Weekly review #58 - July 21st

ANSP news

• Traffic is slowly picking up - DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH - After the sharp decline in spring, air traffic in Germany is recovering – albeit only slowly and from a low level. This is shown by the traffic figures published by DFS, the German air navigation service provider, for the first six months of this year.
• PansaUTM team introduces digital UTM services to five towers and three FIS sectors - Unmanned airspace - The PansaUTM team within the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) reports that from 15 July 2020 the team has operationally implemented the system in five new towers and three Flight Information Service Sectors.
• Air traffic in Italy in July doubles over June - Flights in Italy continue to display a steady and progressive growth trend. In the first half of July, flights over the Italian skies more than doubled compared to June.

Market news

• Free access to ATC simulator for UK airports and ANSPs - Micro Nav is making the full capabilities of its ATC radar and tower simulator available as a cloud-based tool in order to help air traffic controllers across the UK to maintain their competence and confidence.
• Aberdeen International Airport to Deploy Assaia’s Apron AI Turnaround Control Solution - AGS Group Ltd. and Assaia International AG signed an agreement to install Assaia’s Apron AI Turnaround Control Solution at Aberdeen International Airport. The system will be a part of the airport’s digital twin initiative and will play an integral part in delivering high-quality and unambiguous data of every process during an aircraft turnaround. Aberdeen International Airport will use existing camera equipment to capture each turnaround.
• SITTI systems for western India - The supply of VCS system to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is proceeding according to the schedule. This important contract was awarded to SITTI in September 2019 (read here for more details), after a very competitive bidding process. It represents a big step towards the modernization of their Air Traffic Control infrastructure all over the country and one of the biggest successes for SITTI.

Context information

• PASSUR and Aireon Announce Agreement to Power Aviation Data Analytics, Collaboration, and Digital Decision Support Solutions Globally - PASSUR Aerospace and Aireon announced an agreement that will integrate Aireon’s global, gate-to-gate ADS-B dataset, into PASSUR’s AR\VA platform. This integration will be the first to feature Aireon’s air traffic service surveillance-quality data feed including high-fidelity, low latency airport surface surveillance and global flight tracking on PASSUR’s AR\VA platform.

Reports and data

• NAV CANADA reports June traffic figures - Traffic in June 2020 decreased by an average of 71.1 per cent compared to the same month in 2019. NAV CANADA's fiscal year runs from September 1 to August 31.

Research and innovation

• SESAR Joint Undertaking | Enabling seamless air traffic management - SESAR JU members recently completed testing of a system that will allow more seamless flight data exchange between air traffic control centres across Europe. The results of the ground-to-ground interoperability (IOP) project are supporting efforts to improve the overall predictability of air traffic as well as the long-term sustainability of aviation.
• Intelligent Approach at Schiphol - A socially distanced collaborative approach - NATS Blog - Collaboration has always been a key part of the way we work at NATS and even during these socially distanced times, we have continued to work closely, even if remotely, with our partners. This has been demonstrated most recently by our work with LVNL, running Intelligent Approach simulations while maintaining social distancing and engaging virtually across national borders.

UAV and UTM

• UTM market fragments and service suppliers rethink business plans - Unmanned Airspace study - Unmanned airspace - The first six months of 2020 has seen the global UAS traffic management (UTM) market fragment, overturning business plans, market assumptions and business strategies, according to Unmanned Airspace’s latest version of its report The market for UAV Traffic Management Services – 2020-2024
• Sweden grants permission for BVLOS powerline inspection flights - Unmanned airspace - The Swedish aviation authority has approved beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights by Skyqraft, a data-driven Swedish infrastructure inspection company. Skyqraft is using the Vertical Technologies DeltaQuad VTOL Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to inspect a large portion of the Swedish power grid.