Weekly review #98 - 12th May

ANSP news

• ENAIRE incorporates a new and advanced version of its air traffic control system - At its meeting today, ENAIRE's Board of Directors was informed of the new update to the air traffic control system at its control centres in mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. 
• Reconstructed facilities of Osijek regional ATC unit and ATC tower - Crocontrol - As of May 9, 2021, Croatia Control will provide tower and procedural approach control ATS from newly refurbished facilities of Osijek regional ATC unit and a new control tower, which has not been in function since 1991.

Market news

• FREQUENTIS acquires parts of the ATM product segment from L3Harris Technologies - Frequentis AG has announced today that it had signed an agreement to acquire the ATM voice communications and arrival management product business from the US company L3Harris Technologies.
• Hosted StarCaster D-ATIS System Installed in Rwanda - STR-SpeechTech Ltd. has completed the delivery, installation and commissioning of a complex D-ATIS system in Rwanda for Rwanda Airports Company (RAC).
• Integrating space-based ADS-B into EUROCONTROL’s network operations system brings major predictability gains and will unlock future capacity - In a major operational enhancement of the EUROCONTROL Network Manager’s operational systems, real-time air traffic surveillance data derived from Aireon’s space-based ADS-B system has now been integrated into NM’s Enhanced Traffic Flow Management System.

Context information

• Using data to identify ways to improve sustainability and track airspace efficiency - Ian Jopson, Head of Sustainable Operations at NATS, explains how NATS uses its flight efficiency insight metric – 3Di – to identify the efficiency of the UK airspace, track performance and set targets for improvement.
• Preventing runway excursions: EUROCONTROL and Flight Safety Foundation publish guidance material - EUROCONTROL and Flight Safety Foundation publish guidance material.
• Sixteenth Meeting of the DANUBE FAB ANSP Board - The meeting had a busy agenda, ranging from technical matters to more high-level political aspects. ANSP Board members were briefed on the progress of the latest round of DANUBE FAB strategic planning and reporting, the status of the FAB procurements and the progress made on the FAB’s five High Priority projects.
• FABEC removes restrictions facilitating greener flights - Air navigation service providers of the Functional Airspace Block Europe Central has removed more than 150 flight level caps and lifted over 165 so-called eNM measures previously imposed to manage traffic during periods of high demand.

Reports and data

• The beginning of aviation summer is reflected by the growth of flight flows by 123 percent - Oro Navigacjia - The aviation summer which started at the end of March brought a positive change to the flight results of April. 
• Harmonised approach with Europe critical for air traffic recovery - Overall air traffic managed by the IAA ANSP was down 63% over the past 12 months, since April 2020 when the effects of the public health crisis in Europe and the USA effectively shut down commercial, passenger aviation. This is the worst year on year decline in air traffic since records began.

UAV and UTM

• Irish Aviation Authority launches consultation on rules for drones in the Dublin area - Unmanned airspace - The Irish Aviation Authority has launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the Unmanned Aircraft System geographical zone for the Dublin area, which is the busiest airspace in the country.
• UTM company Aeroscript "to start drone integration trials in St Petersburg airspace" - Unmanned airspace - Russian UAS traffic management company Aeroscript has announced it will shortly start trials to integrate drones into the airspace around St Petersburg, Russia, via its Skyarc UTM system.
• Transport Canada forms drone advisory committee to inform policy for unmanned and automated craft - Unmanned airspace - Transport Canada is launching a Canadian Drone Advisory Committee, which will provide a national forum for industry and other key stakeholders to inform priority policy and regulatory areas of focus for Transport Canada and advance Canada’s thinking on remotely piloted aircraft systems and increasingly automated aircraft.
• PansaUTM records rising demand for services, adds new functionalities - Unmanned airspace - The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency reports that in March 2021, the number of coordinated drone missions in the PansaUTM system amounted to 1,497. A mission can comprise more than one flight. Of this total, 65 mission were beyond the visual line of sight.
• Germany parliament implements European drone regulations into national law - Unmanned airspace - The Germany parliament has voted into law the EU drone regulations drawn up by the European Aviation Safety Agency by approving the draft law “to adapt national regulations to the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947 of the Commission of May 24, 2019, on the rules and procedures for the operation of unmanned aircraft”.
• Naviair UTM to add "operations planning" functionality and trialling drone/manned aircraft tracking - Unmanned airspace - Denmark’s Naviair UTM, the organisation appointed by the Ministry of Transport to develop and operate Denmark’s UTM platform, has announced on social media it will release the next major functionality of its platform in June this year, with the introduction of “Operations Planning”