group to its Velaris connectivity solution. A specialist in ultra-low bandwidth livestreaming technology, Harvest becomes the second company to join the network after Altitude Angel.
• Drones autonomously navigate heavily congested air traffic - DLR Portal - The City-ATM project has been completed following successful tests involving real and virtual drones at Cochstedt Airport. During the final phase of the project, a large number of drones with varying equipment were operated jointly and without conflict in the same airspace in complex air traffic scenarios.