Weekly review #139 - 2nd March

Let's first look at news from South East Asia. The two main airports in Cambodia: New Phnom Penh Airport and New Siem Reap Internation Airport will get important upgrades consisting of two new Voice Communication Switches.

In news from the Middle East, Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan has released some strong figures for aircraft movements. During last month, they recorded 4,630 aircraft movements, which is a 127.2 percent increase against 2021, and a 23.6 percent decrease on 2019.

Here's an interesting idea for you: what if one control centre could manage multiple airports? Well, DLR and Frequentis are demonstrating in trials that this is indeed possible. They've shown that a pool of air traffic controllers can flexibly serve many connected airports. To make things easier, they rely on novel planning tool assists to help with allocation and balances workload.

In our last piece of news, the CORUS-XUAM project has shown a successful demonstration of unmanned space services in a series of test flights. They have been using the Pointoise Airport Unmanned Aerial Mobility sandbox in France. Here is the full story if you'd like to learn more.

There is also another episode of Radar Contact ready for you to listen to. In this episode, we talk with Neil Bowles about remote and digital towers.

Market news

• SITTI upgrade of cambodia systems - The new order consists of two new VCSs for the main airports in Cambodia: NPPIA – New Phnom Penh International Airport and NSRIA – New Siem Reap International Airport.
• Adacel makes virtual ATC Tower acquisition - Adacel announces the acquisition of a virtual air traffic control tower for single and multiple aerodrome operations.
• Indra: “spanish industry is ready to lead the development of the european space traffic management system” - The EU has acknowledged the urgent need for infrastructure to cope with the ever-increasing satellite traffic with the continuous launch of mega-constellations.

Context information

• Celebrating 20 years of Reduced Vertical Separation - EUROCONTROL - The introduction of Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum, the programme that transformed airspace usage above FL290, was one of the biggest and far-reaching changes ever made in European airspace.
• Storm Eunice: Go-arounds and air traffic control - NATS Blog - It’s no surprise to anyone these days that when a storm hits, travel disruption usually follows. Many people now understand why thunder and lightning can be problematic for air travel, but why did the wind of Storm Eunice last Friday cause such an impact and how do we deal with situations where aircraft are unable to land at their destination airport?

Reports and data

• Queen Alia International Airport (Jordan) - traffic numbers - According to statistics released by Airport International Group, Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) recorded 4,630 aircraft movements during the month, marking a 127.2% increase and 23.6% decrease against 2021 and 2019 figures, respectively.
• FABEC traffic growth was slow and volatile in 2021 - FABEC traffic began its recovery in 2021 following COVID, reaching 3.2 million flights compared with 2.7 million in 2020 – the lowest level for 25 years. However rising demand was slow and accompanied by extreme volatility, bringing new challenges for air navigation service providers working towards Europe’s green agenda.

Research and innovation

• A revolution in the field of obstacle limitation surfaces? - To70 - Senior aviation consultant and flight procedure designer Jonas van Straaten reports on a new OLS concept presented at the ICAO/ACI OLS Symposium (OLSS2021).
• Controlling multiple airports from one control centre - DLR Portal - DLR and Frequentis are demonstrating in trials that remote monitoring of several airports from one control centre works. A pool of air traffic controllers flexibly provides their services to one or more (connected) airports. Novel planning tool assists with allocation and balances workload.
• 4DSkyways - Convincing stakeholders to invest in trajectory management! - Peter Alty, EUROCONTROL, is project lead for the SESAR 4DSkyways industrial research project. We asked Peter about the rationale behind the project and the trajectory management solutions that it aims to deliver.

UAV and UTM

• CORUS-XUAM project demonstrates U-space services in test flights at Pointoise Airport sandbox - Unmanned airspace - The SESAR CORUS-XUAM research project reports successful demonstration of U-space services in a series of test flights using the Pointoise Airport Unmanned Aerial Mobility sandbox in France.
• ESA FLAMES project uses digital twins to improve accuracy of flight planning - Unmanned airspace - The European Space Agency Space Solutions research project FLAMES has successfully concluded its demonstration campaign, according to a press release. The project tackled two initiatives. First, the ability of simulation technologies to generate accurate drone flight simulations to increase automation of delivery operations in urban environments, and second, optimizing maritime emissions monitoring through automated flight planning solutions.
• SESAR project test concept for the safe integration of remotely-piloted aircraft systems around airports - Paola Lanzi, Senior Specialist in Human Factors with Deep Blue, leads the dissemination activities of the INVIRCAT Project, which is investigating the integration of a remotely-piloted aircraft systems using instrument flight rules routes in the terminal manoeuvring area and aerodrome environment.