Weekly review #97 - 5th May

Picture of Vincent Lambercy
Posted by Vincent Lambercy

In a huge step-change in global air traffic management, London City is announced as the first major airport controlled by a remote digital tower.

 

All flights on the summer schedule are being guided to land or take off from the heart of the London Docklands business district by air traffic controllers 115km away at NATS’ air traffic control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire using an ‘enhanced reality’ view supplied by a state-of-the-art 50m digital control tower.

 

This is a significant technological and operational achievement, especially against the backdrop of COVID-19.

 

In other news, we all know that reducing the aviation industry’s carbon footprint is one of our biggest challenges. While the greatest CO2 savings can be made with advancements in aircraft and engine technology, managing airspace more efficiently can play a crucial role in ‘building back better’ once the public start flying again. 

 

So, it's great to hear of NATS using data to identify ways to improve sustainability and track airspace efficiency

 

Given much of the aviation industry has committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, they have taken the decision to share their 3Di metric with the wider industry to help them further understand the efficiency of their operation and where environmental improvements can be made. 

 

Give it a read and let us know your thoughts. 

 

We also saw that new guidelines for airports have been developed by EUROCONTROL’s Operational Excellence Programme, in an effort to make operations more predictable during adverse weather. 

 

Bad weather remains the main reason for air traffic flow management delay at European airports. To tackle this, EUROCONTROL together with a wide representation of operational stakeholders has developed 14 recommendations showing how airports can improve their operational response to adverse weather conditions.

 

It's great to see the drive for real change, in order to better manage adverse weather at airports by taking a coordinated, collaborative network view. 

ANSP news

  • Hungary’s air traffic control systems received a 22 million EUR upgrade - One of the most significant investments of HungaroControl has been completed, where the company's air navigation and voice communication systems and controller working positions have been completely renewed in the last six months. 
  • Danube FAB - Sixteenth Meeting of the DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies - DANUBE FAB Governing Bodies held their sixteenth meetings on the 27th and 28th of April. During this meeting, attendees were updated on projects which have recently been completed within the FAB, i.e. the inclusion of Slovakian airspace in SEE FRA. DANUBE FAB also completed the deployment of Voice Over Internet Protocol and Datalink Services above FL285. 

Airports news

Market news

Context information

Reports and data

Research and innovation

  • InterFAB Expert Talk rethinks the delay indicators - Flight delays result in costs for airlines and passengers; however, the methodology to assess the cost of one minute of ATFM delay was developed nearly 20 years ago. This was the subject of an InterFAB study, presented by Giuseppe Antonio Gangemi, Head of Performance Analysis at ENAV at the third InterFAB Expert Talk.

UAV and UTM

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