The impact on the rules governing the air travel industry from the Corona virus outbreak is beginning to show. Normally, demand is over capacity, and regulation mechanisms such as airport slots are in place to ensure the precious capacity is used well. This includes the "use it or lose it" rule, ensuring that airlines don't abuse the mechanism by holding slots they don't use. But now that demand is temporarily and sharply down, the EU has just suspended the rule in order to give the airlines some breathing space. Read more on this and how it effects ATC.
In addition, more events are cancelled or postponed, including Airport Automation and Innovation and Passenger and Terminal Expo. Check our events page for details and update your calendars.
ANSP news
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MUAC changes the division level over Belgian/Luxembourg airspace - EUROCONTROL's Maastricht UAC raises division flight level in Belgian/Luxembourg upper airspace for optimum traffic distribution and increased capacity.
Market news
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Indra to modernise Uzbekistan ATM and CNS - Indra will completely modernise Uzbekistan's air navigation infrastructure, renovating the route and approach control centres in Tashkent and Samarkand, as well as the terminal control centres in Bukhara and Urgench. Indra will also provide a simulator to reinforce the training of air traffic controllers.
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SITTI delivers second lot of VCSs to India - The contract between SITTI and AAI (Airport Authority of India) is a very large one, including a multitude of systems to be deployed nationwide. This major contract for Supply Installation Testing & Commissioning (SITC) of a large number of Voice Communication Systems (VCS) and Voice Recording Systems (VRS) is divided into 5 consignment lots, corresponding to 5 big areas in the Indian subcontinent.
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Indra delivers new ATM systems to Saudi Arabia - Over half a year ahead of schedule, the company has delivered the en-route and approach control centres at Yeda and at Dammam.
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SITTI awarded a contract for a new VCS in Rancagua (Chile) - SITTI has been awarded a new contract to supply a new VCS system in Chile at La Independencia Airport in Rancagua, located about 80 km south of the capital Santiago.
Context information
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EUROCONTROL, SESAR JU and ACI EUROPE launch new initiative for sustainable airport operations - Speaking to 400 delegates from airports, airlines, air navigation service providers and industry, Eamonn Brennan said “We need to be able to meet future demand through sustainable operations. We need airports to be fully connected with the rest of the European network. To achieve that, we need to integrate them digitally with the EUROCONTROL Network Manager.
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New dates for Passenger Terminal Expo - The exposition is re-scheduled in June because of the Corona virus.
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Airport Automation and Innovation rescheduled - The Airport Automation and Innovation conference is rescheduled to September because of the Corona virus.
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How the airports slots mechanism protects ATC from the Corona virur... so far - Airlines usually prefer to operate empty flights rather than to lose their airport slots, but now that the "use it or lose it" rule has just been suspended, this will make the ATC suffer.
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to70 on best-planned best-served in A-CDM - EUROCONTROL and many of the European airports that utilise Airport CDM have adopted the concept of ‘Best Planned, Best Served’ in their operational procedures for the airlines. The aim is to boost adherence to procedures and targets, yet few airports actively monitor and steer on this performance.
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UK will leave EASA - This is one of the effects of Brexit. The UK will leave EASA, which is amongst other regulating ANSPs and airports across Europe.
Reports and data
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LFV reports decline in air traffic in 2019 - In 2019 air traffic in Swedish airspace declined for the first time since 2012. The number of aircraft movements was 774,000.
Research and innovation
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Aireon and EUROCONTROL sign agreement to enhance air traffic flow management in Europe - Space-based ADS-B will help EUROCONTROL provide improved predictability in the European ATM Network and develop applications to contribute to the improvement of capacity, operational efficiency and environmental impact, supporting sustainable growth in aviation.
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FlyAI report by EUROCONTROL and other European partners - European partners deliver first ‘FLY AI’ report on the current use and future potential of artificial intelligence in aviation.
UAV and UTM
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Drone sightings stop traffic at Frankfurt airport - Traffic stopped for 90 minutes because of drones sightings at the airport.
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FAA UAS and UTM ConOps version 2.0 is published - The concept of operations for drones by the US Federal Aviation Administration is one of the most important documents in UTM and it will certainly set directions in this domain.
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