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Weekly review #157 - 6th July

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Posted July 6 2022 by Vincent Lambercy

First up, there's more news to indicate that the industry continues to recover from the effects caused by the pandemic. On Sunday, BULATSA serviced 3082 flights over Bulgaria without delays. After the lifting of restrictions on passenger transport, in the second quarter of 2022 there is an intensive recovery in the number of flights. Traffic levels vary between 85-95% on a daily basis compared to the number of flights in 2019, reaching up to 98% on the weekends.

 

Next up, ‘The adoption of EGNOS in European airports will be essential before 2030’ according to Charlotte Neyret, ESSP (European Satellite Services Provider) CEO. In fact, from June 2030, all phases of flight should be based on PBN implementations, being conventional navigation restricted to a backup role (with the exception of CAT II, CAT IIIA or CAT IIIB operations). This significantly remarks the role and importance of EGNOS as a key enabler of PBN.

 

In other news, ENAIRE are looking to enhance safety with a new voice communications system in Seville. The new Last Resort Voice system in the contingency room of its Seville Air Control Centre will be installed in the five control centres and respective contingency centres, and in three terminal approach areas.

 

Finally, In UTM news, GUTMA – the Global Uncrewed Traffic Management Association – released their Annual Report of 2022. It expects a massive drone ecosystem to emerge. GUTMA represents organizations involved in innovative drone services and smart mobility solutions enabled by services that keep drone operations at all altitudes safe and efficient.

 

Looking for a new episode of Radar Contact? This week we had a guest from Denmark. Jesper Skou is the Co-Founder of Skypuzzler and we spoke about C-level experience with ANS organisations in different parts of the world and other topics. Missed an episode? Catch them all here.

 

  • ANSP news

    • Record traffic in the sky over Bulgaria after the pandemic - For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, on Sunday BULATSA serviced 3082 flights over Bulgaria without delays. After the lifting of restrictions on passenger transport, in the second quarter of 2022 there is an intensive recovery in the number of flights. Traffic levels vary between 85-95% on a daily basis compared to the number of flights in 2019, reaching up to 98% on the weekends. So far, there are registered single cases in which the daily levels now surpass those of the respective days in 2019.
    • Expansion of Cross-border Free Route Airspace - On June 8th Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services SMATSA hosted a meeting in Belgrade with partners of Southeast Europe Common Sky Initiativie (SECSI) – AustroControl, Slovenia Control, CroControl, BHANSA, Albcontrol and M-NAV discussing the further expansion of Free Route Airspace with Italy and Hungary/Romania/Bulgaria and beyond.
    • ‘The adoption of EGNOS in European airports will be essential before 2030’ - Charlotte Neyret, ESSP (European Satellite Services Provider) CEO sees European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) as essential. In fact, from June 2030, all phases of flight should be based on PBN implementations, being conventional navigation restricted to a backup role (with the exception of CAT II, CAT IIIA or CAT IIIB operations). This significantly remarks the role and importance of EGNOS as a key enabler of PBN.
    • Advanced Air Mobility Future Airspace WG Outreach - Launch of working group to help shape the future of UK airspace. The future flight challenge announces a cross-sector working group to help inform policy for future airspace integration of innovative new aviation technology. The FAIWG:AI aims to: be the prime voice for airspace integration requirements across the future flight sector play a role in the future development of solutions and standards to assist airspace integration.
    • New EUROCONTROL Director General Raúl Medina Caballero - EUROCONTROL’s 41 Member States have today selected Raúl Medina Caballero, Director General of Civil Aviation of Spain as the next Director-General of EUROCONTROL. Raúl Medina Caballero will take up his new function on 1 January 2023.
    • Alex Bristol, CEO skyguide, says air navigation service providers must recognise how much the industry will change. - In an interview with the CEO of Skyguide, he explained his vision for UTM, how FABs are performing and what ANSPs have learned during the COVID pandemic are discussed. Other topics included how sustainability can be combined with strategic business decisions, what more ATM should do to reduce their environmental impact, technology, diversity, and areas of ATM that are neglected but could make a difference to efficiency or sustainability.
    • CANSO’s GreenATM programme will give credibility to the environmental work of air navigation service providers. - CANSO has launched GreenATM, an environmental accreditation programme providing air navigation service providers (ANSPs) with an independent, industry-endorsed assessment of their environmental efforts. With sustainability so crucial to future strategies, GreenATM is designed to celebrate, educate, inspire, and provide credibility to ANSP’s environmental actions.
    • EUROCONTROL Think Paper #17 - Why aviation urgently needs to improve its use of radio spectrum - Concerns that high-power terrestrial 5G networks could interfere with signals vital to the safe operation of aircraft have catapulted radio spectrum into the policy limelight, with highly-publicised delays to wireless broadband deployment of C-band 5G in the US.
    • SESAR 3 JU demonstrates smart and sustainable solutions at Connecting Europe Days - Sustainability, multimodality and digitalisation were just some of the topics the SESAR 3 JU showcased during its participation at the Connecting Europe Days 2022, Europe’s mobility flagship event, which took place from 28 to 30 June in Lyon, France. Selected flights en route to Lyon demonstrated the energy-efficient flying enabled by SESAR Solutions.

    Airports news

    Market news

    • Thales delivers the 1000th Air Traffic Surveillance worldwide radar milestone to the Brazilian Department of Airspace Control - Thales delivers the 1000th Air Traffic Surveillance worldwide radar milestone, a co-mounted primary TRAC NG and secondary RSM surveillance radar to DECEA, the Brazilian Department of Airspace Control. The 1000thThales air traffic surveillance radar worldwide reference is a demonstration of customers’ confidence and Thales’s track record to detect at all times – ensuring critical air safety and air surveillance.
    • EUROCONTROL MUAC and Indra launch ATN Automatic Dependent Surveillance Contract (ADS-C) system - EUROCONTROL MUAC, in partnership with Indra, a leading global technological engineering company for the aerospace, defence and mobility sectors, have put an advanced system into operation to allow air traffic control systems to automatically exchange data with the onboard computer of an aircraft to manage air traffic with greater efficiency, safety and flexibility, a decisive step forward in the digitalization of the European sky. This system enables the controller to establish “electronic contracts” with aircraft and receive information on key parameters, such as the route and altitude, among others. The data exchange is performed directly with the desired aircraft, agreeing on the specific information required and the frequency with which it should be received, thus establishing “silent” communication that minimizes voice communication and streamlines traffic management, reducing the workload of both controller and pilot.
    • ENAIRE enhances safety with a new voice communications system in Seville - ENAIRE has implemented a new Last Resort Voice system in the contingency room of its Seville Air Control Centre This system will be installed in the five control centres and respective contingency centres, and in three terminal approach areas.
    • Government of Canada invests in projects to improve aviation supply chain - The Government of Canada will contribute: - Up to $39.2 million to provide new technology to improve the reliability, safety, and performance of Canada's air transportation system, especially in the event of extreme weather and in remote communities. - Up to $34.5 million to implement technology to improve air traffic management. - Up to $31.2 million to improve the technology and infrastructure at four major airports.

    Reports and data

    • ACI Paper on ANS Market Liberalisation | Air Navigation Solutions - Airports Council International Europe has developed and published background material, providing information and guidance in connection with a more liberalised market for ANS provision for its airport members. The content and thrust of this documentation is endorsed by ACR, Air Navigation Solutions and SAERCO, three of the leading commercial ANSPs currently providing ANS at 34 European airports.

    UAV and UTM

    • BURDI project gets green light from EU to explore implementation of drone legislation - The European Commission has selected the BURDI project to test and implement a U-space concept, based on the recent EU legislation providing a framework for the implementation of U-space. The consortium of 18 partners was granted funding of 4.7 M euros.
    • First Digital Sky Demonstrators to focus on green aviation and urban air mobility - Five SESAR 3 JU Digital Sky Demonstrators will receive funding to the tune of EUR 47.5 million from the Connecting Europe Facility between now and 2025, it was announced on 29 June. The selected projects aim to accelerate the market uptake of SESAR Solutions for greener aviation and urban air mobility. The announcement, which was made by European Commissioner for Transport, Adina-Ioana Vălean, during the Connecting Europe Days, is part of a larger package of transport infrastructure funding adopted by the Commission.
    • Global UTM Association GUTMA released their Annual Report of 2022 - GUTMA – the Global Uncrewed Traffic Management Association – released their Annual Report of 2022. It expects a massive drone ecosystem to emerge. GUTMA represents organizations involved in innovative drone services and smart mobility solutions enabled by services that keep drone operations at all altitudes safe and efficient. It engages in impactful research and development and in technical, regulatory and political processes to foster a global ecosystem in a fair global drone services market.
    • AMU-LED demonstration about integrating drones in urban airspaces - In the near future, city-dwellers can expect to see a variety of drones in the airspace above where they live, perhaps transporting patients to hospitals, helping tackle fires, or simply delivering parcels. A new European project, AMU-LED, is now carrying out co-ordination and substantial testing to manage this airspace traffic and check safety, interoperability and feasibility. The first trial demonstration takes place at Cranfield University, UK, on 30 June, and will be followed by other trial events in the Netherlands and Spain.
    • FAA to hold on-line public meeting on July 26 to discuss final BVLOS ARC report - Unmanned airspace - The Federal Aviation Administration has announced that a public meeting of the UAS Beyond Visual Line of Sight Aviation Rulemaking Committee to discuss the committee’s final report will be held on July 26, 2022, from 5:30 pm -7:30 pm Eastern Time, virtually.
    • WATMC 2022: “U-space is useless without drone services” – industry readies for Europe’s 2023 U-space regulations - Unmanned airspace - “When we talk about drones, we have to take into account this new U-space environment, an Internet of Things in the sky,” said Sebastian Babiarz, Co-president of the Global Uncrewed Traffic Management Association (GUTMA) and COO of Dronehub at the World ATM Congress in Madrid 21-23 June 2022. “Only when we start executing drone services will we really understand the missing parts. We say U-space is mandatory, but U-space is useless without drone services.”
    • Eurocontrol leads U-ELCOME U-space research project to advance U1 and U2 U-space services - Unmanned airspace - One of SESAR 3 JU’s flagship Digital Sky Demonstrators, the new U-space project U-space European COMmon dEpLoyment (U-ELCOME) has received funding from the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility. U-ELCOME is a 3-year project coordinated by the Eurocontrol Innovation hub and involving 51 partners.