journal of the civil air navigation services organisation
ISSUE 18 QUARTER 3 2012
CARIBBEAN TEAM WORK Challenges in Latin America
Airspace management is about thought leadership
NATS delivers medal winning performance
PLUS: Are you ready for Flight Plan 2012? How to manage ICAO Block Upgrades, DFS cooperates with Brasilia and Beijing, countering wind farm interference, PBN boost for Latin America, and the latest news. AIRSPACE
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CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE COMMENT
PEOPLE
12 Carey Fagan explains how the United States is working with its Latin American and Caribbean neighbours to introduce more efficient operations.
8 Alex de Gunten, Executive Director of ALTA, says infrastructure investment is falling behind airline demand in Latin America.
28 Bernard Gonsalves, CANSO Assistant Director Technical Affairs makes the case for a truly flexible airspace structure supported by automation of routine tasks.
11 Brig. Jose Alberto Palermo, CEO of DGCTA, welcomes attendees to the CANSO Latin American and Caribbean conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
ATM NEWS
Front cover: Birmingham Airport hosted a London 2012 ‘Welcome Spectacular’ and showcased the Olympic Rings on its new air traffic control tower. Credit: NATS Airspace No. 18 ISSN number 1877 2196 Published by CANSO, the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation Transpolis Schiphol Airport Polaris Avenue 85e 2132 JH Hoofddorp The Netherlands Telephone: +31 (0)23 568 5380 Fax: +31 (0)23 568 5389 Editorial contact: Louise Loven louise.loven@canso.org Advertisement Manager: Gill Thompson gill.thompson@canso.org Telephone: +44 (0)1273 771020
TECHNOLOGY/OPERATIONS
6 The latest ATM news and developments from around the world. FEATURES
18 Ongoing trials demonstrate early success in mitigating interference caused by wind farm turbines.
14 Handling an additional five million visitors during the Olympics demanded an extraordinary team effort from NATS.
22 A cross committee from CANSO’s commitees is reducing the risk of unstable approaches.
16 Stefan Lentz describes how DFS is delivering business solutions from Brasilia to Beijing.
24 Airspace magazine hosts a round-table on industry readiness for the new ICAO Flight Plan in November 2012.
20 ICAO Aviation System Block Upgrades require effective project management says Richard Powell of Project Boost.
FOCUS ON 32 CANSO’s Samantha Sharif and ATCA’s Peter F. Dumont tell the story of World ATM Congress, and why the inaugural event will be a resounding success.
26 Performance-based navigation and green approaches are boosting flight efficiency in Latin America.
The CANSO Executive Committee APC3: Asia-Pacific CANSO CEO Committee
EC3: European CANSO CEO Committee
LAC3: Latin America and Caribbean CANSO CEO Committee
MEC3: Middle East CANSO CEO Committee
AFC3: Africa CANSO CEO Committee
Design: i-KOS Telephone: +44 (0) 7928 2280 Web: www.i-kos.com The entire contents of this publication are protected by copyright, full details of which are available from the publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any other means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publishers. The views and opinions in this publication are expressed by the authors in their personal capacity and are their sole responsibility. Their publication does not imply that they represent the views or opinions of CANSO and must not be interpreted as such. The reproduction of advertisements in this publication does not in any way imply endorsement by CANSO of the products and services referred to herein.
Paul Riemens Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, LVNL
Massimo Garbini
Member at Large and Director General, ENAV S.p.A.
Maurice Georges
Chair EC3 and Chief Executive Officer, DSNA
Micilia AlbertusVerboom Chair LAC3 and Director General, DC-ANSP
Neil Planzer
Associate Member Representative and Vice President ATM, Boeing Air Traffic Management
Capt. Mohammad Amin AlMustafa
Chair MEC3 and Chief Commissioner CARC
© Copyright CANSO 2012
Yap Ong Heng
Vice Chairman, Chair APC3 and Director General, CAAS
Teri Bristol
Member at Large and Deputy Chief Operating Officer, FAA-ATO
Richard Deakin
Member at Large and Chief Executive Officer, NATS
Ed Sims
Chair AFC3 TBC
Member at Large and Chief Executive Officer, Airways New Zealand
civil air navigation services organisation
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EDITOR’S NOTE
civil air navigation services organisation
While much of Europe has been preoccupied with the Olympics in recent weeks, the aviation industry has been busy pushing boundaries in other regions of the world in order to raise performance. Take the first continually guided flight from take off to landing using performance-based navigation technology in Latin America, yielding economic and ecological benefits. Elsewhere, results from successful wind farm trials have demonstrated how new software capability can counter interference caused by wind turbines on radar returns. Airspace magazine reviews these activities in the pages that follow, and looks ahead at the events that will shape the industry this Fall. The CANSO Latin American and Caribbean conference in Buenos Aires this month is characterised by a collective will to enhance safety, efficiency and capacity in the region as demand continues to soar. This event addresses collaborative decision making, civil-military cooperation and aviation safety. Collective action is also a feature of the ICAO Aviation System Block Upgrades programme that will be addressed at the ICAO Air Navigation Conference in Montreal in November. Regional co-operation is the first step towards a much more ambitious, global vision planned at this event. Collective action will be tested to the full in November when the new ICAO Flight Plan format is introduced, completely replacing formats currently in use. The new version requires ground, aircraft and satellite-based services to upgrade to support the new format and enable airspace users to benefit from the latest airspace management systems and procedures. Joint regional workshops and working groups across all industry sectors have worked hard to see that the transition goes ahead smoothly. We hear from NATS about how to manage an extra five million Olympic visitors to the UK without a glitch. As the ANSP recorded a fall in delays compared to the same period last year, maybe there are lessons to learn from the experience gained during four years’ of preparation. The conference season ahead of us provides the opportunity to share these experiences, and to predict where the next success stories will occur. In particular, CANSO is looking forward to the first World ATM Congress hosted by the industry, for the industry in February 2013 in Madrid, another first for ATM.
Samantha Sharif CANSO Director General (Interim)
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ATM NEWS A sia-Pacific city pair trial demonstrates the benefits of collaboration Aviation partners in the Asia-Pacific completed two separate week-long trials in July and August 2012 to demonstrate the air transport efficiency improvements that can result from “whole-offlight” Collaborative Decision Making (CDM). CDM is a management tool which facilitates the exchange of data between the airport terminal and air traffic management systems. It enables aviation stakeholders to monitor network demand, capacity and constraints, helping them take better informed decisions under rapidly changing operating conditions.
Malaysia. AEROTHAI and CAAS representatives cochair the pan-industry project team which is supported by IATA and ACI. According to CANSO Director Asia-Pacific Affairs Hai Eng Chiang, the project team hopes that the data collected during the trial will demonstrate the benefits of CDM and will contribute
to the development of a Best Practices manual. He said: “This innovative project shows what industry can do by working together and CANSO is delighted to have been involved. It is now our job to promote the uptake of whole-of-flight CDM between other strategic city pairs.”
The trial follows two years of collaboration which began at a CANSO Best Practices workshop in Singapore. In 2011 CANSO’s Operations Standing Committee (OSC) facilitated a regional team meeting during the association’s AGM in Bangkok and since then the team has met a further four times.
they are prepared for the 15 November switchover deadline.”
to support ANSPs make the transition. See page 24 of this issue for a detailed review of the transition programme by leading industry experts.
through 2030. China will have the largest demand in the region, needing 71,300 pilots and 99,400 technicians over the next 20 years. “This great need for aviation personnel is a global issue, but it’s hitting the Asia Pacific region particularly hard,” said Bob Bellitto, global sales director, Boeing Flight Services. “Some airlines are already experiencing delays and operational interruptions because they don’t have enough qualified pilots.
Two live trials of a week’s duration each were conducted involving eight return flights per day between Singapore’s Changi and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airports. Eight daily return test flights operated by Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines shared all relevant data among airlines, airport operators and ANSPs for Thailand, Singapore and
CANSO publishes FPL2012 checklist CANSO has published a checklist to help ANPSs to assess their readiness for the transition to the new ICAO Flight Plan format in November 2012. CANSO Director General (Interim) Samantha Sharif said: “The new Flight Plan format reflects enhancements to ground, aircraft and satellite-based services. This allows airspace users to take advantage of new ATM systems and procedures, in-line with CANSO’s mission of transforming ATM performance. We are therefore contacting ANSPs around the world to ensure 6 QUARTER 3 2012
ANSPs use Flight Plan data to determine and ensure safe separation between aircraft, as well as to provide flight clearances. With today’s highly automated air traffic control systems, any corruption or loss of data integrity could lead to unacceptable safety risks. All possible steps must therefore be taken to ensure that the Flight Plan format changeover is as seamless as possible. CANSO and ICAO have held several joint regional workshops to raise awareness of these important changes to the Flight Plan format and
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Boeing projects high demand in Asia-Pacific
Boeing predicts the Asia Pacific region will require hundreds of thousands of new commercial airline pilots and maintenance technicians over the next 20 years to support airline fleet modernisation and the rapid growth of air travel. The 2012 Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook calls for 185,600 new pilots and 243,500 new technicians in the Asia Pacific region
Surging economies in the region are driving travel demand. Airlines and training providers need new and more engaging ways to fill the pipeline of pilots and
technicians for the future.” The Boeing outlook predicts that North East Asia will need 18,800 pilots and 26,500 technicians over the next 20 years. South East Asia will require 51,500 pilots and 67,400 technicians. The Oceania region will need 12,900 pilots and 17,100 technicians and South West Asia will need 31,000 pilots and 33,100 technicians. The Asia Pacific region also leads the demand for new commercial airplane deliveries over the next 20 years, with 12,030 new airplanes needed by 2031 according to Boeing’s 2012 Current Market Outlook.
UAE provides timely data to operators
The UAE’s GCAA Sheikh Zayed Air Navigation Centre launched the MID Regions 1st daily Airspace Coordination and Contingency cell in July 2012. Following months of concerted effort and live-trials the MID Regions 1st daily aviation tele-coordination, the UAE Airspace Coordination and Contingency Cell (UACACC) convened at the General Civil Aviation Authority’s Sheikh Zayed Air Navigation Centre (SZC) in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The UAE had previously established the Middle East’s 1st Airspace Committee which includes all UAE airspace stakeholders, the National Airspace Advisory Committee (NASAC). The notion of developing and establishing a daily Airspace Conference Call in the UAE was born at a NASAC meeting. “UACACC is a reality and live. Daily aviation conferencing is by no means a novel idea and has been a valuable tool in many parts of the world,” said H.E. Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA. “Through applying international experience, closely monitoring international norms and careful local market evaluation, the
UACACC was established and serves as a platform where any information pertinent to Airspace Stakeholders in the UAE can be disseminated by all members for the benefit of all,” he added. The UACACC’s daily agenda, with submissions from the UAE ACC, National Centre of Seismology and Meteorology (NCMS), ANSPs, UAE airports, UAE based airlines and aircraft operators and any other entity with a stake in the UAE FIR, includes shared information regarding present and forecast weather likely to affect aircraft, airspace or airway closures, bottle-necks, runway or taxiway blockages and generally any event likely to affect ATM operations. The UACACC aims at developing future applications including an online platform assessable to members where up to the minute airspace/airport restrictions, closures, delays, adverse weather etc. can be shared.
Australia plans single ATM system
Australia’s Department of Defence has signed an Operating Level Agreement with ANSP Airservices which governs the relationship between the two organisations for the acquisition and support of a new air traffic management system for Australia. The agreement is a milestone in the project to procure a single ATM system for military and civilian use as both organisations’ systems are approaching their end of life. Airservices General Manager ATC Future Systems, Nick King, said that the agreement strengthens and enhances the previous understandings between the parties. The operating level agreement sees both parties co-operating in relation to an approach to market for the acquisition and support of ATM systems and services.
Results of first European validation tests
India tests user preferred routes
The SESAR Joint Undertaking together with its members and partners reported initial results in July from the Release One programme launched two years ago. Throughout 2011 and early 2012 the SESAR JU undertook some 25 operational validation exercises across Europe to demonstrate new or improved technological solutions to the ATM industry at pre-industrialisation stage, ready for deployment. The exercises focused essentially on the development of efficient and green terminal airspace operations, the initial 4D trajectory, enhancing flight safety and collaborative network management. The technological concepts assessed in SESAR’s first set of trials were clustered in 15 Operational Focus Areas (OFA). Results show that in 10 out of 15 OFAs, demonstration exercises successfully demonstrated the maturity of the concepts under review. In three additional OFAs, demonstration exercises partially demonstrated the maturity of concepts under review, in seven out of 15 OFAs, the trial results are already conclusive and sufficient to support a decision for industrialisation. The first set of validation exercises has also allowed SESAR teams to stabalise their working processes and to produce solid intermediate research and development results which will feed the next waves of development in the SESAR programme. For eight out of 15 OFAs, further research work is already planned under SESAR Release Two (2012/2013) and SESAR Release Three (2013/2014). For the most up-to-date industry news go to: www.canso.org/ATMnews
In its continuing ANS commitment to support regional environmental initiatives, Airports Authority of India (AAI) successfully conducted the User Preferred Routes (UPR) trials in the oceanic region in Mumbai FIR on 28th June, 2012. Two flights operated by Emirates and Cathay Pacific were facilitated by Mumbai ATC to fly UPR in Mumbai FIR, thereby saving considerable distance and time for the two flights and contributing to reduced carbon emissions. A UPR is a unique flight path flown by each aircraft instead of flying on designated pre-determined ATS routes. The aircraft flight planning computer calculates the best possible track between departure and destination that will most effectively minimise fuel emissions, taking into consideration forecast upper air wind speed/direction, temperature, aircraft type and its performance capability. Once calculated the UPR is digitally uplinked to the aircraft for loading to the aircraft flight management computer (FMS). UPR is part of the INSPIRE collaborative program from AAI, Air Services Australia (ASA) and Air Traffic Navigation Service (ATNS), dedicated to improving the efficiency and environmental sustainability of aviation across the Arabian sea and Indian ocean region. In its first meeting the INSPIRE team had planned four INSPIRE Green flights to adopt the best practices for reducing emissions and demonstrate the results. AAI facilitated the INSPIRE Green flights to fly UPRs in Mumbai FIR in July 2011. The flights were successful in demonstrating reduction in carbon emission of 73,000 Kg (partly due to UPRs). There are plans to increase the frequency of flights on UPR in the region in the near future.
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Overcoming challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean Alex de Gunten, Executive Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association, ALTA
Amidst uncertainty and upheaval in the global economic scene, aviation in Latin America and the Caribbean shows continual improvement, and its future looks bright. Projections for the Latin American aviation industry are positive and regional airlines are thriving, be it as a result of potent alliances such as the latest forged by Brazilian TAM Airlines and Chilean LAN Airlines, or an emerging middle class with the purchasing power at the ready for discretional spending, which includes domestic and international travel. But this bright outlook could quite possibly be marred by obstacles such as the lack of investment in infrastructure, high airport and ATC fees, the rising cost of fuel due to taxes, lack of transparency and the lack of integration in government regulations. The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association, ALTA, founded in 1980 with the mission of facilitating the development of safer, more efficient and environmentally friendly air transport in the Latin America and Caribbean region is voicing its concern about the elements that might prevent the region from fully realising its economic potential. Traffic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean is projected to rise by 6.6% over the next 20 years, in comparison to 5.0% expected for global aviation. In order to meet the needs of travelers and the airlines that fly them, regional governments need to reinvest the high fees paid by the airspace users in infrastructure that will allow aviation to develop to meet this demand. States also need to heed the call by international organisations such as ICAO to harmonise regulations and standards across the region, thus ensuring the highest standards of safety. ALTA member airlines carried over 140 million passengers in 2011, 6% of global traffic. They are clearly in touch with the trends stemming from current growth indicators and future prospects, footing considerable investments in their fleets. Between 2006 and 2010 airlines in the region placed orders totaling $35 billion, and in 2011 alone orders reached a total of $11.8 billion.
Airlines were simply not invited to be part of the process, nor appraised of developments.
Newer fleets translate into greater efficiency not only for the airlines but industry-wide as well. Concurrently, Latin American economies are reaching levels of continued stability not seen before, evidenced by high growth and low inflation rates. Brazil´s middle class best exemplifies the forces at play. In the past seven years, 31 million people became members of this country´s middle class. To reinforce the concept, visualise 10.7 million passengers boarding a plane for the very first time in their lives in 2011, 8.7 million of which belonged to the middle class. Airlines can and have made their own projections as to what this could 8 QUARTER 3 2012
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mean in terms of filling up planes and capitalising on this phenomenal growth.
ALTA member airlines carried over 140 million passengers in 2011, 6% of global traffic
In spite of the significance of this growth, the reality is that three out of every ten flights depart from a congested airport, which shows that the infrastructure is already outpaced by the volume of air traffic. Many airports impose high fees and charges, even when compared to those of Europe and the United States. This is the result of poorly planned privatisations as well as a lack of economic regulation. The principal criterion when selecting concessionaries in the privatisation bidding process has been the generation of income for the government in the short term, in preference to an approach that embraces the long term needs of the country and recognizes the industry’s role as an engine of growth for the region. Brazil´s recent privatisations produced bids that were more than 348% above the initial asking price. The current debate is over whether the winning bidders actually have the capacity to meet the expectations of the new operations at competitive costs. The regulators’ ability to monitor the delivery and related timeline of the projects is also under scrutiny. In most cases the airlines were conspicuously absent from the privatisation process, though not by choice. Airlines were simply not invited to be part of the process, nor appraised of developments. This is a major omission on the part of the authorities managing the process. Airlines need to be involved from the outset, since they are major clients and stakeholders in the financial success of the airport. To illustrate the effect of such a misalignment, Bogotá’s El Dorado´s renovation was carried out using an outdated plan, which projected a capacity of 16 million passengers per year, when in fact the year the project was completed, the volume of passengers had already reached the 19 million mark. The human element of infrastructure is no less important. Several countries in the region suffer from a deficit of well-trained senior air traffic controllers. For example, Colombia experienced a strike by air traffic controllers earlier in 2011 which they colourfully called ‘Operation Turtle’. The action led to considerable delays and added costs to the airlines. The problem is exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure, including radars, and the need to implement performance-based navigation on a broader scale across the region. The consequences impact efficiency performance and safety. The aviation industry in Latin America faces significant challenges that can only be overcome if local governments assume their share of the responsibility to support an industry that so greatly contributes to the economic welfare of the region. We cannot stress enough the need to address the infrastructure issues faced by our industry today, nor can we afford to wait until we have a crisis to take action. Infrastructure projects take years to complete, so the time to act is now. We need to work hand in hand with authorities and all industry stakeholders for the long term benefit of the region and the travelling public. AIRSPACE
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Celebrating excellence in the global ATM industry Monday 11 February 2013 | Madrid
Register now & book your table: www.canso.org/atmdinner2013
Contact us Sponsorship enquiries Gill Thompson | +44 (0) 1273 771 020 | gill.thompson@canso.org
Registration and table booking information Anouk Achterhuis | +31 (0) 23 568 5390 | events@canso.org
Award Categories Include: • Enabling Technology • Service Provision • Industry
• Innovation • Environment • European ATM
To request a 2013 nomination pack, please email theawards@ihsjanes.com
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• Runway Safety • Human Factors
CEO COLUMN
Partnership in Latin American and the Caribbean Brig. Jose Alberto Palermo, Chief Executive DGCTA
The industry needs all stakeholders at a global, regional and local level to work closely together to achieve the common objective of safe, efficient and sustainable air transport. The Dirección General de Control de Transito Aéreo (DGCTA) welcomes everyone to the CANSO Latin America and Caribbean Conference, 24th to 26th September in Buenos Aires, Argentina entitled ‘Transforming ATM Performance’.
The DGCTA is the air navigation service provider for the Republic of Argentina, the second largest country in Latin America, and is responsible for the planning, organisation and management of air navigation services for civil aviation within the national airspace. The state organisation ensures the safe transportation of passengers and cargo in an efficient, sustainable and regular manner, safeguarding the interests of users and the general public throughout Argentinean airspace. The General Directorate was only recently separated from the civil aviation authority in November 2011, and now operates independently to the National Administration of Civil Aviation (ANAC). The newly formed DGCTA faces a number of challenges in the short and medium term. The organisation is putting in place a modern vision that will integrate an extensive mainland territory and an oceanic platform that extends across the Atlantic Ocean as far as Africa. Aware of the importance of collaboration at a regional and international level, the DGCTA plays a leading role in the South American region, with dynamic and effective participation in various international agencies. This includes becoming a full member of CANSO in May 2012, to support the DGCTA’s strategic development and to introduce a modern approach to understanding and meeting the needs of customers. The DGCTA places particular emphasis on the implementation of advanced technologies and the application of new airspace management concepts in order to increase the efficiency of air navigation services. This includes reducing costs for airspace users, as well as looking at collaborative ways to reduce carbon emissions. Among the challenges facing DGCTA, the management of large projects is of special interest and includes the ongoing modernisation and automation of its five control centers. Development of the air navigation services infrastructure, including the upgrade of CNS/ATM to meet the increasing demand of air traffic flow, will have a multiplier effect in regional socio-economic growth. The introduction of Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) is also a priority at major airports across the country to meet airspace user demand to utilise their aircraft capabilities. In addition, DGCTA recognises the importance of regional cooperation and integration through programmes such as radar data exchange, AIDC, AMHS and very soon AXIM and e-TOD. The DGCTA vision is to achieve a sustainable model based on performance to ensure continuous improvement in the quality of services provided. This is based on a participatory cooperation model between the parties involved, where the ANSP interacts with airspaces users, airports, industry, staff and national and international institutions, under a suitable regulatory framework that supports those interested in having a clear reference of the operations and technological developments. All these initiatives confirm the efforts that the DGCTA is working towards to achieve the highest level of safety, following the path to initiate the transformation of the aviation industry and meeting the expectations of our stakeholders.
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COMMENT
Letter from America Carey Fagan, Executive Director of International Affairs, Federal Aviation Administration
The International Civil Aviation Organization predicts that Latin American and Caribbean air traffic will grow at an annual rate of between 7.0 and 8.2% during 2012-2014, illustrating the importance of building on the advances in technology and procedures – and international cooperation – that are already bearing fruit. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) remains committed to working with our fellow ANSPs in our collective drive to take advantage of the opportunities ahead of us. CANSO members around the world have compiled a track record over the years on collaboration across multiple issues affecting air traffic management. The CANSO Latin American & Caribbean Conference, Sept. 24-26 in Buenos Aires, provides another venue to build on that success, with a focus on runway safety, collaborative decision making, civil-military cooperation, performance, and the environment. The FAA has worked closely with our partners in the region to ensure seamless air traffic management. We have historically provided strong support to ATM modernisation efforts in the Latin American and Caribbean region through ICAO and bilateral/multilateral efforts. Our continued collaboration is imperative as we share flight information region (FIR) boundaries with several of the region’s ANSPs. For example, radar coverage does not extend over the Gulf of Mexico and without Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), controllers track position based on pilot reports. That requires separation of helicopters and other low-flying aircraft in 20-by-20 mile grids, and 100-mile separation of commercial aircraft at high altitudes. ADS-B allows aircraft to be separated by just 5 miles, both at high and low altitudes. That advance has been welcomed in a zone with nearly 3,400 daily operations by helicopters serving around 3,800 oil platforms, and peak flights of 7,000-9,000 a day. In May 2012, the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization and the Mexican Airspace Navigation Services, SENEAM, signed an agreement to expand ADS-B coverage over the Gulf of Mexico. ADS-B has already dramatically improved the efficiency of Gulf operations thanks to the installation of 12 ground stations on offshore oil platforms and nine operating along the Gulf Coast. The agreement calls for up to three new ground stations in Mexico and it is projected to result in nearly $70 million in savings due to increased throughput along the United States-Mexico boundary over the Gulf. ADS-B services will be expanded for Cancun, Merida, Monterrey, Mexico City, Houston and Miami, and potential future sites. The FAA is also working with SENEAM and other partners in the region for more efficient operations over the Gulf of Mexico by implementing 50 NM lateral separation and Area Navigation, or RNAV, routes. This project highlights the benefits of effective multilateral collaboration and draws on the combined expertise of civil aviation authorities in Mexico, the United States, ICAO’s North American, Central American and Caribbean office and operator organisations. The project has tackled many challenges – Special Use Airspace in the Gulf, the small volume of airspace in which to work, and tight traffic flow in which 16 of the top 20 city-pair flights are to Cancun, Cozumel and Mexico City. When fully adopted in January 2013, the project will save operators $1.49 million a month, compared to previously existing route options, according to an FAA analysis. These gains are expected to be made without operators incurring aircraft equipage costs, since Gulf aircraft are already equipped with at least one long range navigation system.
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GoMex Route Design 12 Jul 2012
Three new ADS-B ground stations in Mexico will add to route efficiency across the Gulf of Mexico
We are also working with the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation, the IDAC, to enhance the safety and increase the efficiency of traffic traversing our respective airspace. Both the Miami and San Juan Centers have FIR boundaries with Santo Domingo. We are looking at future areas of cooperation on communication, navigation and surveillance, air traffic and air navigation facilities and equipment, and others. We have also recently agreed on radar data sharing between Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and FAA facilities. This agreement provides multiple benefits and will increase by about 20% the efficiency and capacity of the sector to the northwest of San Juan’s airspace as non-radar procedures with Miami are eliminated. Overall, the radar feed will produce better radar coverage and boost efficiency and capacity by allowing radar separation where non-radar rules are now applied. In Brazil, the Department of Airspace Control, or DECEA, is moving forward with an overall strategy to develop and implement Global Navigation Satellite System technologies and procedures in Latin America. The FAA is working closely with DECEA in this initiative. We also continue our commitment to cooperate with DECEA in transitioning to Performance Based Navigation technologies and procedures. The FAA is supporting DECEA in the operational implementation of GPSbased Communication, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) technologies. There are so many opportunities for collaboration in the region, and we look forward to working with CANSO and its membership to realise increased efficiencies and greater global harmonisation.
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FEATURE NATS delivers medal winning performance Martin Rolfe, Managing Director Operations, NATS Over the past month, the eyes of the world have been firmly fixed on Great Britain. Guaranteeing the smooth arrival and departure of an additional 5 million visitors to the UK was of paramount importance under such an intense spotlight. In the spirit of the Games, the whole NATS operation came together to make sure that NATS played our part in what was an extraordinarily successful Olympics. This is our Olympic story.
A team effort NATS’ role in the Olympics started four years ago. During that time, there is virtually no-one in our business that hasn’t been involved in the Olympics preparations in some way or another. From our airspace and procedure designers to our engineers and projects, from our training team and network management to our operations and support staff - it has been a real team effort. Our people worked tirelessly to get us ready for the challenge and the operation was prepared perfectly for the starter’s gun. Getting fit for the Olympics required us to implement a new airspace design, changes to method of operations and deal with the increased capacity safely, at the same time as facilitating the biggest airborne security operation in the UK since World War II. The Olympics presented NATS with an unprecedented challenge and our people responded brilliantly. The main demand was expected to be focussed around London and the Olympic park, but there were another 30 venues across the UK. And with 150 Heads of State flights, 14,000 athletes, 20,000 media personnel and 70,000 overseas ‘Games family’ due to descend, the smooth and expeditious flow of air traffic was vital. A runway slot reservation system was established to ensure all aircraft using controlled airspace obtained an airport slot. Use of the system was mandatory for all arrivals and departures into the 40 airfields which fell within the Olympics area. As well as the busy airports such as Gatwick and Heathrow, this also affected many of the smaller airfields such as Blackbushe and Biggin Hill. The allocation of the slots was carried out by Airports Co-ordinated Ltd (ACL). As of 14 August, ACL had received 9,659 slot bookings in addition to the normal scheduled services. 14 QUARTER 3 2012
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Temporary controlled airspace was introduced to improve the flow of traffic. This included the introduction of a number of new holds and routes to accommodate additional traffic to regional airfields. The UK Government also introduced security restrictions which saw the arrival of prohibited and restricted zones of airspace over large areas of the London and the South East throughout the Olympics. The purpose was to establish a ‘known air traffic environment’ within the airspace above and around the Olympic Games. All this change required training 400 of our controllers in new procedures. This complex training programme was delivered with minimal impact to normal operations. Working with the military One of NATS’ biggest responsibilities was to create a dedicated Olympics Airspace Management Cell (OAMC) at our Swanwick Centre. The OAMC (also referred to as ATLAS) was manned by military personnel and was responsible for supporting the airspace restrictions around the Olympic stadiums. The Cell was delivered on time and without disruption to our day to day operations. Military controllers in the OAMC were responsible for providing air traffic services outside controlled airspace within the restricted zone. They also provided 24 hour security surveillance. Three intercept launches took place during the Olympics. Thanks to the response of our operational staff and the military, these were handled safely and with minimum delay. The Royal Air Force has since written a letter to thank NATS for the way in which we handled traffic during this period of increased security. Cross industry collaboration Our success handling the Olympic traffic was thanks to a cross industry collaboration including the UK military, the Government, the Met Office, the airports, our regulator – the CAA, our airline customers, Directorate of Network Management (DNM), the Irish Aviation Authority and our neighbouring ANSPs, general and business aviation. In short, the industry as a whole.
In terms of managing the flow of traffic effectively, NATS worked with adjacent states to agree re-route scenarios. This enabled traffic to be more evenly spread across the busy sectors in the UK. UK flow management actively monitored and managed the UK network to ensure minimum delay. In addition, a permanent representative of UK flow management was seconded into DNM, to ensure a direct link between the UK and Europe. The team also worked closely with the Irish Aviation Authority to ensure that procedures were coordinated across the UK/Ireland Functional Airspace Block (FAB). A focus on our customers In the run up to the event, a big focus was educating our airline customers on the changes during the Olympics and what it would mean for their operations. NATS hosted a series of workshops looking at diversion scenarios, airspace, procedures and policy changes. NATS also developed an interactive computer-based training package to bring the changes to life for them. Throughout the whole Olympics, NATS communications centre was activated – conducting three telephone conferences a day when traffic was at its peak. An airfield status map was also made available on our customer website, providing up-todate information on airfield diversion status across the UK and Western Europe. One of the biggest concerns for the airlines was the potential disruption from adverse weather or military activity. Despite several heavy thunderstorms and a number of military aircraft launches during the Olympics, customers’ concerns were not realised. NATS’ efforts didn’t go unrecognised. We received numerous compliments from our customers on the way we handled the event, and the information we provided them. “Given the huge amount of preparatory work undertaken by NATS over the recent years for the Olympics, it is a credit to those involved how well it has all gone,” was just one of the comments we received. From a safety perspective, we had no risk bearing losses of separation attributed to the Olympics. We also had very few airspace infringements during the period. This can in many ways be attributed to the engagement and education programme we ran with the General Aviation community, along with the success of the OAMC.
Photo: NATS
In association with the CAA and the Government, NATS ran a programme for General Aviation and business jet pilots. Activities included a suite of online resources, in-person briefings at airfields, flying clubs and air shows throughout 2011 and 2012, direct mail campaigns and multimedia outreach, all intended to raise awareness of the Olympic airspace restrictions and the tools and resources available to keep pilots flying safely during this period. Other challenges presented themselves throughout the course of the Olympics. As an example, NATS was asked to facilitate TV broadcast aircraft to operate throughout a number of key events, right in the middle of the London Terminal Manoeuvring Area. This was achieved with no impact on commercial aviation. In terms of air traffic, some parts of the UK network saw a significant rise. Traffic in the London area was up by 3.5% for a number of days, peaking at 4.5%. At the airports, traffic at Farnborough and Biggin Hill rose by 16% and 19% respectively on peak days. The years of planning and training certainly paid off. Incredibly, there were only 593 minutes of delay attributable to NATS throughout the whole Olympics. This compares to last year’s figure for the same period of more than 13,000 minutes of delay - a 95% reduction. As Team GB reflects on its success and considers the legacy of the Olympics, NATS will do the same. I am sure is plenty we can take away from this experience and apply to our day to day operation. In the meantime, we are delighted with the way our people responded to this unprecedented challenge. NATS’ Olympics project has been delivered seamlessly, and is testament to the hours of meticulous planning and effort of everyone involved across the business. The next challenge is to make sure the Paralympics runs just as smoothly. AIRSPACE
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FEATURE
Cooperative business from Brasilia to Beijing Stefan Lentz, Director of the DFS Aeronautical Solutions business unit
The German ANS provider DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung has been supporting other organisations worldwide with its know-how for nearly twenty years now – ranging from consulting on new processes, procedure and airspace design, to conducting simulations, implementing air traffic management systems and carrying out training for operational personnel. Partner-like business relationships are the basis for this. At this moment in time, there are two parallel universes in the aviation industry. In Europe, traffic movements are in decline and the ANSPs are trying to keep costs under control with austerity measures so that they can at least come close to the regulatory requirements. In growth markets such as Asia, the Middle East or Latin America, it is more important for airports and ANSPs to increase capacity while at the same time ensuring the highest possible safety standards. Yet, there is a common interest in fostering efficiency. To achieve an increase in global efficiency, it is necessary for ANSPs to share experience, technology and know-how with each other. A business model has taken shape from this need: ANSPs offer their services and expertise to other ANSPs. This type of business relationship is advantageous for both parties, and as a consequence takes on more and more the characteristics of a cooperation between both parties. This is because ANSPs don’t just have technical solutions on offer, they also pass on operational experience. 16 QUARTER 3 2012
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DFS recently solidified its intentions to work more closely with the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of the Civil Aviation Administration of China by signing a Letter of Intent. DFS and ATMB have been working together for several years now in the training of Chinese specialists in air traffic management as well as safety management. The training programmes are tailored to meet ATMB’s specific requirements. Eike Kühl, DFS regional manager for Asia has been active on the Chinese market for more than 20 years: “Just having operational know-how is not enough in China. It is also crucial to know about the local conditions, differing air traffic situations or procedures and, this is very important, you have to know your customer’s culture when developing successful solutions. It is of utmost importance to have a relationship built on mutual trust in China. This is why it is important to establish and care for long-term alliances.” Signing the letter of intent has set a clear goal for the cooperation between DFS and ATMB. It is to increase capacity and to bring about
more efficiency and safety in civil aviation in China. DFS will support ATMB by providing consultancy services, operational and technical concepts as well as training services. The core issues will include new technologies, airspace utilisation and quality and safety management. China’s ‘Middle Kingdom’ is facing some very big changes. In addition to rapid growth in traffic volume, in 2011 it was 8%, in 2012 over 100 new airline jets will start operations and in the next three years 70 new aerodromes will be completed. Growth in the number of passengers is also impressive and Beijing will soon be the airport with the most passenger volume in the whole world. A second major airport is currently in planning phase to serve the capital city in addition to Beijing Capital International Airport. This makes the creation of more room for civil aviation an important topic, and in the long run a comprehensive airspace restructuring closer in line with ICAO provisions. The situation is similar to Germany’s predicament in the 1980’s. There were many restricted areas reserved for the occupying military forces which caused traffic delays, holdings and capacity bottlenecks for civil aviation. DFS was founded as a privatised organisation in 1993 to master the steady growth in air traffic in the busiest airspace in Europe. By re-organising Germany’s airspace structure, integrating civilmilitary ATC and introducing the flexible use of airspace, it was possible to enhance capacity by about 30%.
The result was more direct flight paths, reduced complexity and improved distribution of traffic flows. This experience and the technical solutions that made it possible are now available for our Chinese counterparts. One possible component of technological support could be the implementation of an arrival management system. Planning information derived from dynamic arrival management systems can optimise the entire process chain from airspace to runway and gate or parking position, while significantly reducing the workload for controllers. At Frankfurt Airport, DFS has reduced the average duration of an aircraft on approach by more than 60 seconds using its self-developed arrival manager. A further component of the plan to increase capacity in China includes departure management systems, and airport collaborative decision making to optimise the turnaround process. DFS frequently establishes strategic partnerships with local firms when it introduces new technology to customers. This is the case in Brazil where Departamento de Controle do Espaço Aéreo (DECEA) is implementing the DFS Advanced Arrival Management System (A-AMAN) for approach control. DFS established a local partnership with the Brazilian system manufacturer ATECH. ATECH and DFS jointly worked together to integrate the A-AMAN functionality to ATECH’s advanced air traffic management system Sagitario which is being rolled out at the ATC centers of São Paulo, Brasilia, Recife,
Arrival management tools reduce controller workload and optimise traffic flow from en route down to the arrival gate or parking space. © DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH
Manaus and Rio de Janeiro. DFS held training workshops for employees of ATECH who in turn are preparing controllers to work with the system. The deployment is timed to support control centres for the upcoming FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2014. ATECH and DFS have also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to cooperate further and provide systems to the rest of South America and the Caribbean. In yet another international project, technical expertise is a decisive factor. The Canadian ANSP NAV CANADA plans to install the DFS Multi-Sensor Data Fusion System, called Phoenix, in the country’s main en route air traffic control. The radar tracker provides comprehensive surveillance coverage as well as reductions in nuisance safety alerts and track uncertainties. Initially DFS will equip NAV CANADA’s technical support centre and train staff to use the Phoenix system. NAV CANADA will then roll out the system
at its seven control centres. Phoenix will be integrated into the main air traffic control system and the fallback system. System engineers from both organisations are working closely together to adapt the system to the local infrastructure and to run ongoing tests. Whether it is the transfer of technology or consulting services, cooperative approaches to doing business between air navigation service providers are on the rise. Customers benefit from the modern technical solutions and save on the cost of research and development. The company providing the solutions has the opportunity to get to know many different operational concepts and various ways of going about the business of ATM. In the end, all of us have the same interests at heart: to ensure that air traffic enjoys the safest and most efficient handling possible around the whole world. AIRSPACE
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TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS
New technology to counter wind farm interference Ongoing trials demonstrate early success in mitigating interference caused by wind farm turbines The rotating blades of wind turbines generate radar returns that are very similar to real aircraft, creating false plots on the radar display. The plots are caused by Doppler shifts, just like an aircraft, which can be confused with an aircraft target. As a result, conventional primary surveillance radars experience clutter and noise that competes with aircraft in the same airspace. As wind farm projects continue to expand, there is growing demand for a solution to mitigate the impact of these turbines. Many wind farm projects have yet to receive approval for development because of their potential impact on ATC operations. There are various ways to counter the interference; ranging from adding gap-filler radar, blanking turbine returns, or installing new processing software at the radar front end to identify non-aircraft plots. Results from several field trials conducted over the last two years are starting to show positive results. Thales released first results from new software introduced on its STAR 2000 primary radar at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2012. A trial starting in mid-2011 at the Inverness radar site in Scotland succeeded in removing 70-80 per cent of false plots caused by a nearby wind farm according to the company. Similar results were achieved when the trial was expanded to larger wind farms. Thales Surveillance and Airport Solutions Account Director John Smith explains: “The software looks at the frequency and various other characteristics of a wind turbine plot. We analyse the data to make a decision as to whether the plot is associated with an aircraft or a wind turbine. If you can get rid of sufficient false plots, so as not to cause a false track or a true track to be deviated, then the controller does not see the wind turbines.” Thales also tested the ability of the new software to generate a new aircraft track over a wind farm. “Being able to initiate a new track is a key requirement,” says Smith. “Where there are many adjacent wind farms, you need to maintain the probability of detection, and you still need three consecutive tracks.” Thales is using the data collected during the trial to refine its software algorithms and to advance the technology. The company is also working with the UK Safety Regulatory Group (SRG) and expects to start testing production software by the end of 2012. Also due to begin operations in 2012, Raytheon is currently installing new processing software on the S-Band primary 18 QUARTER 3 2012
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radar system at Woensdrecht Air Base in the Netherlands in the first delivery of this technology. Successful modification of the existing radar will allow the extension of a nearby wind farm to go ahead without impacting flying operations by the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Raytheon has been working with UK NATS and a consortium of wind farm energy providers for the past three years to adapt its ASR-10SS S-Band and ASR23SS L-Band primary surveillance radar systems to overcome radar interference issues associated with wind turbine blades. Raytheon reports its mitigation solution significantly reduces the number of false plots, achieving less than one false report per scan even in areas of dense wind turbine concentrations. The advanced signal data processor combined with proprietary software algorithms is designed to be retrofitted into existing ASR-10 and ASR-23SS radar systems and is standard on new deliveries. The company says it is finalising plans with several key customers to commence implementation of system upgrades. Raytheon also participated in US trials designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory and carried out in Tyler, Minnesota, in early 2012. Raytheon was selected along with Lockheed Martin and C Speed to demonstrate mitigation technology including new processing software and gap-filler radar solutions. The US government is due to release results in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, C Speed has introduced its LightWave S-Band solid-state primary radar to Europe, commencing wind farm trials in mid-2012. The first trial took place at Whitelee Wind Farm southeast of Glasgow to test the performance of LightWave in-fill technology and included stakeholders including the UK CAA, MoD, SRG, NATS and AOA (airport operators association). Further trials are also starting at Prestwick and London Manston in collaboration with airport owner Infratil Airports Europe. The radar operates in S-Band with a mitigation range out to 25 n miles, and an extended surveillance range of 60 n miles. It provides standard Asterix output and is available as a stand alone system or in a multisensor configuration. Further tests are underway at wind farm sites in Scotland using an in-fill solution called CH-Infill. The solid-state 3D radar is designed by Cambridge Consultants and is being developed by spin-off company Aveillant. The CH-Infill sensor is designed to detect aircraft flying over and around a wind
farm and to reject returns from wind turbines, while continuing to transmit position data for detected aircraft. The sensor distinguishes aircraft and wind turbine tracks using advanced processing to compare the Doppler signature of returns with their actual movement between updates. The high update frequency, close proximity to the wind farm and 3-D detection contribute to the accuracy of this system. High speed processing Taking a different approach, UK video specialist Thruput has developed a mitigation solution based on technology the company uses for the training simulator for the Merlin Helicopter. MIDAS integrates multiple video sources in realtime into a single display to provide a hardware solution that compares data pixel by pixel to create a composite image. The system uses parallel arrays of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) that operate independently to ATC. Thruput was retained by BT Wind for Change in 2010 to demonstrate the new technology and began trials at Durham Teeside Airport in June 2011. At time of writing, the MIDAS system at Durham Tees had completed 10,000 hours of continuous operation without fault, continuously mitigating clutter for the analogue Watchman radar. A series of flight trials and controller surveys have been carried out under the supervision of Wind Power Aviation Consultants in the presence of CAA regional inspectors. As a result of these trials, BT and Peel Holdings have agreed that the solution satisfies the planning condition on their Red Gap Moor development and Thruput are now under contract to roll out a fully operational system in parallel to the BT construction programme. On behalf of the Airport, Osprey CSL has been appointed to provide the operational safety case and the programme is aiming for Operational Approval by year end. As part of the programme, Teeside insisted that a comparable mitigation solution should be demonstrated for a processed primary radar, and this has also been completed. Both the analogue and digital mitigation solutions are noncomputational high speed logic processing (FPGA hardware) systems, that allow continuous removal of the clutter whilst enabling the track identity of all radial, tangential and turning traffic crossing the wind farm to be maintained throughout. The Thruput equipment is fully integrated in the ATC unit with no new data sources required.
C Speed LightWave radar
The company reports its solutions have recently been selected as the mitigation solution at two further regional airports for operational deployment during 2012 and 2013. Copenhagen International Airport has installed a gap-filling radar solution from Terma following extensive trials in 2011. Terma’s SCANTER 4002 is an X-Band primary radar that can provide enhanced detection of small targets even in the vicinity of a wind farm. The high resolution CFAR processing enables target detection and tracking between turbines. When combined with existing radar, it can be used to overcome the effect of wind turbines on radar returns. Danish ANSP Naviair selected the surveillance radar to conduct a demonstration of its capability as a wind farm compliant approach radar able to mitigate the impact of numerous wind turbines close to the airport. The future promises more innovation in this area. Early development of multi static primary surveillance radar (MSPSR), for example, offers a very different solution based around multiple receiver sites. With the advantage of height data and multiple receivers, a bi-product could be to minimise the impact of wind turbines. Thales is modifying its TopSky automation system to selectively integrate third party gapfiller systems. This introduces much more versatility to existing systems. Smith says a lot of customers are looking at what is happening in the UK, and sees approval in the UK as a very credible start. AIRSPACE
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FEATURE Putting ATM ahead of the game To deliver the Aviation System Block Upgrades drawn up by ICAO, ANSPs need to use effective project management, explains Richard Powell, Director of Project Boost. The ICAO Air Navigation Conference taking place in Montreal later this year will focus on the latest Global Aviation Navigation Plan (GANP) and the Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBUs) with the aim of harmonising and improving the efficiency of the global air navigation system worldwide. Project management will play a large part in the delivery of the expected module benefits if ATM is to stay ahead of the game. The current recommended approach is to blend best practice from ATM, PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge, an approach that provides information on what a project manager needs to know) and PRINCE2 (Projects IN a Controlled Environment, which demonstrates HOW to apply this knowledge), along with proven techniques that optimise processes and deliver a safe, reliable solution whilst maximising the use of resources and ensuring benefits are measured and in-line with ASBU expected results. Lean (process), Critical Chain (resource) and Six Sigma (quality) are widely used techniques to meet these criteria - an approach that provides a minimum of 25% to 50% improvement in project delivery. However, to get the significant project management breakthrough required ANSPs must use a holistic approach, looking at the entire collection of projects and how it is linked to achieving the ANSPs objectives, not just one functional area. Head office The Project Management Office (PMO) can be at regional, subregional or ANSP level or, to maximise communication between the aviation stakeholders and reduce costs, a combination of all three. The work to complete the PMO would be done in 3 steps. The functionality of the project office will be augmented by putting in place a portfolio management structure for the ANSP, sub-regional or regional management team to execute business in-line with customer expectations, and deliver the ASBU modules with the highest return on investment (ROI) and manpower savings.
Step 1: A Basic PMO. This will provide the PMO roadmap, put in place a working PMO (based on the approach described for key processes and reporting), allocate resource groups, get organisation buy-in and identify the gap between available information on project delivery and the tactically required information. Step 2: Project Pipeline. This will include a phased delivery (including all reviews), collection of project and portfolio data, resource commitment across all projects, standardised project management, consistent measurement of projects (based on blended approach), design authority, quality, and put in place project and governance metrics. Step 3: Strategic PMO. This is to maximise ROI with organisation-wide resource management and to provide responsive and flexible strategy support. It includes projects integrated into Step 2 PMO, portfolio management governance, systems integration (with current systems if any), prioritisation of projects, asset management aligned with portfolio management and a review of Enterprise Project Management (EPM) tools. An assessment of the ROI for PMO Implementation is carried out for all 3 steps as is training and mentoring. The proposed duration in total is 18 to 24 months, and the ROI would be achieved within 1 year for step 1, and within 2 years for steps 2 and 3. PMOs do not exist in isolation; rather they reflect the culture and context of their respective organisations. Therefore no PMOs are truly identical as each organisation is unique. The PMO staff can vary also but the best PMOs contain planners, a PMO manager and optionally, but recommended, project managers. Taking the idea from the PBN Go Team why not create a PMO Go-Team? The PMO Go-Team would visit regions, ANSPs and key stakeholders to describe the benefits, costs and risks of implementing a project management office and create a starting point to get the ball rolling.
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Best practice There are several project phases which contribute to a successful outcome. At the outset, the feasibility and options phase will review the module business case including options, benefits, costs and risks refined for the specific environment of the ANSP. Key stakeholders including the ICAO planning and implementation regional groups will be involved to understand the impact of the module, commit resources and plan risk mitigations to maximise the benefits. The concept of operations (CONOPS) will be written and initial validation of the CONOPS undertaken. In the project planning phase, the project management plan (PMP) including all processes and responsibilities are agreed. A detailed schedule will be developed by all the teams including dependencies and resource commitment. A high level design after further concept validation can be included here. During project implementation phase, the teams carry out the work under control of project management (including the PMO). Stakeholders work together to meet the constraints of time, quality, safety and cost. Detailed requirements and design moves into implementation, test training and operational handover. Gate reviews will ensure technical, operational, safety, quality, training and management criteria are met before transition into operations. Getting a robust schedule in place with input and agreement from all parties is best done with professional project planners (part of the PMO). Knowing what to ask for, how to ask for it and putting the often disjointed information together in a neat, clear and useable schedule takes a lot of skill. This schedule will be the basis for measuring progress so it must be robust. Project budget management includes planning capital costs and measuring the cost of resources, services and procurements against the planned targets. Managing change If a change is carried out in the ICAO documentation then all parties must be made aware of the change to modify their associated documentation. In the project context, when a requirements baseline is in place, then change management can maintain scope control. Changes arrive from many sources, having a change management process ensures changes do not impact delivery of the original scope, detailed in the requirements, and keeps the teams work focused. A change process supports assessment of which systems and documents are impacted before detailed analysis of the work, including time and cost, is done by the relevant teams. A change control board can make decisions on if and when to include the
change. Keeping changes within specific tolerances as a percentage of cost is often a target to be met. Being able to make decisions based on accurate, up to date information allows managers to react quickly to problems, and supports a flexible strategy and delivery mechanism. Project status data will be accumulated by the PMO for processes, cost, risk, progress, safety and quality amongst others. Red/Amber/ Green (RAG) reports are commonly used, showing which areas need support or are not performing. Having consistency on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) measurement requires time and experience. The role of senior management is to assist the project towards its goals, as part of specific reviews or ad hoc as required. Finally, communication is the glue between the processes, people and systems that will make the projects work. Identifying who needs to be communicated with, and how, should be identified from the outset and revisited at key milestones. Positive messages are important but honesty is more important. Project managers are the communication channel and this is a key attribute of successful project managers, they know how to communicate and ensure the information is relevant, timely and accurate. Successful project managers will always know what is going on in the project; they use their intuition and the processes and data to back this up. The key to this is communication, having relationships with all team members, managers and key stakeholders and knowing how to get the best from each one, directly or indirectly. The best project managers look for risks continuously, risk management being a state of mind rather than a set of processes. The Project Manager, alongside the PMO, will put together and execute the Project Management Plan (PMP) which details how the project will deliver the benefits. This will include major milestones, costs, suppliers, change management, risks, dependencies, issues, team structure, roles and responsibilities, phase reviews, quality requirements, key stakeholders, communication strategies and benefits. A project can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in labour per month, but spending on the best project managers can easily save several months on an average project in ATM. Combine this with the PMO 3 step approach and results are guaranteed. By creating a tailored, value driven project management environment and adding project managers who are skilled in the best methods the chances of all round success are great. AIRSPACE
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TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS Reducing the risk of unstable approaches Larry Lachance, Assistant Vice President, Operational Support NAV CANADA/CANSO Operations Standing Committee Member With its overarching mission of transforming global ATM performance, CANSO has contributed to many exciting industry projects over the years. This has not only raised CANSO’s profile, but actively contributed to the improvement of ATM safety, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The association’s Waypoint 2013 Strategy, which was launched nearly three years ago, recognised CANSO’s leadership role in the aviation community. For those contributing on the front lines as part of CANSO’s various workgroups, this was very exciting. It heightened our role as change agents by giving us the mandate to develop and share best practice, tools and guidance materials. But with limited resource – CANSO is a not-for-profit trade association, after all – we needed to streamline and better coordinate our approach. This would help us realise our full ambitions in a cost-effective and timely way. Historically CANSO projects were worked within one of the Standing Committees and then sent to other appropriate entities within CANSO for review and comment. This approach often required extensive revisions, only for the process to start again. Not too efficient, right?
Herbert King of the FAA, Omar Al Jeeri Al Shamsi of ADAC, Ivan Lacko of Honeywell and myself. The team took the opportunity to focus on their understanding of unstable approaches and crucially, how we in ATC can help reduce the risk. One of the decisions from this meeting was to update the popular Unstable Approaches – ATC Considerations document. This report examines the root causes of unstable approaches from an ATC perspective, setting out clear guidelines on how they can be avoided. It explains how controllers can create the proper environment to produce one of the primary components of stable approaches – predictability. Given that this document is so comprehensive, drilling deep into the issues, we feel there is a strong case for it to be made required reading for everyone on the operational frontlines. The next product under development is a safety checklist, which will accompany the report. This checklist will be beneficial to ANSPs around the world because it will help them demonstrate to the regulatory bodies which oversee safety, that they are being proactive in mitigating unstable approaches and runway excursions by identifying and mitigating the causal factors. The checklist will be an important tool in our ongoing efforts to improve safety. Within our respective ATC environments, it will act as a ‘sensitivity check’ to help ensure we have the policies, procedures and training in place in order to reduce the risk of unstable approaches. The tool can also help airlines and airport operators identify and mitigate the factors over which they have control, which is why we plan to make it available to them as well. This makes the checklist a truly cross-industry resource with tangible safety benefits for all involved.
So that’s why we set about developing a new approach called ‘Cross Committee’, where all of the required expertise from across CANSO’s Safety, Operations and Policy Standing Committees are involved from the start. This might seem obvious, but for a membership organisation which has experts spread all over the world, the reality of working together in a coordinated way can be very challenging. Nevertheless, we were committed to our new approach and decided to focus on Unstable Approaches Leading to Runway Excursions for the pilot project.
So what about the next step? With this important document and checklist in place, the committee recommends pilot/controller seminars be supported and conducted. These seminars would provide a forum for information sharing and feedback, with the document and checklist as primary reference tools.
The Cross Committee team met for the first time from 11 to 15 June, kindly hosted by DFS in Frankfurt, Germany. The team consisted of members from all CANSO Standing Committees. Max Bice of Airservices Australia and Graham Wadeson of NATS, representing the Safety Standing Committee (SSC) led the meeting. The Operations Standing Committee (OSC) was also extremely well represented by Ganesh Narayanan of AAI,
Collaborative sessions are an appropriate starting point for all future efforts to prevent unstable approaches, runway excursions and other related safety hazards.
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Now we must maintain the momentum. The team has done a great service by producing this report. We must make sure we reap the benefits of these efforts by identifying and then instituting changes necessary to reduce safety risk.
My thanks go to all team members for their commendable work, and to their organisations for allowing them to contribute. Now it is up to all of us to ‘deliver the goods’.
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TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS
FLIGHT PLAN 2012, ready, steady go! A lot of preparation has preceded the introduction of ICAO’s new Flight Plan format in November 2012 The global standard ICAO format for flight plan filings changes on November 15, 2012. While the basic format remains unchanged, the new version introduces several new fields to denote improved aircraft navigational and communications capabilities such as performancebased navigation (PBN) services that will deliver capacity, time and fuel savings. ICAO announced the new format four years ago as an amendment to ICAO Doc 4444 to provide all stakeholders - including airlines, flight planning providers and ANSPs - ample time to prepare. Airspace magazine invited key representatives from ICAO, IATA and the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) to a round-table discussion on the progress of the transition to Flight Plan 2012. Successful submission, acceptance and processing of an aircraft’s Flight Plan and associated information are critical for flights to operate. All operators are required to ensure they are able to file as are ANSPs to and
accept the new ICAO format and it is a state responsibility to ensure industry readiness. If an operator does not file in the new format or an ANSP cannot accept it, then the flight may not be able to depart. ICAO has published a Transition Plan to guide ANSPs and operators through testing and familiarisation ready for the final switch in November. ICAO confident ICAO President of the Air Navigation Commission Christian Schleifer speaks confidently about progress to date: “Most of the ANSPs are ready, prepared and have foreseen a proper transition period to accept both new and present Flight Plans before November 15, after which only the new Flight Plan will be standard. Many airlines and operators are similarly aware and prepared for this global change. ICAO has worked for more than two years in close collaboration with CANSO and IATA on an awareness campaign and on the rollout of the new format. States have provided their updated implementation progress for entry into the ICAO Flight Plan Implementation Tracking System (FITS) database on the ICAO website under http:// www2.icao.int/ en/FITS/Pages/ home.aspx.“ Key stakeholders including the ICAO regional offices, CANSO, Eurocontrol and IATA have played a critical role in ensuring the states successfully transition to the new format. CANSO DG Samantha Sharif comments:
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“CANSO has been actively involved in a series of regional workshops, guided by CANSO’s Operations Standing Committee members Brendan Kelly of NATS and Anthony Coult of Jeppesen.” Schleifer adds: “Regional organisations together with the ANSPs and operators play a key role for ICAO in achieving this global implementation which calls for harmonisation and interoperability. ICAO spent, and is still spending, resources to ensure a smooth transition. To ensure the validity of the implementation programme Schleifer leading the Air Navigation Commission (ANC) and together with CANSO the other industry representations at the ANC, revisited the issue in May 2011 based on PIRG reports. The Commission was briefed at least twice a year by the Secretariat on these activities and has received feedback from the regions to facilitate the November 2012 implementation. The last update on the implementation is scheduled for the next Air Navigation session this fall, shortly before the actual applicability date.” He commends CANSO on its “productive, competent and active participation in establishing and implementing global standards that support safe and efficient aviation practice.” IATA says a very high proportion of its member airlines have confirmed they will be ready for the transition. For those airlines who have not responded, the Association has initiated follow-up action at regional level including enlisting the support of country managers to co-ordinate with those outstanding. IATA recommends that airlines coordinate with ANSPs as closely as possible in the lead up to November 15. IATA urges early tests Guenther Matschnigg, IATA senior vice president Safety, Operations
ICAO Transition Plan: End- 2010
Impact assessment
31 December 2011
ANSP solution production
1 January to 30 April 2012
ANSP solution delivery and testing
1 June 2012 to 31 October
Airspace user testing and implementation
From 15 November 2012
Only new Flight Plans filed
and Infrastructure comments: “The new ICAO Flight Plan is a significant change for industry that is dependent upon global conformity of states and airlines. IATA has been supporting this ICAO initiative by promulgating information to airlines. Some 241 member airlines, in addition 22 non-member airlines, have been contacted to ensure they are ready for transition. To date 89% of member airlines are indicating they are or will be ready for transition. It is important that airlines are in communication with their appropriate ANSPs, and where appropriate Flight Plan system vendors, to resolve technical issues and to understand and comply with State transition planning.” Matschnigg confirms the airlines have started trials: “We are in the test phase of the ICAO Transition Plan. Testing in Europe and the United States has shown there are issues and system bugs to resolve. A concern is that some states are planning relatively late testing schedules. Testing should commence as early as possible to ensure adequate time to remedy any system bugs. We encourage CANSO members to continue proactive engagement with all airlines who operate in their FIRs and with adjacent ANSPs - as communication and collaborative industry effort will ensure a smooth transition for this critical global change.” CANSO says ANSPs are taking all measures possible including advance
testing to ensure that the changes are seamless. ANSPs use Flight Plan data to determine and to ensure safe separation and provide clearances. With today’s high levels of ATC automation, any corruption or loss of data integrity is not an acceptable situation. The key driver to the 2012 Flight Plan changes is to introduce the many service benefits that today’s ATM systems allow, including performancebased navigation procedures, which allow for improved ATM efficiencies, including application of reduced ICAO separation minima and optimised route and taxi clearances using new communication methods such as data link. As a consequence ANSPs are investing in substantial system and automation changes. CANSO has made every effort to encourage ANSPs to start preparations early and in close coordination with their states, ICAO regional planning groups, airlines and the local aeronautical information services centres. Smooth transition Peter Ingleton, International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) Director predicts a smooth transition: “With the clock ticking down to the FPL2012 implementation date there is every reason to expect that the implementation itself should proceed smoothly. This, thanks to the leadership of ICAO and the support of the many stakeholders involved, notably CANSO. The preparation, planning and coordination on global,
regional and national basis for the implementation of such an extensive revision to the ICAO Flight Plan is anything but an every day event. Indeed this is probably the third such occasion in three or four decades for such a change. Fortunately all the tools of modern technology can be brought to bear.” Ingleton says the ICAO FITS is particularly impressive, “ICAO is to be congratulated on this initiative. The business aviation community and flight planning service providers have been kept abreast of developments and informed through, amongst other means, the IBAC website http:// www.ibac.org/bulletins and the IBAC Bulletin Flight Plan 2012. In some respects and with the advent of the next generation of CNS and ATM, this revision to the ICAO Flight Plan is precursor for a further revision expected within the next decade in support of the progressive implementation of new technology systems and services. While the Flight Plan has long been a crucial element for ensuring safe and orderly air navigation, its future role can confidently be expected to become ever more critical. This message must not be lost on any of the stakeholders.” ICAO ANC President Schleifer concurs with this observation: “On November 15 the Air Navigation Conference in Montreal will take a close look to the applicability date when the aviation community is working further towards modernisation, interoperability, efficiency and integration to support the concept of ‘One Sky’. Next to many modules of the different Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBUs), some will trigger further discussions for the next steps in direction to FF-ICE and Flow Information Environment in the future. And again, global interoperability will be on the top of the priority list.” AIRSPACE
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FEATURE Green approaches boost flight efficiency in Latin America Stakeholder collaboration is behind the successful introduction of Performance-Based Navigation in Latin America With air traffic growth in the Latin America region projected to grow up to 6.9% annually through 2030, aviation stakeholders must work collaboratively to harmonise the region’s airspace operations. It is essential to address the operational and environmental challenges the industry faces through cooperative discussions and projects. As the cornerstone to air traffic modernisation efforts, PerformanceBased Navigation (PBN) has the ability to bring efficiency, predictability and increased capacity to airspace. This year, the industry has seen two notable PBN projects in the Latin America region where stakeholder collaboration yielded both economic and ecological benefits for the aviation community. In February 2012, the world’s first continuously guided flight from takeoff to landing using PBN technology was flown in Latin America. The Green Skies of Peru project, a collaborative effort between LAN, GE Aviation, Peru’s ANSP CORPAC and regulator DGAC, saves participating airlines on average 19 track miles, 6.3 minutes, 450 pounds of fuel and 1,420 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per flight. The second phase of the project was executed on July 16 when GE and LAN completed a Required Navigation Performance Authorization Required (RNP AR) to Instrument Landing System (ILS) with autoland flight at Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport. The landmark flight combined the predictability and operational benefits of an RNP approach with the lower landing minima and autoland capabilities enabled by an ILS. “This breakthrough technology lowers the aircraft landing minima at Lima to 100 ft when the three elements are combined. In the case of the Lima procedures, the utilisation of the RNP AR transitions has enabled aircraft to 26 QUARTER 3 2012
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fly east of the airport in airspace that was previously unused due to terrain constraints,” said Steve Fulton, technical fellow for GE Aviation. “The flexibility of RNP AR provides additional capacity allowing for more efficient use of the airspace surrounding the airport.” Traditionally, non-RNP capable aircraft arriving into Lima experience unpredictable operations due to air traffic control vectors required to merge onto the ILS. This can lead to increased workload for the pilots and controllers and add level flight segments that contribute to higher fuel use and unnecessary carbon emissions. By connecting the precise lateral and vertical guidance of the satellite-based RNP AR approach to the CAT II ILS, approved aircraft can realise the benefits of RNP, including a continuous descent approach, and a precision landing system in all weather conditions. Following this successful flight, the team is continuing to develop additional connections to the ILS from other RNP AR transitions to facilitate operations during all levels of traffic. The final phase of the project will be implementing the procedures so they are available to all capable and qualified aircraft operating at Lima. LAN Peru has implemented PBN paths at 11 Peruvian airports. The PBN paths at Cajamarca alone cut 28 nm and 12 minutes off each flight. Luis Miyahira, operational standards and special projects manager for LAN, attributed the programme’s success to the collaborative efforts of the Peruvian aviation stakeholders. “All parties have to participate to gain benefits,” Miyahira said. “The programme was designed to benefit all operators in the airspace. The more operators using the paths, the more efficiency is gained; the controllers will benefit too.” Brazil’s air traffic is expected to increase from four million to eight million
passengers per month by 2014; a year in which the country will host the World Cup. In addition, Rio de Janeiro is to host the 2016 Olympics. These events will bring hundreds of thousands of spectators to the region. By implementing RNP AR paths, Brazil’s air traffic management system will be able to accommodate the increased air traffic while improving flight delays and fuel efficiency. In May, the Santos Dumont RNP AR project was concluded with the RNP flight procedures approved for operational use in Brazil, following a successful validation flight by GOL. Brazil’s ANSP DECEA designed the RNP procedures, with technical support and assistance from GE. Brazil’s aviation regulator ANAC validated and approved the procedures, while at the same time granting RNP operations approval to GOL. The procedures improve access and capacity at Santos Dumont Airport, while reducing fuel burn and carbon emissions for GOL and other approved airlines that fly them. “We must put stakeholders on the same page and bring expertise to the system,” said Pedro Scorza, operation director for GOL. “We need to understand the impact on the airspace, regulations and operational issues and learn lessons so we don’t repeat the same mistakes.” Scorza reported 4.5 track miles savings from the RNP paths versus the conventional procedure at the airport, yielding potential savings of $3 million annually in fuel and other savings. Santos Dumont is a challenging flight environment because operators must navigate mountainous areas and complex airspace when arriving and departing the airport. DECEA designed a procedure with a continuous decent arrival (CDA) in order to reduce noise, operating minima and improve capacity. The procedures will eliminate non-precision approaches and reduce the risk associated with controlled
flight into terrain (CFIT) for RNP-qualified aircraft operating to the airport. “Using RNP AR, the pilot can perform a precise and constant trajectory, reducing the minimum decision height,” said Adalberto Bogsan, technical vice president of GOL. “This provides better visualisation of the runway, assuring a more safe and comfortable landing.”
Savings reported by LAN from the Green Skies of Peru project.
The RNP procedures substantially improve access to the airport by lowering operating minima (ceiling) from 1500 ft to 300 ft. This reduces the need to execute missed approaches on days of poor weather conditions. DECEA’s procedures will have no interference with the current air traffic around Santos Dumont Airport and will improve air traffic flow management and capacity. Recently, Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras’ (Azul) enlisted GE’s support in obtaining regulatory authorisation to fly RNP AR flight procedures in its fleet of Embraer 190/195 aircraft. Upon approval, the airline will become one of the first in Brazil permitted to fly RNP AR, improving airport accessibility and reducing operational costs through reduced fuel burn and flight delays.
RNP AR to ILS approach path at Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport.
RNP AR procedures at Brazil’s Santos Dumont airport reduce fuel burn and emissions.
“The integration of RNP AR into our fleet of GPS-equipped Embraer aircraft will give us horizontal and vertical guidance to each runway, while improving our economic and ecological operations,” said Flávio Costa, Chief Operating Officer of Azul Airlines. “Azul also will be able to utilise the fuel efficient flight paths for daily operations at Santos Dumont airport.” As the region and its aviation community continue to experience the downfalls of increased flight delays and airspace constraints, embracing new technology to upgrade the region’s infrastructure is essential. The industry must leverage PBN and other ATM technologies available today to obtain economic and environmental benefits. AIRSPACE
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COMMENT
Airspace management is about thought leadership Bernard Gonsalves, Assistant Director Technical Affairs, CANSO Let us rewind for a minute to the turn of the 20th century when the horsedrawn carriage was the primary mode of transportation. What would the leaders of the industry have thought then about transforming the transportation business? How could the journey be improved- to make it quicker, more economical and safer? And the answer could have typically been: “Add a couple more horses to the carriage”! But Henry Ford and the motor car changed all that by taking the horse out of the equation and adding more horse-power to a machine instead. But it did not stop at the machine. What did transform the automobile industry was the process by which cars were mass produced and put on the roads. The complexity that was added by mass-producing cars in plants and through conveyor belts, was carefully managed and took the variability out of the system. The production line was automated and augmented with a quality production process that virtually eliminated the dread of any business manager especially in the transportation business: uncertainty. Compare the just-in-time and build-to-order paradigms in the motor car business to the just-in-case syndrome identified by ATH Group that underlies much of today’s ATM world. The ATH group makes an interesting analogy. Airline schedulers cannot calculate with certainty what their seasonal flight times will be so they add an extra time buffer to their schedules. Pilots likewise feel comfortable with a little more contingency fuel in the ‘back-pocket’ not knowing what the destination weather might be, air holds or what taxi times to expect. Reservation agents add overbooking buffers to compensate for no-shows and controllers add extra distance and speed protection into clearances, pushing the long conga-line up and beyond the capacity of a functional ATM system, be it airport or airspace. The ATM system today can be at best characterised as reactive to the randomness of the situation. The strength of the aviation industry however derives from being a global business value proposition that goes well
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beyond such an FIR-based business routine. The success for any ANSP therefore should also derive from looking beyond its FIR boundaries and adapting to the business needs of its customers - the passengers - in a seamless gate-to-gate experience. The service definition emanates from allowing flights to flow freely from ground-based constraints – be they overflight clearances, the requirement to file fixed ATS routes, static coordination points based on outdated letters of agreement between centres or pre-agreed ATM or flow capacity constraints. Once in the FIR, you ‘push’ the service to your customers. Simply put, you do not tell your customers where YOU want them to fly - rather they tell you where THEY want to fly and when! Demand and supply naturally come in to play and collaborative decision-making becomes the end-game where the real decisions that carry the ‘cost and pain’ of conducting business are made based, again, on the needs and wants of the customers. The ATM business today is mired in a static two-dimensional structure of sectors and those that control the system within. The complexities of these sectors eventually become disjointed at national boundaries unlike the well-oiled conveyor belt of today’s Toyota or KIA factories. As much as it might be opportune to blame it all on the weather or fixed cost overheads, three elements of today’s air traffic control paradigm have not really changed since the World War II days. Notwithstanding all the new gizmos of data link, satellite-based surveillance and broadband IP communications technology the reality lies in the resistance to change. Albert Einstein once said “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.” First at the very core of airspace design are the structural constraints that are driven by sectoral boundaries. ‘Pitch and catch points’ (also known as bedposts) try to cope with the funnel effect caused by a dispersed array of traffic vying to gain entry into the Terminal Area. Between Area and Terminal control, the addition of a couple of extra radar vectors to suit personal taste also thrives. However when weather or (short) staffing issues crop up, the sectors are promptly closed or capacity reduced, so rendering the adjoining sectors unable to deal with the extra demand. That these ‘pitch and catch points’ remain static and inelastic to the vagaries of weather or sector constraints and that they just cannot be realigned in a more flexible manner is the first consideration. Why should traffic be managed so inflexibly, and not vice-versa? Second, providing separation must devolve from the controller and flow back into the ATM system. A controller
What the ATM system needs to deliver is a reference business trajectory of the shortest flight time with the lowest fuel burn needs to assign separation and can do that by means of an assigned time at a fix. The Berlin Airlift proved many successes including being the forerunner of the Instrument Landing System, Precision Radar Approaches as well as time-based sequencing. Today’s airplanes do a great job of navigating to time, let’s use them. Controllers are more effective at spacing aircraft rather than separating them – which leads to a domino effect. The Mode S enhanced surveillance mandate in Europe provides at least seven downlink aircraft parameters (DAPs). Can we not use them? Third, get the plan right. Today’s filed flight plan (either filed or stored for the season) by operators is nothing more than a futile exercise to ignore the infinite number of constraints imposed by a fragmented ATC system. Really, the complexity in understanding, interpreting and applying the constraints has made it a moot point, so that operators no longer bother with optimising a flight trajectory. Take the case of nonpermanent conditional routes made available in Europe’s flexible use of airspace programme, or the weekend opening of military airspace off the US mid-Atlantic coast known as VACAPES, and the special use airspace over New York. Last minute NOTAMS announcing ad-hoc opening and closures of airspace just will not attract operators. A 600-page Route Availability Document (RAD) and/or the Standard Route Document (SRD) for the UK can take months with a fully staffed navigation department in a major airline to figure out the millions of time/day/level/location/temporal restrictions. Taking out the constraints on a long-term basis will. So as it happens today in Europe, Russia, China and many other parts of the world, it becomes a case for filing a repetitive flight plan; of connecting the dots. With a global yearly fuel bill of over $150 billion, operators no longer care for a greatcircle track or the shortest distance. What the ATM system needs to deliver is a reference business trajectory of the shortest flight time with the lowest fuel burn - albeit flying a distance 3,000 nm off the great circle track – as is the case on many long-haul flights today.
It is still a mythical belief in the minds of many that flights benefit from the Great-circle routes or the more familiar ‘proceed direct’ clearance. This could be no further from the truth especially on long-haul flights in the east-west direction. The race-track patterns between Europe and the Far-East is a case in point in the winters as the Jet Streams move south. True, the distance flown might be shorter but the business plan of an airline is always predicated on two key determinants. First, targeting the highest ground speed by allowing the airplane to chase tail-winds conditions or conversely fly longer distances to avoid head-wind conditions but burning less fuel and flying shorter time tracks, either case. A truly flexible airspace structure is needed and can only be achieved by supporting a supple and responsive airspace design supported by agility from automation of routine tasks. The bonus here is ATM capacity which is derived from natural dispersion of desired flight trajectories rather than force-fed flights onto an already congested fixed airways structure. Based on business needs and constraints and real no-fly zones such as system weather or active military zones, the default always comes down to business COSTS (mainly fuel) all other influences remaining the same. TIME does kick in when block times are exceeded with commercial factors playing out. So distance always comes a poor and distant third. To demonstrate this variance, let’s take a look at a New York to Hong Kong flight – same city pair and parameters. Avoiding the head-wind or flying with a tail wind creates a natural and self-separated difference of over 3,000 nm laterally: same airline, aircraft, city-pair, loads, engines etc. The only change: the upper winds. Which, in closing, brings me to the mega-billion dollar modernisation and R&D programmes. Unless modernisation programmes such as NextGen and SESAR address the fundamental bottleneck of generating sector-independent conflict-free profiles (and even better, gate to gate profiles) that in turn determine the capacity requirements, we will continue to see a bad situation only becoming worse. Lets close out with a quote from Willie Walsh, British Airways ceo, who characterises culture change in aviation like “doing an engine change in-flight”. Current work practices are just not going to cut it. Sectorisation constraints have to give way to operator-driven trajectory dispersion. Mother nature has her ways. Take the North Atlantic Flexible Track design for a minute. The west bound tracks and the east bound tracks will never take up the same airspace. Allow natural dispersion to occur. Don’t force it. AIRSPACE
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Operated by CANSO in association with ATCA
TAKING OFF IN MADRID 12-14 February, 2013
THOUGHT-LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE | NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES 19,000 m2 EXHIBITION www.worldatmcongress.org co-located with 11 FEBRUARY: CANSO CEO CONFERENCE | CANSO ATM DINNER & JANE’S ATC AWARDS 14 - 15 FEBRUARY: CANSO GLOBAL ATM OPERATIONS CONFERENCE www.canso.org/events 30 QUARTER 3 2012
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INSIDE CANSO
A major new conference and exhibition. For the industry, by the industry. In October 2011, CANSO and ATCA announced the launch of World ATM Congress, a major new conference and large-scale exhibition for the air traffic management industry. Since then, support has snowballed as ICAO, SESAR, and Eurocontrol have joined ANSPs and leading suppliers in voicing their support. CANSO Director General (interim) Samantha Sharif and President and CEO of ATCA, Peter F Dumont explain the history and why the inaugural event, 12-14 February 2013, will be a resounding success. Why did you decide to organise this event? SS: CANSO and its members recognise the value of bringing together industry leaders and experts to discuss the priorities for our industry and agree a way forward. In our experience, this is one of the most effective ways of driving change. With our global and regional conferences increasing in demand and influence over the years, we began looking at ways to spread our message to a wider audience. The turning point came at the Global ATM Summit and 15th AGM in Bangkok last year, when members and other industry stakeholders called on CANSO to step up and lead change. While the Waypoint 2013 Strategy added new focus to our global and regional activities, the need to generate new sources of revenue and keep membership fees low remained. The decision to launch World ATM Congress, an event organised by the industry, for the industry, was an obvious way forward.
exhibit hall floor and in the conference area of the Congress. Unlike some exhibitions, divided into smaller halls, ours will take place in one impressive 19,000m2 hall. This will ensure that no exhibitor gets the lessor hall. At this time, we have over 108 exhibitors, which represent 80% of the floor. This was not unexpected. There was a need for an event that was the industry’s own, and we are filling the need. The unique advantage we have with World ATM Congress is the combination of two complimentary industry associations using their expertise and extensive membership networks to host a collaborative forum for the industry. As a result, World ATM Congress benefits from significant global influence and considerable leverage in terms of thought-leadership. You will see the effects of this in the exhibition hall but also in the conference discussions.
CANSO brings the global expertise, but we knew we couldn’t organise such a large-scale event by ourselves. We looked at a range of potential partners, and after much consideration we found that ATCA was the most natural fit. They run an extremely successful conference and exposition in Washington, and as a fellow industry trade association, they have similar values to CANSO.
What will be discussed during the conference? SS: The theme of the conference ‘ATM – Augmented Reality’ picks up on a need for change, new technology and the need to move to address with the new world order. This will include both business and operational perspectives. That theme is then amplified, reflected or challenged, not only in each of the four conference sessions but in the many workshops and symposiums exhibitors are planning.
Why should visitors go to Madrid? What sets this event apart? PD: World ATM Congress will create a truly remarkable forum for networking with the key players in the industry – on the
We are consulting with industry leaders to ensure their views are addressed in the conference programme. To ensure continued buy-in from our broad industry stakeholders, we have created an Editorial Board. AIRSPACE
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INSIDE CANSO
IFEMA, Madrid
ATCA Exhibit Hall
It is also worth remembering that World ATM Congress will be the first major industry gathering following the ICAO 12th Air Navigation Conference (AN-Conf/12) in November 2012. How to action the findings and conclusions following the AN-Conf/12 will form a key component of the event agenda, alongside priority issues such as the Global Air Navigation Plan and ASBU Policy, Global Safety Audit, Cyber Security, Industrial Relations, ANSP Commercialisation and ANSP Funding. How will World ATM Congress offer value for money? PD: The primary focus of World ATM Congress is not to generate profit. In fact, the organisers, CANSO and ATCA, are both not-for-profit organisations. What drives us is our mission to add value to the industry and to our members. Although not for profit, excess revenue over cost will be generated. This revenue will help our organisations bring a better event to industry year over year and keep costs down. It will also ensure the health of the organisations to the benefit of our members and the industry. One of the benefits of hosting the event in Madrid is the location’s cost-effectiveness. In fact, this was one of the deciding factors when we were choosing a venue. Everything from the cost of hotel rooms, entertaining customers, transportation (including taxis and subways) and food and beverages are significantly less expensive in Madrid than
KEY FACTS
Date: 12-14 February 2013 Location: IFEMA, Feria de Madrid, Madrid, Spain Exhibition: 19,000m2 in one hall Conference theme: ATM – Augmented Reality Co-located events: CANSO CEO Conference, CANSO ATM Dinner & Jane’s ATC Awards, CANSO Operations Conference Information & registration: www.worldatmcongress.org Twitter updates: @WorldATM_Now
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Amsterdam. More information is available on the event website. SS: In addition to the exceptional programme of events planned specifically for World ATM Congress, CANSO also has a long history of running side-events in Amsterdam. We were very clear that World ATM Congress should add maximum value for money for our members, which is why from 2013, the CANSO CEO Conference, Operations Conference, and the CANSO CEO Dinner – which includes the renowned Jane’s ATC Awards – will all move from Amsterdam to Madrid. This guarantees a high level and decision making delegation in Madrid. What do CANSO and ATCA bring to the table? PD: Since it was established in 1956 by a group of air traffic controllers, the Air Traffic Control Association has been dedicated to progress in the science and safety of air traffic control and the preservation of a safe flight environment. We have decades of experience producing events that provide neutral discussion forums and present the latest technology and developments in the industry. It’s amazing to look back at technologies from headsets to ADS-B, and realise they were first shown at ATCA in their infancy. The same can be said for the headlining issues of aviation history. It has all been discussed and developed at our annual event, and we want to bring this tradition and experience to World ATM Congress. The attendees we draw are providers of air traffic control, system architects, manufacturers, suppliers, system operators and users. We value highly their collective experience, knowledge, and efforts in pursuit of common goals. SS: CANSO brings together 150 ANSPs and industry suppliers from all over the world. That gives us a unique global network of air traffic management leaders and experts, who regularly contribute to the transformation of ATM performance in the key areas of safety, operations and policy. We’re quite a few years younger than ATCA, having been created by a group of ANSP CEOs in 1997, but we’ve come a very long way in a very short time. Today CANSO is the global voice of ATM with official observer status at ICAO. This means that we are uniquely positioned to speak with
Madrid Barajas Airport
authority on what matters most to our industry. How will it further your aims as trade associations? SS: As Pete says, the reason we are organising World ATM Congress is to provide our industry with a world-class neutral forum for exchanging information, developing ideas and of course, networking. All these activities are important to trade associations. Revenue generation is not the driving force, but let’s face facts: we need to survive in the real world, which is experiencing one of the most challenging economic climates in recent history. Furthermore, we have set ourselves a very ambitious mission to transform ATM performance and ultimately, that costs money. The challenge is that ANSPs, suppliers and other stakeholders face similar economic challenges. This is why CANSO committed to maintain its membership fees at 2009 levels for 2012-2013, despite rising inflation. So with ambitious goals and a limited income stream, we need to change the way we finance our activities. Indeed, CANSO has a goal of 30% revenue generation from non-membership sources. This is why World ATM Congress is so important to us. It will allow CANSO to continue its important work developing best practice for a safer, more efficient and cost-effective ATM system worldwide. Will this split the industry? PD: That’s what others might want you to believe, but let me be clear: as member-led and individual trade associations, it only makes sense for CANSO and ATCA to organise an event that the industry and members have told us they want. World ATM Congress will have a very different look and feel compared to other events. This is because we know our members intimately because we listen to them, and are planning each component of the Congress with them in mind. We look forward to attendees seeing how participating helps grow their business, knowledge, and contacts. The majority of the world’s ANSPs, and the leading suppliers in the air traffic community, have committed to supporting the event, which
Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid
speaks to the industry’s confidence in both CANSO, ATCA, and World ATM Congress as a whole. I think you will find that the industry is in fact not ‘split’. On the contrary it is throwing its weight behind the only global industry event that is organised for the industry by the industry.
World ATM Congress exhibitor list expands ARINC Inc is among the latest exhibitors to commit to the inaugural World ATM Congress in February 2013 in Madrid, Spain. ARINC joins more than 100 other organisations on the 19,000m2 exhibit floor who will be displaying the latest ATM technologies and solutions. “While ARINC participates in many regional ATM events, we have traditionally not supported other global ATM exhibitions and conferences. However, we recognise the valuable opportunity this event affords and we fully support and have made a commitment to World ATM Congress,” said Ron Hawkins, Vice President, ARINC Commercial Aviation Solutions. ARINC’s participation at the event is representative of the quality of the leading industry companies and aviation service providers already signed up for World ATM Congress 2013. ARINC joins fellow ATM industry leaders who have voiced their support for World ATM Congress and plans to use the event as a unique opportunity within one venue to demonstrate and display global solutions to today’s complex aviation communication and surveillance challenges. “ARINC recognises ANSPs and aircraft operators want compatible solutions worldwide. Implementing common systems is the key to keeping costs low for operators and air navigation service providers,” added Hawkins. Major organisations including EUROCONTROL and the US Department of Defense are among exhibitors at World ATM Congress 2013. A full list of exhibitors and attending ANSPs can be found at www. worldatmcongress.org.
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CANSO Members
CANSO Members
CANSO – The Civil Air Navigation Services CANSO—–—The—Civil—Air—Navigation—Services— Organisation – is the global voice of the companies that provide air traffic control, Organisation—–—is—the—global—voice—of—the—companies— and represents the interests of Air that—provide—air—traffic—control,—and—represents— Navigation Services Providers worldwide. the—interests—of—Air—Navigation—Services—Providers— worldwide.— CANSO members are responsible for supporting over 85% of world air CANSO—members—are—responsible—for—supporting—over— traffic, and through our Workgroups, 85%—of—world—air—traffic,—and—through—our—Workgroups,— members share information and develop new policies, with the ultimate aim of members—share—information—and—develop—new— improving air navigation services on policies,—with—the—ultimate—aim—of—improving—air— the ground and in the air. CANSO also navigation—services—on—the—ground—and—in—the—air.— represents its members’ views in major CANSO—also—represents—its—members’—views—in—major— regulatory and industry forums, including regulatory—and—industry—forums,—including—at—ICAO,— at ICAO, where we have official Observer where—we—have—official—Observer—status.—For—more— status. nformation—on—joining—CANSO,—visit—www.canso.org/ oiningcanso.— For more information on joining CANSO, visit www.canso.org/joiningcanso.
ull Members - 75
Lighter—areas—represent—airspace—covered—by—CANSO—Members
Full Members – 75 Full Members – 73 — Aeronautical—Radio—of—Thailand—(AEROTHAI) —— Malta—Air—Traffic—Services—(MATS) — Aeroportos—de—Moçambique —— NATA—Albania • Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (AEROTHAI) • Malta Air Traffic Services (MATS) • Aeroportos de Moçambique • N ATA Albania — Air—Navigation—and—Weather—Services,—— —— National—Airports—Corporation—Ltd. • Air Navigation and Weather Services, • N ational Airports Corporation Ltd. CAA—(ANWS) —— National—Air—Navigation—Services—Company— • C AA (ANWS) • N ational Air Navigation Services Company (NANSC) — Air—Navigation—Services—of—the—Czech—Republic— (NANSC) • Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic • N ATS UK (ANS—Czech—Republic) —— NATS—UK (ANS Czech Republic) • N AV CANADA — Air—Traffic—&—Navigation—Services—(ATNS) —— NAV—CANADA • Air Traffic & Navigation Services (ATNS) • N AV Portugal • Airports and Aviation Services Limited (AASL) —— NAV—Portugal • N aviair — Airports—and—Aviation—Services—Limited—(AASL) • Airports Authority of India (AAI) • Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) — Airports—Authority—of—India—(AAI) —— Naviair • Airports Fiji Limited • O ffice de l’Aviation Civile et des Aeroports (OACA) — Airports—Fiji—Limited —— Nigerian—Airspace—Management—Agency—(NAMA) • Airservices Australia • ORO NAVIGACIJA, Lithuania — Airservices—Australia — — Office—de—l’Aviation—Civile—et—des—Aeroports— • Airways New Zealand • PNG Air Services Limited (PNGASL) — Airways—New—Zealand (OACA) • A ngkasa Pura I • Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) — Angkasa—Pura—I —— ORO—NAVIGACIJA,—Lithuania • Austro Control • Prishtina International Airport JSC • Avinor AS • PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero) — Austro—Control —— PNG—Air—Services—Limited—(PNGASL) • ROMATSA — Avinor—AS• A ZANS Azerbaijan —— Polish—Air—Navigation—Services—Agency—(PANSA) • Belgocontrol • Sakaeronavigatsia Ltd — AZANS—Azerbaijan —— Prishtina—International—Airport—JSC • Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority • S.E. MoldATSA — Belgocontrol — — PT—Angkasa—Pura—II—(Persero) (BULATSA) • SENEAM — Bulgarian—Air—Traffic—Services—Authority— —— ROMATSA • C AA Uganda • Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services (BULATSA) • Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) —— Sakaeronavigatsia—Ltd Agency (SMATSA) • Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) —— S.E.—MoldATSA • Serco — CAA—Uganda • Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission (CARC) —— SENEAM • skyguide — Civil—Aviation—Authority—of—Bangladesh—(CAAB) • Department of Airspace Control (DECEA) • Slovenia Control — Civil—Aviation—Authority—of—Singapore—(CAAS) —— Serbia—and—Montenegro—Air—Traffic—Services— • Department of Civil Aviation, Republic of Cyprus • State Airports Authority & ANSP (DHMI) — Civil—Aviation—Regulatory—Commission—(CARC) Agency—(SMATSA) • DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS) • State ATM Corporation — Department—of—Airspace—Control—(DECEA) • Dirección General de Control de Tránsito Aéreo—— Serco • Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (DGCTA) • The LFV Group — Department—of—Civil—Aviation,—Republic—of—Cyprus —— skyguide • DSNA France • Ukrainian Air Traffic Service Enterprise — DFS—Deutsche—Flugsicherung—GmbH—(DFS) —— Slovenia—Control • Dutch Caribbean Air Navigation Service Provider (UkSATSE) — Dirección—General—de—Control—de—Tránsito—Aéreo— —— State—Airports—Authority—&—ANSP—(DHMI) (DC-ANSP) • U.S. DoD Policy Board on Federal Aviation (DGCTA) • ENANA-EP ANGOLA —— State—ATM—Corporation — DSNA—France • ENAV S.p.A: Società Nazionale per l’Assistenza— al— Tanzania—Civil—Aviation—Authority Gold Associate Members – 13 — Dutch—Caribbean—Air—Navigation—Service—Provider— —— The—LFV—Group Volo • A bu Dhabi Airports Company • Entidad Pública Aeropuertos Españoles y (DC-ANSP) —— Ukrainian—Air—Traffic—Service—Enterprise— • Airbus ProSky Navegación Aérea (Aena) — ENANA-EP—ANGOLA (UkSATSE) • Boeing • E stonian Air Navigation Services (EANS) ENAV—S.p.A:—Società—Nazionale—per—l’Assistenza—al— —— U.S.—DoD—Policy—Board—on—Federal—Aviation • BT Plc • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Volo • FREQUENTIS AG • Finavia Corporation • GroupEAD Europe S.L. — Entidad—Pública—Aeropuertos—Españoles—y— • GCAA United Arab Emirates Gold Associate Members - 13 • ITT Exelis Navegación—Aérea—(Aena) • General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) —— Abu—Dhabi—Airports—Company • L ockheed Martin • Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) — Estonian—Air—Navigation—Services—(EANS) —— Airbus—ProSky • Metron Aviation • HungaroControl Pte. Ltd. Co. — Federal—Aviation—Administration—(FAA) —— Boeing • Raytheon • Israel Airports Authority (IAA) — Finavia—Corporation • SELEX Sistemi Integrati S.p.A. —— BT—Plc • Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) • Telephonics Corporation, ESD — GCAA—United—Arab—Emirates —— FREQUENTIS—AG • ISAVIA Ltd • Thales — General—Authority—of—Civil—Aviation—(GACA) • Kazaeronavigatsia —— GroupEAD—Europe—S.L. • Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) — Hellenic—Civil—Aviation—Authority—(HCAA) —— ITT—Exelis Silver Associate Members – 61 • L atvijas Gaisa Satiksme (LGS) — HungaroControl—Pte.—Ltd.—Co. —— Lockheed—Martin • Letové prevádzkové Služby Slovenskej • Adacel Inc. — Israel—Airports—Authority—(IAA) —— Metron—Aviation Republiky, Štátny Podnik • ARINC — Irish—Aviation—Authority—(IAA) —— Raytheon • Luchtverkeersleiding Nederland (LVNL) • ATCA – Japan — ISAVIA—Ltd • Luxembourg ANA —— SELEX—Sistemi—Integrati—S.p.A. • ATECH Negócios em Tecnologia S/A — Kazaeronavigatsia • Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) —— Telephonics—Corporation,—ESD • Aviation Advocacy Sarl — Kenya—Civil—Aviation—Authority—(KCAA) —— Thales— — Latvijas—Gaisa—Satiksme—(LGS) — Letové—prevádzkové—Služby—Slovenskej— 34 QUARTER 3 2012 AIRSPACE Silver Associate Members - 61 Republiky,—Štátny—Podnik —— Adacel—Inc.
Light area illustrates airspace controlled by CANSO members
Members – 73 —Full — ATECH—Negócios—em—Tecnologia—S/A —•— Avibit Aviation—Advocacy—Sarl Data Processing GmbH —•— Avitech Avibit—Data—Processing—GmbH AG JSC —•— A ZIMUT Avitech—AG Orthogon GmbH —•— Barco AZIMUT—JSC Allen Hamilton, Inc. —•— Booz Barco—Orthogon—GmbH & Kjaer EMS —•— Brüel Booz—Allen—Hamilton,—Inc. • Comsoft GmbH —— Brüel—&—Kjaer—EMS • A bu Dhabi Department of Transport —•— Dubai Comsoft—GmbH Airports —•— E ADS Abu—Dhabi—Department—of—Transport Cassidian —•— EIZO Dubai—Airports Technologies GmbH —•— European EADS—Cassidian Satellite Services Provider (ESSP SAS) —•— Emirates EIZO—Technologies—GmbH Point North —•— Entry European—Satellite—Services—Provider—(ESSP—SAS) Corporation —•— Era Emirates Airways —•— Etihad Entry—Point—North Services B.V. —•— Fokker Era—Corporation • GE Aviation’s PBN Services —•— Guntermann Etihad—Airways & Drunck GmbH —•— Harris Fokker—Services—B.V. Corporation —•— Helios GE—Aviation’s—PBN—Services —•— HITT Guntermann—&—Drunck—GmbH Traffic —•— Honeywell Harris—Corporation International Inc. / Aerospace – Ingegneria Dei Sistemi S.p.A. —•— IDS Helios Navia AS —•— Indra HITT—Traffic Sistemas —•— Indra Honeywell—International—Inc.—/—Aerospace —•— INECO IDS—–—Ingegneria—Dei—Sistemi—S.p.A. • Inmarsat Global Limited —— Indra—Navia—AS • Integra A/S —•— Intelcan Indra—Sistemas Technosystems Inc. —•— International INECO Aeronavigation Systems (IANS) —•— Iridium Inmarsat—Global—Limited Communications Inc. —•— Jeppesen Integra—A/S Aktiengesellschaft —•— LAIC Intelcan—Technosystems—Inc. R&P Corporation —•— LEMZ International—Aeronavigation—Systems—(IANS) Aviation Consulting AB —•— LFV Iridium—Communications—Inc. icro Nav Ltd —•— MJeppesen MITRE Corporation – CAASD —•— The LAIC—Aktiengesellschaft • MovingDot —•— N ew LEMZ—R&P—Corporation Mexico State University Physical Science Lab —•— NLR LFV—Aviation—Consulting—AB —•— N orthrop Micro—Nav—Ltd Grumman —•— NTT The—MITRE—Corporation—–—CAASD Data Corporation —•— Project MovingDot Boost uintiq —•— QNew—Mexico—State—University—Physical—Science—Lab —•— Rockwell NLR Collins, Inc. & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG —•— Rohde Northrop—Grumman AB —•— Saab NTT—Data—Corporation • Saab Sensis Corporation —— Project—Boost— • Saudi Arabian Airlines —•— SENASA Quintiq —•— SITA Rockwell—Collins,—Inc. —•— STR-SpeechTech Rohde—&—Schwarz—GmbH—&—Co.—KG Ltd. —•— Tetra Saab—AB Tech AMT ashington Consulting Group —•— WSaab—Sensis—Corporation IDE —•— WSaudi—Arabian—Airlines —— SENASA —— SITA —— STR-SpeechTech—Ltd. —— Tetra—Tech—AMT
ATM. Better decisions deliver better outcomes.
Long-term support?
Safer skies? Increasing air traffic efficiency makes new solutions essential
Offering a complete range of extended services
Optimising controller workloads? Providing integrated technology enables controllers to focus on their primary roles
Cyber security? Ensuring data integrity protection against cyber threats is vital
Greener ATM? Optimising flight profiles with reduced holding patterns, cuts carbon emission and fuel consumption
Growing aircraft numbers make Air Traffic Management more complex. Thales TopSky-ATM Solutions help to make the skies safer, greener and more efficient. Our industry-leading initiatives, components, systems and services are integral to the SESAR programme in Europe and NextGen in the US. Thales is trusted by key ATM decision makers across 180 nations and an impressive 2 out of every 3 planes around the world land and take-off with the help of Thales. To learn more about our TopSky-ATM Solutions, scan the QR code or visit thalesgroup.com
AIRSPACE
QUARTER 3 2012 35
?
How Do you
measure A metron
minutes of delays eliminated 70 million million liters of fuel saved 191 +
= 590 of co emissions cut billion DollArs = 7 of cost savings
tHousAnD metriC tons 2
Parking Gate Arrivals or Courtyard Arrivals or NE and SE 40
CMJ FDX451 B72Q S5 GQE 18L 113
}
CMJ FDX683 B72Q NS5 GQE 36L 351
}
tHe roi of atm is measured in
}
30
} 35
CMJ FDX628 A306 S6 WLD 36C 265
CMJ FDX808 MD10 S5 GQE 36L 351
metrons.
Metron Aviation, a subsidiary of Airbus Americas and member of the Airbus ProSky Alliance, is the leading provider of Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM), surface operations management, airspace design, environmental analysis and advanced research services for the global aviation industry. Metron Aviation’s Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) solutions increase capacity, reduce delays and lower emissions by harmonizing gate-to-gate traffic flow for industry leaders like the FAA, NAV CANADA, NASA, ATNS, FedEx, Delta Air Lines and Airservices Australia.
MetronAviation.CoM
www.