Weekly Review #199 - FAA activates new east coast routes

First, we have news from the United States, with the FAA gearing up for the busy summer season. The authority has activated a total of 169 routes along the east coast, meaning passengers can make more direct flights and airlines can save fuel. In fact, the routes will shave off 40,000 miles and 6,000 minutes of travel time each year as well as help prevent delays. And when adverse weather conditions occur, controllers will have more flexibility.

Next up, we have news of a new national engagement approach from Australia. Airservices Australia drafed a new national Community Engagement Standard, outlining how it plans to boost timely, meaningful and transparent engagement with communities and the aviation industry on flight path and airspace change proposals. And it's asking the public to have its say. 'A key element of the Standard is engaging early with communities, providing transparency around decision-making and allowing adequate time for community stakeholders to have an input into those decisions,’ Airservices Australia Chief Executive Officer Jason Harfield said.

In news from the UK, Liverpool John Lennon airport will modernise its voice communications with Frequentis providing Air Traffic Control Services Ltd. two voice
communication systems. 'We chose the Frequentis VCS 3020X and X10 VCS based on our previous experience with the company’s systems and their experience in the market, delivering to a number of other UK airports,' said Paul Staples, Director of Airport Operations at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

And last but not least, we have another episode of our podcast Radar Contact for you. This week, we sit down with Klaus Meier of Skyguide to discuss virtual centres.

ANSP news

• FAA Activates Scores of New, Faster Routes Along East Coast Ahead of Summer - Just in time for the busy summer travel season the FAA has activated 169 new routes along the East Coast that are more direct, saving passengers time, airlines fuel and increasing safety.
• The board of directors of ENAV appoints Pasuqalino Monti as CEO and establishes board committees - The Board of Directors of ENAV has appointed Mr. Pasqualino Monti as Chief Executive Officer, conferring on him, as Company head, all the ordinary and extraordinary administrative powers of the Company, except for those assigned otherwise by applicable legislation, by the by-laws or maintained by the Board within its own powers.
• Community Engagement Standard available for national comment - Airservices - Airservices Australia is inviting the community to have its say on a new national engagement approach for the development and implementation of flight path changes.
• iFMP, a key decision-making tool of EUROCONTROL Maastricht UAC becomes operational in Karlsruhe UAC - EUROCONTROL and DFS have taken a further step that will support seamless and efficient air traffic services just in time for the rise in summer air traffic and the recovery to pre-pandemic levels. The integrated flow management position (iFMP) developed and used at the EUROCONTROL Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre is now operational at the Karlsruhe Upper Area Control.

Market news

• FREQUENTIS X10 VCS prepares Norway for location-independent airspace operations - Norwegian Air Navigation Service Provider, Avinor, to future-proof operations with Frequentis’ geographically redundant voice communication system. Multi-redundant, network-centric VCS supports dynamic sectorisation and operational flexibility.
• UK Liverpool John Lennon airport selects FREQUENTIS to modernise voice communications - Frequentis will provide Air Traffic Control Services Ltd. with two voice communication systems for Liverpool airport in the North of England.
• Indra consolidates its global leadership of Air Traffic Management with the launch of its subsidiary in the USA, Indra Air Traffic Inc. - After acquiring the air traffic business line of Selex ES, Indra is gaining a strong foothold in the US, where it will put its comprehensive advanced portfolio of products and services and its 40 years of experience at the service of air infrastructure renewal.

Context information

• Aviation Leaders from Across the Globe Gathered at the EUROCAE Symposium for Insightful Discussions - EUROCAE organised its 2023 Symposium on 26 and 27 April in Paris, France (National Air and Space Museum of France). This event was attended by 350 participants on site and online, which gathered participation from highly specialised experts and top industry leaders from Europe and globally, in a special edition for the 60th anniversary of the organisation.

Reports and data

• Owing to Its Smart Services and Advanced Technologies Sharjah Airport Records Footfall of Over 3.8 Million Passengers in First Quarter of 2023 - The aircraft movement for the same term also increased by 9.02 per cent, with 23,261 flights by the end of March, compared to 21,336 flights during the same period last year.
• European Network Operations Plan 2023 Rolling Seasonal Plan - The 122nd edition of the EUROCONTROL Network Manager's European Network Operations Plan (NOP) – Rolling Seasonal Plan – is now live.
• EUROCONTROL aviation network update - The European aviation network is heading for a busy aviation summer, Week 17 shows. All-April traffic closed at 90% of pre-pandemic 2019 – and Week 17 did even better at 93% of 2019 air traffic.

Research and innovation

• Enhanced Global Air Traffic Efficiency Is on the Horizon - MITRE - A global initiative is underway to enhance air traffic management worldwide. At MITRE, we’re lending our aviation expertise, technical know-how, and state-of-the-art laboratory capabilities to the effort.
• Solution to increase ATCO flexibility passes maturity assessment - The SESAR solution “Increased Flexibility in ATCO Validations” explores ways to more flexibly deploy air traffic controllers to specific parts of en-route airspace, sectors and working positions. The tools and procedures developed, which are tailored to reduce the need for controllers to have local knowledge of a sector, have now reached V2 maturity. This is an important milestone on the way to deployment. The solution is part of the SESAR project FALCO.
• A paradigm change for aircraft separations on departure - NATS Blog - At today’s busy airports, every second counts. When punctuality is key and the value of departure slots is counted in millions of pounds, a little delay can add up to a large economic and environmental cost for airport operators, airlines, and passenger inconvenience.

UAV and UTM

• ICAO AAM Study Group meets to discuss harmonised standards with international agencies - Unmanned airspace - The first ICAO Advanced Air Mobility Study Group which took place this week in Montreal, discussed a coordination and cooperation framework for interaction between ICAO and other Standards Making Organizations related to AAM. Among participants EUROCAE participated to help develop “consistent procedures, formulated through consensus standards and uniform, convergent policies for AAM operations and traffic management,” posts the agency which aims to mitigate concerns and instill public confidence while expediting AAM technology’s acceptance and implementation.