Whoever said that "good things take time, better things take longer" probably did not think of the air traffic management market but this quote is perfectly applicable to it nevertheless. ATM projects take a lot of time. Equipment has a long lifecycle, concepts of operations take time to be produced and more to be validated and implemented. Training also takes a considerable amount of time. There are good reasons for this and many relate to the high levels of safety and reliability which are required, but they are not the only factors.
ANSPs are mostly part of the state government or they are state-owned. Just a few are totally private organisations. And this often means that budgets are planned 18 to 24 months ahead. So even if you have something great to offer to an ANSP, there is little chance they can afford it right away. An interesting way to get around this, and we see more and more of this in the market, is to offer licences instead of products, as those are often budgeted separately. Don't hesitate to reply to this email with your questions or ideas if you'd like to discuss this!
But another factor takes even more time. Air traffic management is a small world and it is a people-first business. Whatever you offer needs to be known and trusted and you need to show it to people, get in touch, keep contacts active and interested and do so repeatedly. No business happens super quickly and people are the key to success. People in your organisation but also the people at your partners, customers and intermediaries, and you need time to have good relationships with all of them before business happens.
There are exceptions, obviously, but they are exactly this, exceptions.
And now, here comes your usual news of the week, which is only a part of what we collect, so check our Market Radar for more.
Vincent
ANSP news
- NAV CANADA joins the iTEC Alliance to foster more efficient and sustainable aviation - NAV CANADA is joining the iTEC Alliance and gives further momentum to an initiative that brings together some of the world’s leading air navigation service providers. With this important partnership, iTEC has reached beyond the European borders for the first time and continues its cooperative venture to create a more efficient and environment-friendly generation of air traffic management systems.
- FREQUENTIS and ENAV elevate airport efficiency and sustainability in Milan with Arrival Manager - ENAV has announced the Frequentis AMAN has transformed approach flights within the Milan Area Control Centre, responsible for the airspace over north-west Italy. By dynamically calculating Estimated Landing Times (ELDT) and updating Target Landing Times (TLDT), this innovative system assists air traffic controllers in sequencing arrivals, reducing flight time, and promoting fuel conservation at Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate, and Bergamo Orio al Serio airports.
- Free Route Airspace between Italy and Southeast Europe - Crocontrol - On March 21, 2024, Cross-Border Free Route Airspace was established between South East Common Sky Initiative Free Route Airspace and Italian airspace. It enables the users to plan their flights no matter the borders of Flight Information Regions, i.e. Areas of Responsibility of individual sectors. Cross-border FRA operations will be available H24 between FRAIT and SECSI FRA, from FL195/FL205 to FL660, depending on the respective state, i.e. Air Navigation Service Provider.
- Easter fires the starting gun for busy summer ahead - NATS - With major world events like the Champions League Final in London and the Paris Olympics promising to increase air traffic levels, and new bases for easyJet at Birmingham and Jet2 at Liverpool, NATS has been preparing for strong demand over the next few months and is part of a Europe-wide All Together Now campaign being led by Eurocontrol.
Airports news
- New London Gatwick taxiway to help reduce delays and cut aircraft emissions - London Gatwick has completed an infrastructure project to help reduce delays and go-arounds, as well as supporting the airport’s sustainability targets. The new Rapid Exit Taxiway (RET) opened last month, enables arriving aircraft to leave the main runway at a more optimal location after landing. The new RET was used by more than half (56%) of all arrivals in its first four days of operation.
Market news
- Mittarfeqarfiit in Greenland will implement Insero Remote Control and Monitoring System - Mittarfeqarfiit, Greenland Airports, has chosen Insero Air Traffic Solutions to deliver Insero RCMS and Constant Current Regulators (CCRs) from TKH Airport solutions, after a thorough tendering process, to replace the existing systems at Sisimiut Airport.
- FAA selects FREQUENTIS for digitalisation of air-to-ground communications - The FAA has awarded Frequentis a contract to implement the air-toground protocol converter system for the U.S. National Airspace System, which supports over one billion passengers per year.
- Intelligent Approach now fully incorporated in Indra ATM systems to increase capacity at high traffic volume airports - Indra's ManagAir air traffic management system, one of the most widely used in control centres and airports around the world, now incorporates the NATS and Leidos developed Intelligent Approach system. Intelligent Approach has been deployed at some of the world’s busiest airports to deliver additional tactical capacity, increase on time performance and reduce emissions per-flight.
- Spanish ENAIRE extends FREQUENTIS contingency communication and maintenance project for up to 12 years - ENAIRE has selected Frequentis to complete an expansion of its contingency communication systems upgrade, known as Last Resort Voice.
- Adacel awarded new FAA contract for TSS System Software and Support - Adacel announces a new contract award from the FAA. Adacel will provide ATC Tower Simulation System Software and Support Services for technical and operational training of Air Traffic Controllers at selected FAA Air Traffic Control Towers. Adacel estimates the total value of the contract over its five-year duration to be USD$6.7 million.
- Marcel Bakker, appointed Director of iTEC - The iTEC Board has appointed Marcel Bakker as the alliance's director at Airspace World in Geneva. Marcel Bakker currently holds the position of General Manager of Systems and Infrastructure at LVNL, the Dutch air navigation service provider, and will step into his new role full time on 1 May 2024, for a period of 5 year
- ERA signs contract with DFS to install WAM system for CTR Hamburg in Germany - ERA has been awarded a contract to install its Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) system in CTR Hamburg. The contract was signed by ERA and DFS and officially announced at Airspace World in Geneva.
- Thales and Skyguide partner to bring open architecture and best-of-class 3rd party system integration to the ATM industry - Thales and Skyguide signed a Memorandum of Understanding to progress on open architectures for ATM systems, leveraging the Thales OpenSky platform. This collaboration will enable Thales and Skyguide to showcase innovation focused on open architecture as an enabler for flexible solutions that support the integration of best-of-breed 3rd party applications and components. The Thales OpenSky platform is a unique offering that modernizes the ATM system architecture while ensuring that safety and security are not compromised.
- ERA has obtained two remarkable birthday presents within Airspace World: contracts for new projects in Germany and Romania - ERA treated itself with two great birthday presents: The very morning of the first day there was a pleasant surprise involving the assignment of a new contract to extend the ERA WAM surveillance system serving Brasov International Airport and its surroundings with the officials of ROMATSA. And on the third day, ERA met with representatives of DFS to announce the award of a contract for delivering WAM surveillance to monitor the airspace of the Hamburg region.
- Thales and DGAC operate the world’s first solar-powered Air Traffic Control radar station in Calama, Chile - Chile’s General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC) and Thales are operating the world’s first 100% powered by solar energy air traffic control radar station. This technological innovation places Chile at the forefront of sustainable initiatives within the civil aviation industry for a greener future and ensures secure air traffic surveillance in Northern Chile.
Context information
- Aireon Launches Safety Dashboard - Aireon is ushering in a new era of data analytics with the release of the first of its Data Dashboard products – Safety Dashboard. This new dashboard will support and enhance air navigation service providers’ safety assurance programs by identifying leading indicators of the industry’s biggest operational risks.
- CANSO and EUROAVIA partner to promote European cooperation through education, dialogue, and outreach - The organisations agreed to collaborate in a number of areas including hosting joint workshops to educate young people about the ATM industry, facilitating networking opportunities, and creating internships and careers fairs.
Reports and data
- NAV CANADA reports February 2024 traffic figure - In February 2024, excluding the effect of an extra day for the leap year, weighted charging units were higher on average by 6.1 percent compared to the same month in 2023.
- HKIA Records Significant Growth in Passenger Traffic in February - Airport Authority Hong Kong released air traffic figures for Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) for February 2024. During the month, HKIA handled 4.2 million passengers and 27,615 flight movements, representing increases of 96.5% and 69.3%, respectively, when compared with the low base in the same month last year.
- Impact analysis of flight restrictions for Brussels Airport - Brussels Airport is the main airport in Belgium, with 178,930 flights in 2022 and as many as 234,460 flights before the Covid pandemic in 2019. This number is expected to increase annually. In this study, together with Walter J.J. Manshanden, we analysed the effect of two operating restrictions for Brussels Airport: A limitation of the total number of flights to 220,000 flights/year, also known as a flight restriction and the ban on night flights.
- EUROCONTROL Data Snapshot #43 on the centre of gravity of European aviation - In this Data Snapshot we look at how European aviation has changed over the last 20 years by considering its centre of gravity – the geographic point that is the average of all the departure points across Europe.
Research and innovation
- Saerco and DataBeacon launch an initiative targeting the modernization and digitization for Air Traffic Management - Datascience.aero - Saerco and DataBeacon announce the award of the project “AI and Digitization for sustainable and efficient air traffic”; an innovative initiative aimed at revolutionizing ATM at airports. This project is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Spanish CDTI within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.
- FREQUENTIS boosts aviation audio quality with AI enhancement - Frequentis and its cooperation partner, Augmented Hearing, based in Denmark, have been working together to develop an artificial intelligence based audio enhancement suitable for the aviation industry.
- DataBeacon and uAvionix collaborate to deliver cloud situational awareness with ADS-B data - Unmanned airspace - DataBeacon and uAvionix plan to make available uAvionix’s FlightLine ADS-B data from cooperative aircraft as a sensor feed for DataBeacon’s Remeo5 airport and ANSP Flight Information Display solution. The data provides enhanced situational awareness to air traffic service providers by visualizing the traffic in the airspace they manage, while mimimising their infrastructure investments. Reliable traffic feeds are a key enabler for airports and ANSP’s wishing to take advantage of new surveillance technologies.
- Engage 2 opens the first call for Catalyst Funding in Air Traffic Management - SESAR JU - Catalyst funds provide financial support and access to industry collaboration environments. This fosters closer ties between industry and researchers during the crucial early stages of concept development, helping promising ideas reach higher maturity levels. Proposals demonstrating original contributions to ATM are encouraged, either directly addressing a pre-defined thematic challenge or focusing on open, innovative concepts.
- Important milestone reached on satellite-based communications - SESAR JU - In December 2023, the International Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference approved the spectrum allocation for future space-based VHF communications services and surveillance for air traffic management. This will allow SESAR to make significant strides forward to deliver satellite-based solutions for optimising air traffic control. This historical event opens the way for innovation and significant improvements in air traffic control by allowing the use of satellites to provide aeronautical services in oceanic and remote areas.
UAV and UTM
- GUTMA Safety Task Force releases "USSP’s Safety Support Assessment” - The GUTMA Safety Task Force has unveiled a significant milestone: the USSPs’ Safety Support Assessment document. This initiative aims to standardize the process by which USSPs engage with authorities regarding the scope of their safety assessments. This document represents a collaborative effort within the industry to ensure consistency and clarity in safety protocols across various jurisdictions.
