First up, the management teams of BULATSA and ROMATSA held their eighteenth meeting of the DANUBE FAB ANSP Board with updates to projects. The agenda included the expansion of SEE FRA to include the Republic of Moldova, while cross-border FRA operations also commenced with BALTIC FRA, meaning the airspace from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea is now open for free route operations.
In other news, Austro Control and FREQUENTIS launched a traffic management system for drones, another milestone in their decade-long cooperation. The system will be operational by 2023 and is designed to deal with the increasing amount of drone traffic in Austrian airspace.
Next up, over in Hong Kong, the Third Runway at Hong Kong International Airport is ready for commencing operation, marking a milestone of readiness preparation. Airport Authority Hong Kong and Civil Aviation Department are working closely together on other preparation work, including statutory procedures, drills and exercises for the commissioning of the Third Runway.
Finally, Europe’s air traffic management airspace modernisation research arm, SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking, has released a multiannual work programme from 2022-2031. According to the document, the ATM of the future needs to evolve, by exploiting existing technologies as much as possible, and developing new ones in order to increase global ATM performance in terms of capacity, operational efficiency and accommodation of new and/or more autonomous air vehicles.
How can the air traffic management industry contribute to making aviation more sustainable? In the latest episode of Radar Contact, Vincent Lambercy explores the subject. This episode is also a test for a new format: no guest but a 360° exploration of a topic - in this case, sustainability.
Do you like this type of episode or do you prefer episodes with guests? Let me know in comments!
ANSP news
- Eighteenth Meeting of the DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies - The management teams of BULATSA and ROMATSA held their eighteenth meeting of the DANUBE FAB ANSP Board with updates to projects. Most notable was the expansion of SEE FRA to include the Republic of Moldova, while cross-border FRA operations also commenced with BALTIC FRA, meaning the airspace from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea is now open for free route operations. Members were informed of DANUBE FAB’s intended participation in the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking programme, with both BULATSA and ROMATSA investigating areas of common interest in order to bid for funding in the rounds which opened on 7th April 2022.
- Austro Control and FREQUENTIS launch traffic management system for drones - Austro Control and Frequentis are setting another milestone in their decade-long cooperation by launching a drone management solution to enable their safe integration into Austrian airspace. The system will be operational by early 2023.
Airports news
- The new terminal of Almaty International Airport will be completed in 2024 - A new international airport terminal is being built in Almaty. Construction will be completed in 2024. It should be noted, the airport will not suspend operations during the construction. The company is investing more than $200 million in the project.
- Application process opens to modernise small town, regional air traffic towers in United States - CANSO - The FAA has opened the application process for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to modernize air traffic control towers at many small town and municipal airports. The FAA will fund projects that sustain, construct, repair, improve, modernize, replace or relocate airport-owned towers and install communications equipment.
- Hong Kong Airport's third runway readiness reaches milestone - The Third Runway at Hong Kong International Airport is ready for commencing operation, marking a milestone of readiness preparation. Airport Authority Hong Kong and Civil Aviation Department are working closely together on other preparation work, including statutory procedures, drills and exercises for the commissioning of the Third Runway.
- Work on Cross-Field Taxiway Project at Phoenix Sky Harbour Funded by Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Begin - Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is home to the first City of Phoenix project to benefit from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed late last year by Congress, starting with construction of a long-awaited cross-field taxiway connecting the north and south airfields. The taxiway project was approved April 20th by the Phoenix City Council.
- Air Navigation Solutions partners with Liverpool John Lennon Airport - ANSL has agreed a partnership with Liverpool John Lennon Airport and its internal air navigation services provider, Air Traffic Control Services Limited (ATCSL), which will see ANSL implement Radar in The Tower (RiTT) operations at the Airport.
Market news
- Iceland's Isavia ANS Now Operational Airspace-Wide with Aireon Data - Isavia ANS, Iceland’s ANSP, has achieved new levels of operational efficiency with expanded use of space-based ADSB data from Aireon.
- SITTI VOIP VCSs to the Turkish State Airports Administration - DHMI, the Turkish State Airports Administration is currently upgrading their VCSs and network infrastructure to comply with the latest air management standards, especially concerning the world famous EUROCAE ED-137 standard, which details the way VoIP – Voice over IP – has to be used in the ATC field.
- ACAMS I-TWR solutions to Greenland - ACAMS signs contract to supply 2 Integrated Tower Solutions to Greenland with options for a third system
- Site acceptance of SITTI systems in India - Airport Authority of India awarded SITTI a major contract for the delivery of a large number of Voice Communication and Voice Recording Systems to serve the whole Nation.
- SITTI in the South of China - For the improvement and expansion of the local airport, SITTI has been awarded the supply of a brand new MULTIFONO® M800IP® Voice Communication Solution, through the very good work and capabilities of our local representative, Beijing XiDi Communication Technology Co., Ltd.
Reports and data
- Airport Authority Hong Kong Releases Air Traffic Figures for March - The traffic figures of Hong Kong International Airport for March 2022 were released. During the month, cargo throughput and flight movements recorded during the month were 352,000 tonnes and 9,870, respectively, representing year-on-year decreases of 11.4% and 7.3%, respectively.
- A Shaky Summer - Airport Coordination Limited - Airport Capacity Analyst, Christakis Christodoulou, explores how the current Summer 2022 season compares with Summer 2019’s pre-pandemic schedule and what this says about schedule volatility and aviation’s hopes of recovery.
Research and innovation
- AI for Safe Autonomous Drone Operations with Technologies from Auterion and Spleenlab - Drones run AI on the edge and use machine learning to autonomously conduct infrastructure inspections and collision avoidance.
UAV and UTM
- SESAR 3 JU identifies seven research areas to achieve air-ground integration and autonomy - Europe’s air traffic management airspace modernisation research arm, SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking, has released a multiannual work programme from 2022-2031. Two of the nine flagship technological solutions needed to achieve the modernisation and digitalisation of air traffic management in Europe in line with the European ATM Master Plan relate to U-space, UAM and associated technology.
- Transport Canada oversees Canada’s longest BVLOS flight over 130km rail track - Drone operator AIRmarket reports its longest beyond visual line of sight aerial inspection of a rail line in Canada. A partnership between Tansport Canada, Telus and Spexi Geospatial enabled the 130km flight lasting 90 minutes. The Deltaquad drone captured over 6,500 photos of two rail lines according to the press release. The data was then collated, annotated and presented to Transport Canada.
- Iris Automation launches ground-based version of Casia G detect and avoid surveillance system - Unmanned airspace - Addressing the need for large-scale, safe uncrewed aviation, Iris Automation has announced the commercial availability of Casia G, a ground-based version of its detect and avoid surveillance solution.
- SESAR GOF 2.0 tests cross border autonomous deliveries between Denmark and Sweden - Unmanned airspace - Drone trials carried out at the beginning of April by consortium members participating in the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking GOF 2.0 project tested an autonomous drone delivery from Copenhagen airport to Malmö port in Sweden. T
- Urban-Air Port opens Air-One, the first vertiport for flying taxis, in Coventry, UK - Unmanned airspace - UK-based developer of ground infrastructure for air taxis and autonomous delivery drones Urban-Air Port opens Air-One, a world-first demonstration of a fully-operational hub for electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles – such as air taxis – and autonomous cargo drones, preparing for a new age of zero-emission, low-congestion urban transport.
