Airspace 6

journal of the civil air navigation services organisation

ISSUE 06 QUARTER 3 2009

Heading for the New World Tackling fragmentation in Latin America New concepts in Civil-Military cooperation No Walls At The Borders: Marion Blakey on the future of NextGen and American airspace development

Feature:

Mind the Gap? ATCO staff forecasts and remuneration PLUS CANSO’s new SMS Standard of Excellence, regional advances in the Middle East, and news and comment from the world of ATM AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 1

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CONTENTS COMMENT journal of the civil air navigation services organisation

ISSUE 06 QUARTER 3 2009

5 EDITOR’S NOTE Geographically, operationally, and technologically, Airspace is heading for a New World.

Heading for the new world Tackling fragmentation in Latin America New concepts in Civil-Military cooperation

8-9 LETTER FROM AMERICA Eugene Juba of the FAA ATO explains that the recruitment of ATCO’s is on track.

No Walls At The Borders: Marion Blakey on the future of NextGen and American airspace development

10 THE CEO COLUMN Daniel Weder of skyguide gives his 8-point plan for the future of ANS.

ATM NEWS Feature:

Mind the Gap? ATCO staff forecasts and remuneration PLUS CANSO’s new SMS Standard of Excellence, regional advances in the Middle East, and news and comment from the world of ATM AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 1

Airspace No. 6 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 Editor:

Chris Goater chris.goater@canso.org

Advertisement Manager: Gill Thompson

gill.thompson@canso.org Telephone: +44 (0)1273 771020

Design: i-KOS Telephone: +44 (0)1322 277255 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. © Copyright CANSO 2009

6-7 THE LATEST INFORMATION ON CANSO’s search for a Director General, key decisions taken at the CANSO AGM, global air traffic numbers stablising, looming environmental decisions for aviation, and all change at the CANSO European regional office.

FEATURES 12-13 TACKLING FRAGMENTATION IN LATIN AMERICA Latin American airspace remains among the most disjointed in the world. But ANSPs in the region have begun ambitious changes to address the problem.

22-23 MIND THE GAP? CANSO REPORTS ON ATCO STAFF FORECASTS AND REMUNERATION CANSO’s Human Resources workgroup has been busy looking at future demand for ATCOs, as well as their current pay and conditions. What conclusions can be drawn from their work?

PEOPLE 16-18 BOARDROOM VIEW: MARION BLAKEY On the eve of the annual ATCA event in Washington, Airspace talks to Marion Blakey, President of Aerospace Industries Association, about the challenges facing ATM, and how her members will help to solve them.

27 FRONTLINE: MASSIMO GARBINI CANSO’s new operations committee has the daunting task of bringing together the world’s ANSPs to work towards greater operational efficiency and harmonisation.

ENAV’s Director of Operations, Massimo Garbini, is one of the leaders of that task.

TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS 14-15 CIVIL-MILITARY COOPERATION Greater cooperation between civil and military air navigation is increasingly seen as essential if significant increases in capacity and efficiency are to occur. Here we see some examples of how CANSO members are promoting such cooperation around the world.

19-21 SAFELY DOES IT – CANSO SMS STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE The first of CANSO’s new Standards of Excellence is in Safety Management Systems.

Airspace looks at how this standard works and what it means for ANSPs. 24-25 EUROPE’s CPDLC MANDATE As the EU lays down new requirements on data links, what are the prospects for similar mandates in other regions?

INSIDE CANSO civil air navigation services organisation

29 FOCUS ON… CANSO MIDDLE EAST REGION A look at CANSO’s exciting new work programme in the Middle East.

30 WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO Information on joining CANSO and benefits to members.

AIRSPACE

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EDITOR’S NOTE

the cover, ew World’ on N e th r fo g is sue. eadin plored in this ex e headline ‘H e th t ar u p ch hi to w n es lf is We’ve chose d that in it se mber of them Americas, an together a nu e s th e A ti to TC it e A se ’s nc u beca ctober a refere hington at O of course, is as ’ d W rl in o in n r W ea he b ew arib ry gat The ‘N ence, in the C in our indust y er nf an m co an as as ic ic e, er er Am n Am appropriat lding it s fir st NS in the Lati A ho f o so e al at is st e SO an or d re th event. CAN A Administrat &13 we explo FA 12 er es rm ag p fo n y, o ke d her Bla November, an from Marion who gives us Association, room View is d rs ar re o B tu FA A e ur ac th O uf f ao e Man region. d Eugene Jub te the Aerospac f vi o in t so en al d si ve U re we’ the SA. current P NextGen. And recruitment in f o O ss TC A re g at ro p ng oki views on the m America’, lo ur ‘Let ter fro o ed te ri w to ATO Report, prepar aff Forecasts St O s TC ay A w e al th is s of bers the major focu of ATCO num so re al tu is s fu er e . b th er m si ATCO nu . Predic ting d be a lit tle ea HR Workgroup ures, it shoul SO fig N ’s A C SO e N th A y C b using 22 & 23. e ANSPs, but gs on pages in d dif ficult for th fin y ke e e some of th f E xcellence, We summaris S Standard o SM w ne ’s SO V’s Massimo at CAN speak to ENA e ion, we look it w d ed an is n, th io in e was one operat Elsewhere his commit te T ivil-Military co C e. in te it ts m ep m o nc gC June, some new co ations Standin NSO AGM in A er C p e O th w m ne o e fr th ts to emerge tion of ANSP Garbini about t developmen bal harmonisa lo an g rt o g p in im ad st le o of the m long-term task ged with the since it is char deed.

New World in a – m ns io at er op , as it s E xC o a n e w w o rl d to in r g n fo vi o re be m ru ct u o ri ti e s an d st se lf w ill so o n ri it p O e S th N ’s t It A u .

C o ar , ye in g F in ally ’ strategy next to b e g in se tt r 10 e b 20 o e ct in O ag in w f the ‘Im e follo ing w ill m e e t ing the end o irspace’ will b w ‘A llo ch fo hi n, w , io ss at ce CANSO the Organis interesting pro departure of ly g us in o d d en en p im em e tr search for his going to be a There is also th e latest on the nths to come. o th m ad e re th n er ca ov u Alexander in le. Yo for you xander ter Kui interview with le e A iv al us cl er ex en G an u Secretary e will bring yo page 6, and w n o r so es cc su ember. e, out in Dec our next issu

Chris Goater

AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 5

ATM NEWS CANSO news

CANSO BEGINS SEARCH FOR NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL CANSO has begun its search for a Director General, following the announcement at the Organisation’s AGM that Secretary General Alexander ter Kuile will be stepping down at the end of the year.

Ter Kuile, who has led CANSO for nine years, said he was proud of how the Organisation had grown to embrace more than 100 members on five continents, but that a new phase of the association was imminent. Responding, CANSO Chairman Ashley Smout expressed the deep gratitude of the whole Membership to Alexander for his extraordinary achievements over the past decade. CANSO had undergone an incredible transformation under his leadership, and it would be a very hard task to find a replacement.

Alexander ter Kuile and CANSO Chairman Ashley Smout announcing Alexander’s impending departure from CANSO.

The first decision taken by the ExCom following the announcement was to agree that the new leader would be a Director General, reflecting the level to which Alexander had taken his Secretary General role. Executive recruitment firm Spencer Stuart created a long list of suitable candidates over the summer, from which the ExCom has now selected a shortlist.

The first round of interviews is scheduled to be in the first week of October, with a view to making an announcement of the successful candidate before the end of the year. In tandem with the recruitment process, the ExCom is considering a new strategy to replace the Imagine 2010 programme, which will conclude at the 2010 AGM. The role and responsibilities of the new Director General will clearly be heavily influenced by the outcome of this review, as well as the strengths of the successful candidate.

CANSO 13th AGM and CEO CONFERENCE: DECISIONS TO MAKE ASSOCIATION WIDER AND DEEPER CANSO’s 13th AGM and CEO Conference, hosted by the FAA ATO in San Diego, was notable for a number of significant debates and decisions. The CEO Conference contained two new innovations; a formal debate on a motion (‘That Cost Recovery is Dead’), and a ‘fishbowl’ session, to encourage audience participation. The evidence in the hall, and subsequent feedback, showed that both sessions were a great success, and are already being imitated by other industry events.

The AGM passed a number of significant proposals. A new CANSO Middle East Region was approved, with an office

Dieter Kaden led the team proposing the motion ‘this conference believes that Cost Recovery is dead’ at CANSO’s 13th AGM and CEO Conference.

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based in Jeddah and a Director of Middle Eastern Affairs, Mr Salem Jahdli, seconded from GACA Saudi Arabia. The creation of this CANSO region follows the highly successful 1st Middle East ANSP Conference and the two safety and business transformation seminars which have been organised during 2009. An article focusing on CANSO’s new Middle East region is on page 28. The second important decision was the approval of the ‘CANSO Standard of Excellence’.

This means that CANSO programmes can now produce work which enables implementation of best practice. The CANSO Standards of Excellence are designed to complement ICAO standards, and the first one, for Safety Management Systems, has already been released (see report starting on page 19).

The third important decision was the agreement to launch a CANSO Operations Standing Committee. This is a vital step for the Association, as the Committee will help to deliver against the raised expectations among policy makers and industry partners of the ability of ANSPs to achieve greater harmonisation and performance. It will work closely with the other aviation sectors, as well as with ANSPs to assist them to raise their performance and that of the aviation system as a whole (see interview with Massimo Garbini on page 27).

Statistics

ANSP MOVEMENTS: WORLD SLOWLY CLIMBING OUT OF RECESSION Statistics released by CANSO show that the decline in flights stabilised in the second quarter of 2009, raising hopes that a recovery could be under way. In the second quarter of 2009, CANSO Member ANSPs controlled 8% fewer movements than in the equivalent period of 2008.

While the aggregated data for the second quarter provides little indication that the worst is over, month-on-month data is more encouraging – the gap drew closer to 2008 levels as the quarter progressed: In April 2009, movements were -8.8% below 2008 levels, -8.5% in May, and -6.8% in June.

Commenting on the April-June statistics, CANSO Secretary General Alexander ter Kuile said: “Throughout the first half of 2009, the number of movements remained around -7 to -9% below 2008 levels, signalling that aviation remains under enormous and sustained pressure from the economic crisis.

CANSO Members have recognised this with many taking action. In the last few weeks alone, Airservices Australia have

Second-quarter movements show a narrowing in the decline. Could the recovery be under way?

announced plans to freeze charges to 2011, Avinor have asked the Government of Norway not to increase airport charges in 2010, and Finavia have introduced discounts of over 10% on Air Transport Charges. However, while these initiatives are positive and will help in the short-term, they do not represent a long-term solution for ANS charges and investment.”

To view year-to-date and month-on-month IFR movement statistics visit the CANSO Website at www.canso.org/statistics.

Environment

AVIATION PREPARES INPUT TO COPENHAGEN SUMMIT Negotiations around aviation’s contribution to a global agreement on climate change have gathered pace in the run-up to the UNFCCC COP 15 meeting in Copenhagen, December. A consolidated industry view, including CANSO’s position on ATM’s contribution to airspace efficiency, has been collated by ATAG and presented to ICAO for discussion on aviation’s environmental impact, at a High Level Meeting 7-9 October. ICAO’s recommendations will be submitted to the UNFCCCC which will be seeking a new global climate agreement for limiting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The proposals being considered by ICAO include mandatory fuel efficiency targets, CO2 standards for aircraft, greater investment in infrastructure and biofuels, and the possibility of a global emissions trading scheme. The aviation industry is expected to play an important part in the COP 15 negotiations, as proposals for incorporating aviation into a global emissions treaty, and also a passenger tax to transfer money to developing nations, have been tabled.

CANSO news

GÜNTER MARTIS TAKES REIGNS AT CANSO EUROPEAN OFFICE Günter Martis has started work at CANSO’s European office, as the Association bids a fond farewell to Marie Desseaux, who is retiring at the end of September.

Marie led the European office from its inception in 2004, ensuring that CANSO’s voice was heard at all the important discussions surrounding the Single European Sky, the future of EUROCONTROL, and numerous other crucial issues concerning labour relations, safety, and economics.

Marie Desseaux.

“Marie’s contribution to CANSO over

the last five years has been incalculable” said Secretary General Alexander ter Kuile. “CANSO is now a hugely respected voice on European affairs, thanks to her tireless efforts. She also leaves the Association strongly placed to assist in crucial industry developments such as the FAB process and the SESAR masterplan. We wish her all the very best for her retirement.”

Günter Martis.

Her successor, Günter Martis, is the former IATA Director of European Safety, Operations and Infrastructure, and previously had a long career at Austrian Airlines. His first task as Director of European Affairs will be to appoint a successor to Jaan Taam, who has returned to his native Estonia to lead their Aviation Academy.

AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 7

COMMENT

Letter from America New FAA Controllers hiring plan on track for NextGen Hiring and training new air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Air Traffic Organization (ATO) is not only happening faster than a wave of controller retirements but is also delivering a new generation of controllers in time for the Next Generation Air Transportation System.

Earlier this year, we released the fifth edition of our long-term ATO staffing plan to hire, train, and develop the air traffic controller workforce. Our plan reports that system-wide, air traffic demand has declined significantly over the past decade. Since 2000, the peak year for traffic, volume has fallen by 17 percent and is not expected to return to peak levels in the near term. On a per-operation basis, the ATO has more fully certified controllers on board today than in 2000.

Ensuring air traffic control facilities are adequately staffed to meet workload and traffic volume is a high priority for us. Our “staff to traffic� model provides the flexibility to match the number of controllers with traffic volume and workload unique to each facility.

Numerous facility-specific factors are considered, including traffic volume based on forecasts and hours of operation, as well as forecasts of retirements and attrition losses.

Controller retirements in fiscal year 2008 were below projections, and lower than the previous year.

Current year retirements are trending even lower than last year. In total, we expect to lose more than 1,500 controllers due to retirements, promotions and other losses in fiscal year, ending September 30, 2009. Over the next 10 years, we project a total loss of 14,657 controllers from all causes.

The good news is that thousands keep applying for air traffic controller jobs and enter the preparation pipeline. We continue to hire well in advance, allowing sufficient training time for newly hired controllers to replace retiring controllers. In fiscal year 2008, we brought 2,196 new air traffic controllers on board, exceeding hiring targets by 300. In the last three years, we have hired more than 5,500 new air traffic controllers, increasing the controller workforce to 15,381.

These new controllers are learning new methods of controlling traffic. The Next Generation Air Transportation System incorporates satellite-based technologies into existing systems to improve operations today.

For example, the FAA recently deployed a new oceanic air traffic control system that uses satellites and electronic reporting of aircraft positions. The FAA also reduced separation requirements in the West Atlantic for aircraft equipped with advanced avionics and established satellite-based routes on the West Coast.

In the last decade or so, new technology and procedures have been introduced into the air traffic system to increase capacity, reduce delays and improve controller productivity. Some of these include the User Request Evaluation Tool, Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum and Traffic Management Advisor. These modern tools have enabled controllers to handle additional traffic more safely and more efficiently.

This planned evolutionary approach provides for a smooth transition for pilots and controllers. And as the FAA brings thousands of new controllers on board, our training continues to improve.

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The FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, trains developmental controllers using lecture, computer-based instruction, medium-fidelity simulation, and high-fidelity simulation. The academy lays the foundation for developmental controllers by teaching fundamental air traffic control procedures that are used across the country. In 2008, the FAA vastly increased the terminal simulation capability at the FAA Academy by installing six new high-fidelity tower simulators, providing a realistic tower environment in which to teach new controllers.

The academy also installed a state-of-the-art en route training lab, which simulates the air traffic control technology currently in use in FAA en route facilities and provides unique training opportunities. The FAA has been using tower simulators for on-site field training in Chicago, Miami, Phoenix and Ontario, Calif., since 2006. In December 2007, the FAA awarded a contract to provide another 18 simulators to field facilities.

All these improvements contribute to reducing training time for terminal and en route controllers.

It no longer takes from three-to-five years to fully train a professionally certified air traffic controller.

Depending on the complexity of the facility, controllers are now being trained to full certification in two-to-three years.

Based on our hiring needs, vacancy announcements are issued to recruit candidates from the general public, air traffic collegiate training initiative graduates, retired military controllers, veterans eligible under the Veterans’ Recruitment Appointment Authority, as well as current and former civilian air traffic controllers. The FAA is streamlining the controller application process through enhanced automation and recruiting candidates under open continuous vacancy announcements.

The number of people in the hiring pool varies during the year as applicants are evaluated and drawn from the pool. However, our overall goal is to maintain a pool of between 3,000 and 5,000 candidates available for consideration by selection panels at any one time.

The FAA attracts potential job candidates with the use of popular Internet and social networking sites such as CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com, HireDiversity.com, haveadreamjob.com, aviationemployment. com, Military.com, YouTube.com and MySpace.com.

The FAA places advertisements on morning drive-time radio, local television stations and buses.

Newspaper and magazine advertisements in USA Today, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Native American Times, Asian Week, Latina, Minority Career, Atlanta Latino and Birmingham Times are supplemented with media designed to reach and attract a broader applicant pool for controller positions.

This year the FAA plans to participate in more than 65 job fairs such as: Annual Career Fair for People with Disabilities & Disabled Veterans, Washington, D.C.; Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, Kan.; Good Morning America & Women for Hire, Hollywood, Fla.; National Asian American Student Conference, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.; Diversity Military World Heritage Expo, National Harbor, Md.; Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Ala.; and University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.

Safety is our top priority at the Federal Aviation Administration. Every day tens of thousands of aircraft are guided safely and expeditiously through the national airspace system. This would not be possible without the combined expertise of people, leading edge technology and procedures the FAA works hard to maintain. The FAA is on track to systematically replace air traffic controllers as well as ensuring the knowledge transfer required to maintain a safe airspace system.

Eugene D. Juba Senior Vice President for ATO Finance Air Traffic Organization Federal Aviation Administration

AIRSPACE

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COMMENT

The CEO column Daniel Weder For the last maybe 15 years, ANS has been in a continuous improvement process. Intensive efforts to achieve the complex balance between safety, capacity and cost are leading to ever better performance.

Safety management has gained in conceptual insight and widespread application throughout the industry. Although this year’s traffic statistics are notably in the red in most countries, there have never been so many airspace users flown safely to their destination with the help of ANS. However, in spite of this good news, is there a future for the ANS system as we know it? I do not believe that the challenges of the future will be met with the present structure. We need new infrastructures, new airspace design and new business models to take up the challenges of the 21 century. And this should be viewed as welcome news!

The last successful global capacity increasing measure was the implementation of RVSM between 1997 and 2005.

What else is in the pipeline to handle the ever increasing amount of air traffic? New control systems, data link to reduce ATCO workload, improved sectorisation and better inter-centre coordination for more direct routes etc.

Additionally, there are several strongly communicated initiatives to improve the environmental footprint of our industry. We, in Europe, are of course well aware of the Single European Sky and SESAR, the most important initiatives to boost performance in our region. How much they will bring and at what cost cannot be said today. The investments and efforts needed to generate even marginal improvements in air traffic control are considerable and maybe occasionally disproportionate to the benefits.

The degree of systemic complexity becomes such that safety, the paramount target and raison d’être of ATC, might be hindered in the long run. Today’s ANS infrastructures and supporting processes have reached their zenith. Paradoxically, many ANSPs invest heavily to optimise the existing system without ever questioning the basic business model of ANS provision. Our industry needs a new way of thinking and different business models to secure the target levels of performance – and naturally of safety – defined for the future. I am convinced that the following eight points constitute the foundation for the future development of our industry. While national sovereignty is not questioned we need to: 1. Undertake new airspace design which should reflect traffic flows and support dynamic airspace management; 2. Build a system and business model “from scratch” with lowest possible basic complexity. Eliminating inherited assumptions will lead the industry to further improvements. By doing this both safety and capacity can simultaneously be increased; 3. Achieve the highest possible standardisation of processes and systems; buy systems from the shelf whenever possible; 4. Consolidate ANS centres where necessary to achieve an optimal scale effect.

5. Promote cross-border service provision wherever such practices are expected to improve overall performance; 6. See ATS as the core activity with ANSPs purchasing all ancillary services (such as technics, training, AIM etc.); 7. Establish new organisational constructions such as national holdings in order to manage companies and participations; 8. Establish system redundancy between centres, and possibly between ANSPs, and not only within individual centres.

A new regime of economic regulation will be required to meet these strategic objectives. There should be some sort of incentive for innovation in the ANS industry where those willing and able to progress with all due attention to safety are rewarded. ANS is a people business where safety, capacity and cost management are key. Efficiency gains will be obtained by new business models. Pure cutting of salaries is not the practical way in this respect. It is neither acceptable from a social point of view nor the wise economic base line. Much higher benefits can be expected from managerial practices which associate the staff to the good performance of the system.

I know that there is a long way to go. However, if we don’t start now we will have to support the ever increasing cost of optimisation with highly doubtful prospects of satisfying the needs and expectations of our customers, the users of the airspace and the states.

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AIRSPACE

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FEATURE Tackling fragmentation in Latin America The Latin American region has more than its fair share of challenges. Inhospitable terrain and wide economic diversity between states means the region is fragmented. A number of different languages predominate, with English least common among them, and unlike North America and Europe, it lacks a cohesive ATM infrastructure. Nevertheless, the region’s aviation industry is bucking the trend, and has recorded a smaller traffic downturn than other regions of the world. IATA reports a five per cent fall in traffic in June, compared with double this figure overall, and stronger cargo figures. This is despite restricted travel as a result of the H1N1 virus.

Less encouraging, however, is the region’s safety record. Flight Safety Foundation statistics show Latin America and Caribbean states have among the highest accidents rate after Africa and Asia. Compared to the average figure worldwide, of 1.03 hull-loss accidents per million departures annually in the last decade, the figure for Latin America is 3.2, Asia 6.7 and 9.7 in Africa. In North America, Europe and Oceania the figure is less than 1. While the figures show improvement since 2000, they are still unacceptably high. In 2008, Latin America, along with CIS states, recorded the highest regional accident rates worldwide, with more than a quarter resulting in fatalities according to IATA. Some states have suffered from ATC equipment failure, such as the loss of radar surveillance in Argentina during 2007, and system outages in Brazil’s busy Sa˘o Paulo airspace in the same year. High profile accidents, like the mid-air collision between GOL B737 and Legacy N600XL in Brazilian airspace in 2006 underline the need for robust ATC infrastructure, and strong oversight.

ICAO’s South American (SAM) regional office in Lima, Peru, is focused on helping states achieve high standards of navigation service provision. SAM established the Regional Aviation Safety Group in the first half of 2008 to help states implement the ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP). States 12 QUARTER 3 2009

AIRSPACE

use the ICAO regulatory framework to develop model regulations and guidance materials for their safety management systems. Activities include workshops, information exchange and coordination of regional safety programmes. SAM currently provides 17 safety management courses in the region, covering all SAM states.

smaller states. Activities like planning, technical analysis, bid evaluation and procurement functions are carried out

by ICAO’s technical bureau.

In addition to spreading best practice, SAM heads up regional initiatives to improve the ATS route network across the region. Jorge Fernández, ICAO’s regional ATM Officer says: “We’ve established a South American Implementation Group (SAMIG) which meets twice a year in order to coordinate the implementation of PBN, ATFM, ATM Automation, CNS improvements, and the ATS route network.” The fourth SAMIG meeting in October 2009 includes drawing up actions plans for these programmes.

A successful SAM initiative is the creation of the South American Digital ATM network (REDDIG), set up in 2003 to provide aeronautical telecommunications services across the region. ICAO’s North American and Caribbean office based in Mexico also operates a similar network known as MEVA, and the two networks have recently been interconnected. ICAO SAM plans to upgrade REDDIGG software and hardware in the next three years, and introduce radar data exchange between participating states.

ICAO is working closely with IATA to introduce more required navigation performance (RNAV/RNP) procedures across all states, and over 77 RNAV routes have been implemented across the region. The programme is underway in countries including Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Panama, with other including Colombia and Costa Rica joining this year.

Planned investment

Fernandez adds: “The region is working hard to improve the service provided by SAM States”. For many, ICAO provides resources that are unavailable in the

Individual states are also forging ahead with ATC modernization programmes, with Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico all pursuing long term investment.

Brazil completed the $2 billion SIVAM surveillance project covering two million square miles of Amazon rainforest with prime contractor Raytheon in 2004, and embarked on a UHF/ VHF extended range communication network with Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems at the start of this year. The military authority DECEA

system at Recife, and plans to relocate the standalone workstation to Manaus area centre, in the heart of the Amazon.

Chile was first to install a SITA workstation to support data link communications over Pacific Ocean in 2006. The Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (DGAC) is now integrating the system into its Thales Eurocat platform, and the navigation service provider received IATA’s Eagle Award in 2007 in recognition of its safety enhancement work.

Meanwhile Mexico has just completed upgrading the Thales Eurocat systems at the regional airports of Mazatlan, Hermosillo, Puerto Vallarta, San Jose and Tujuana. Eurocat already operates at Mexico City and Thales is responsible for the country’s primary and secondary radar network. Later this year, the tallest tower in Latin America opens at Cancun International Airport, equipped with an integrated suite of tower tools supplied

by Frequentis. administers the integrated control centres for air defence and ATC. Among capital projects, DECEA is to tender for replacement of its VHF network, installed by SITA in the 1990s. The new contract is expected to include operation and maintenance of a nationwide VDL Mode 2 network.

DECEA is also rolling out D-ATIS at its main airports, and adding data link communications over the South Atlantic.

SITA supplied a standalone data link workstation to the Recife oceanic centre controlling the Atlantico flight information region in 2008. “The system gives DECEA the ability to monitor the South Atlantic traffic,” says Adriana Mottas, SITA’s ATM Business Development Manager for Latin America and Caribbean: “When Air France flight 447 disappeared, it was able to give more precise information about where to look for wreckage. Data link traffic has increased a lot since the accident as more airlines have started the use the service.”

Data link brings many benefits to the region. With many non-English speaking operators, data link messages help to reduce voice transmission errors – identified as the source of three quarters of incidents reported by the airlines. DECEA is working with local supplier ATECH to integrate data link into the main ATC

Mexican service provider, and newest CANSO member, Servicios a la Navegacióen al Espacio Aéreo Mexicano (SENEAM) is now looking at enhanced surveillance over the Gulf region with the addition of an ADS-B network.

Institutional hurdles In a minority of Latin American states, like Venezuela, ATC modernization is under the control of the military.

This limits the procurement of civil equipment and a number are moving to civilian control. In Argentina, a new civilian administration was created in January 2008 called Administración Nacional de Aviación Civil (ANAC) with responsibility for modernizing the country’s ATC system. Ecuador’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation in Ecuador installed a civil radar system supplied by Indra on the Galapagos Islands this year, and is installing the company’s radar displays at Quito approach control.

Cuba, which controls some of the busiest airspace in the Caribbean region, has implemented a national ATC system with financing from Export Development Canada (EDC). Canadian company Intelcan helped to modernise the existing radar network, and supplied

communications, navigation and landing systems on the island.

Meanwhile, states in Central America have found that working together has been a successful strategy, albeit on a smaller scale. The six states of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are members of the Central American Corporation for Air Navigation Services (COCESNA), which provides air traffic services, aeronautical telecommunications and navigation aids across the region. Major programmes include installation of a radar surveillance network and control facilities by Indra in recent years.

Cooperation has proved a successful way to develop an integrated ATC infrastructure, as shown by ICAO’s South American initiatives, and shared programme development between some states. Progress is hampered however by the fragmented structure of the region, and small number of joint projects. If Latin America is to improve its safety record, and go some way to meeting ICAO objectives to optimise the ATM route network, there needs to be stronger cooperation between all states. One area where this is taking shape is regional implementation activity by IATA and ICAO to introduce performance based navigation.

ICAO Caribbean and South American member states have agreed to present their PBN implementation national plans to their regional office in December 2009 in order to harmonise these plans across the region as a whole.

This represents a major step towards establishing common standards between states, and mirrors similar work to improve the quality of aeronautical information services (AIS) in the region, and its eventual replacement by a shared aeronautical information management (AIM) system. ICAO says it will designate a focal point which will coordinate the PBN implementation activities in each state.

While the process reveals many discrepancies in operational procedures and practices, it is the first move to finding common solutions, and establishing a stronger regional structure that will help to build a more efficient route network and improve South America’s safety record.

AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 13

TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS Civil-Military Cooperation – New Concepts, New Challenges The need to increase Civil-Military cooperation has long been recognised by States, ANSPs and aviation stakeholders as a key towards optimising capacity and improving airspace efficiency.

For CANSO, civil-military cooperation touches on most of the key issues facing ATM today: Government policy challenges, technological and operational transformation, and the need for better customer service and airspace efficiency. The upcoming ICAO Forum on Civil-Military Cooperation, in Montreal on 19-21 October, is an ideal opportunity to explore some of these issues in more detail, and CANSO will be publishing an in-depth guide to civil-military issues around the world to coincide with the Forum.

As part of that work, CANSO invited its Members to submit best practice of Civil-Military cooperation from their own airspace, and here we review three examples from Europe and the US.

FAA Adaptive Airspace Concept Widens Civil-Military Cooperation Building on earlier successful examples of flexible cooperation, officials from the FAA ATO and the US Air Force have been looking at ways of extending their cooperation to reduce delays and increase airspace efficiency. In recent years, the ATO and Department of Defense have opened up airspace normally reserved for the military, to reduce delays during periods of adverse weather, a high volume of flights – such as at Christmas and Thanksgiving – or other operational constraints. For example during Thanksgiving in 2008 a number of ‘express lanes’ were opened up on the East and West coasts, Midwest and South East, designed to relieve congestion.

This kind of cooperation is being extended through the Adaptive Airspace Concept, a plan to put the more flexible use of airspace and civil-military cooperation on a more permanent footing. At the moment the Air Force is the only branch of the military involved in the discussions, but a wider involvement is being considered if the Concept proves a success.

Initially planners are looking at the possibility of increasing the amount of airspace available to the military, while increasing the flexibility by subdividing the airspace into boxes, which can 14 QUARTER 3 2009

AIRSPACE

be used for either civilian or military purposes. Military activity can then be moved away from areas were civilian traffic is heavy.

For the time being at least, the concept will only be implemented above flight level 180, but if the concept shows big benefits, it may be applied at lower altitudes.

Thirty-three parcels of airspace from all three of the ATO’s service areas have been identified as possible test sites for the project, based on potential reductions in delays, controller complexity, Air Force mission stability and other considerations. These are now being evaluated by the ATO and Air Force to decide which areas should be trialed. En Route Automation Modernization system implementation, safety risk assessments and other factors are being considered in choosing the sites and conducting the trials. The difficulty in selecting the right sites is in finding somewhere busy enough to have some meaningful results, while not going somewhere that is so complex it causes more harm than good.

Unique Developments In Germany The coordination of civil and military airspace has a unique status in Germany, thanks to a requirement since 1991 for civilian and military services to be unified in a single operational and legal system. The 1991 interdepartmental agreement between the defence and transport ministries is the cornerstone of the integration of the civilian and military air traffic control, in which it is stated that

the ability of the military to fulfil their responsibilities, their readiness for operation and the uninterrupted operation of air traffic control must be guaranteed.

The framework conditions for integration are included in the ministerial agreement.

Specifically, this states that in peace time, regional air traffic control is the responsibility of DFS; that military personnel have equivalent work contracts and are employed in all important areas of the company; that DFS is responsible for the education, professional development and further training, including military content, of the operating staff; that the Federal

Ministry of Defence is involved in the control and supervision of the company, and that the flight calibration of the military air traffic controls must be ensured.

Today, the military air traffic controllers and the civilian air traffic controllers work with harmonised operating procedures. Everything from the organisational coordination with military bodies to the development of special procedures for exercises results in additional procedures.

Unlike many other countries, Germany carries out a lot of its military training

European FUA concept. Germany thus became the first State to implement FUA in day-to-day operations under ideal conditions and develop it in a consistent manner.

However the advantages of FUA are already reaching their limits in an ever more densely utilized airspace.

Furthermore, the new fighter jets require new concepts for airspace utilization.

DFS is therefore testing an advanced concept in cooperation with the Air Force: the conversion of conventional Temporary Restricted Areas into dynamically allocated MVPAs (Military Variable Profile Areas). They allow for the introduction of shorter flight distances, and only rarely is it necessary to fly around airspace used for military purposes. MVPAs ensure that military airspace users only have to report the expansion of the exercise airspace and the planned scenario to DFS, who then provides them with a “tailored” airspace that takes civilian traffic flows into account.

The advantages for civilian and military aviation are: • Short-term, requirement-based allocation of military training airspaces with guaranteed usage options • Efficient military training • Optimised civil routing

ENAV: New Concept For Increased Flexibility

flights in direct cooperation with general air traffic. Only specific profiles, such as aerial combat, are carried out in protected, segregated airspace, for safety reasons.

Flexible use of airspace – FUA The coordinated utilization of airspace was and is inevitable in the most densely utilized airspace in the world.

The airspace utilization centre (LRNZ), together with COMIL as the appropriate coordination unit of the military, started coordinating the utilization centrally in the 1980s. This joint centre consequently evolved into the framework of the

The Italian ANSP ENAV has introduced a new ‘ASM-ATFCM integration deployment’ concept for the diffusion of information and better exploitation of dynamic airspace structures, to apply Flexible Use Airspace through an increased modularity of the airspace structures.

The aim is to align existing Airspace Management and Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ASM/ATFCM) processes and to introduce short (2009) and medium (2011) term benefits for the whole European ATM system. The main benefit will be increased flexibility, removing the obstacles that limit current operations and ensuring that civil users are able to access airspace when it is offered to them. In addition this will lead to accurate flight planning and greater predictability.

The introduction of this new concept has been based on simulation activities performed on the R49 military area, reshaped to include more options for airspace exploitation and better accommodation of civil and military needs. The proposed shape for the new R49 area has been considered more appropriate to manage NorthSouth traffic flows. The final aim is the integration of Airspace Management Cell and Flow Management Positions into a single reality.

Since the relationship between FMP, AMC and CFMU has to be strengthened, a new procedure implies a further step in the process: the FMP coordination before the AMC evaluation, to support the negotiation phase through a more dynamic operational concept.

According to the new procedure, which has been introduced on trial basis, each FMP manager (one for each of the 4 ACCs in Italy) sends daily the CDR request to the AMC in order to empower the negotiation phase. On the military side more flexibility (in time and requested block of levels) has been introduced. The application of these simple criteria has allowed ENAV to accommodate, since its implementation in the beginning of 2009, 100% of the military missions, increasing, at the same time, the level of satisfaction of the civil ACCs involved.

The new roles for the units involved are: • FMP: leading role in ATFCM and ability to deal with ATC sectors and restrictions • AMC: leading role in ASM and ability to deal with ATS/CDRs routes and Manageable Areas.

• CFMU: leading role in Air traffic trajectory and profile. Its role includes FMPs’ and AMCs’ tasks.

The initiative will deliver an integrated package of ASM/ATFCM improvements.

ATC will also receive benefits from the above mentioned improvements, giving to ATCOs the chance to better react to the airspace changes, minimizing the sector traffic load and, consequently, preventing ATCO overload. All these factors will result in an increase of capacity and flight efficiency.

AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 15

PEOPLE

Boardroom View

Marion Blakey President of the Aerospace Industries Association Marion Blakey has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Aerospace Industries Association since November 2007. The AIA represents America’s leading manufacturers and suppliers in the civil, military and space sectors. Prior to taking up this post, she served a five-year term as the 15th Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and during her period in office she was instrumental in pushing for the Next Generation Air Transportation System project for modernising US air traffic management.

Have you noticed any change in political priorities towards the American ATM system in the last 12 months?

There has been a lot of movement on the NextGen front over the last year, particularly since last December when President Bush signed an Executive Order mandating accelerated implementation of NextGen. Progress is continuing with the new administration.

Both President Obama and Secretary of Transportation LaHood have pledged administration commitment to NextGen as a top national priority. On numerous occasions, Secretary LaHood has stated publicly that the Department of Transportation wants to see NextGen implementation accelerated and the administration is willing to commit the funds to make it happen. I’m confident that the administration support in combination with growing recognition from Congress about the importance of NextGen will result in the needed funding to not only complete the current implementation plans for NextGen, but do it much earlier than the current target date of 2025.

What major milestones in the NextGen programme do you expect to be passed in the coming months, and what are the most crucial 16 QUARTER 3 2009

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challenges facing the project in the near future?

Most NextGen-related milestones are either related to standards or funding.

The 2010 fiscal year starts October 1, and the funding bills in both the House and Senate have boosted funding above 2009 levels for key NextGen programs.

Planning for the 2011 FAA budget is already underway, but the Obama Administration and Congress must increase funding dramatically if we are going to be able to accelerate NextGen implementation as they intend and all of us in industry believe is necessary.

Another important milestone that we expect shortly is the final rule from the FAA to mandate when ADS-B has to be installed in all aircraft. That rule will help put some metrics in place for the operators. The fact is that certain key NextGen technologies such as RNP, RNAV and CDAs are ready now and that the benefits and efficiencies of NextGen are starting to be realized in many parts of the country such as the Los Angeles Basin, South Florida, Atlanta and Dallas.

FAA can demonstrate its commitment to NextGen acceleration by putting more performance-based navigation procedures in place where they will have the greatest impact. When operators see that commitment from government and a greater willingness on the part of

air traffic controllers to approve those procedures throughout the system, they will be less reticent to endorse NextGen equipment mandates.

The Department of Transportation wants to see NextGen implementation accelerated However, for that to happen, we need to have a healthy aviation industry. Just to put the U.S. airline industry’s current economic plight into perspective…

For the 8 years leading up to 2001 the legacy airlines – American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, US Airways – had cumulative net profits of $17.1 billion. Those same airlines had a cumulative net loss of $38.5 billion in the following 8 years. Airlines are struggling worldwide, but in the U.S. the problem is particularly acute.

Aircraft in the desert – a symptom of the economic difficulties facing the industry. Blakey points out that airlines may not have the capital to buy aircraft capable of handling NextGen avionics.

Commercial airlines currently do not have the capital necessary to buy new aircraft or retrofit existing aircraft with NextGen avionics. AIA has made the case that U.S. government grants for NextGen avionics equipment would serve the public well. We should regard the necessary avionics as a part of the publicly supported air traffic control system – ATC equipment installed on aircraft – and pay for it through taxpayer funds. This will mean a more efficient air transportation system much more quickly. Fewer delays mean a more productive work force. More direct routing and more efficient approaches and departures in the terminal area mean less CO2 emissions, better local air quality and less noise – all clear public benefits. When you think about it, NextGen avionics equipment is really just another part of the air system infrastructure, just like airports, runways and ADS-B, and should be treated as such when it comes to funding.

In the U.S., we will have all 793 ADS-B ground stations installed by 2013. It is

vitally important that we are ready when the FAA has finished ADS-B ground stations to use satellite navigation in place of radar and that we’re not waiting for avionics equipage to happen.

The aviation market is global in nature and there are no walls at the borders Another critical issue is the integration of unmanned aerial systems into the new NextGen airspace. This is a problem that both Europe and the FAA recognize. We need to find a way to bring this new emerging

technology into the civil airspace safely and efficiently. In the United States, the aviation industry is working with the FAA and Defense and Homeland Security Departments to see this happen as quickly and as safely as possible.

Finally, the other most crucial challenge to aviation in general is our environmental responsibilities. Most experts believe that when the economy recovers air and cargo traffic will once again resume their upward track.

Airlines will modernize their fleets and start to add capacity to the system. For the system to grow it needs two things: Firstly a satellite-based system, e.g.

NextGen and SESAR and secondly an environmentally and business-friendly way of addressing CO2 emissions from aviation with more efficient aircraft, operations, air traffic control and alternative fuels.

What sense do you get of the level of cooperation and harmonization AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 17

PEOPLE between the NextGen and SESAR programmes? Is the tendency towards nationalistic procurement preferences a hindrance in such co-operation, and will we be successful in harmonising such dramatically different airspace systems?

There is a growing recognition of the need for harmonisation through ICAO. ICAO is establishing an international coordinating body to handle standards and guidelines for emerging satellitebased systems like NextGen and SESAR. It does no good for manufacturers, operators or ANSPs to have multiple, disparate systems with different requirements. We all benefit from systems that are harmonized and interoperable – one seamless, safe and efficient system. The aviation market is global in nature and there are no walls at the borders. So, there will also be a healthy cross-fertilisation of technologies and products that will enhance the harmonization effort as systems that are built in Europe and the U.S. are sold across the world.

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What role do you see for US manufacturers in global ATM? The aviation market is more global today than ever before and U.S. manufacturers are eager to compete on a fair and equal playing field for the business of producing safe, reliable and efficient air traffic equipment from the avionics in the cockpit to the transmitters on the ground and the satellites in the sky.

Our track record is very strong and has provided much of the innovation we enjoy now, so I expect international harmonization of technological standards and procedures will enable U.S. and foreign manufactures to make and sell products in every country in the world.

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the FAA is still the gold standard in providing air navigation service in the world today. The U.S. political system may be seen by some outside of the United States as being difficult and unwieldy, but the checks and balances in the system are there for a reason and work very well.

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d new Philippe Rochat, Letter from America CUSTOM ft anKaden, Dieter ver w aircra How ne ging ATM fore and much more from the world of2/3ATM AIRSPACE QUARTER 2008 1 an PLUS s are ch ie om econ de wi s world SP AN

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TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS

Safely does it:

CANSO SMS Standard of Excellence Of all the decisions taken at the CANSO AGM in June, among the most crucial was the endorsement of the concept of a ‘CANSO Standard of Excellence’. The creation of standards of excellence marks the start of a process of CANSO doing more than just encouraging the spread of existing best practice – it will now actively seek to shape and develop the highest standards for the ANS sector. To avoid any potential confusion between CANSO standards and other standards (such as ICAO) the CANSO documents will be referred to as ‘Standards of Excellence’. The first ‘Standard of Excellence’ has already been created – for Safety Management Systems.

“Safety is always the first priority for and ANSP. It is the rasion d’etre of ATM” says CANSO’s Safety Manager Richard Schofield. “So it is only natural that CANSO’s first Standard of Excellence should be concerned with safety.

Safety Management Systems seemed

an excellent place to start since they form the essential building block for managing safety within an ANSP.” Across the ATM industry, ANSPs are at different stages of SMS development.

Some have very mature systems which are fully integrated into the operations.

Others are only beginning to embrace the need for a formalised safety management practice and a culture which assures the priority of safety.

A Safety Management System is defined

by CANSO as “An organized approach to managing safety, including the necessary organisational structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures.” Although much guidance material already exists covering the implementation of an SMS, it varies considerably in style and content.

ANSPs sometimes struggle to determine exactly how best to implement SMS, or what they need to do to be compliant with the latest regulations. This is why CANSO decided to produce a document.

“The idea of this SMS Standard of Excellence is to build the bridge between the requirements laid down by ICAO, and the practical difficulties in implementing those requirements” explains Schofield.

“The ICAO proposals on SMS are laudable but are aimed more at States rather than ANSPs. What we have done is interpret and categorize the ICAO proposals into a system which any ANSP can implement. At the same time, we have created a maturity pathway to enable ANSPs to measure themselves and judge how close they are to a fully mature SMS.” CANSO believes that the regulations are useful for testing compliance, but they don’t provide for an evolutionary pathway which drives a culture of continual improvement. So CANSO’s Standard for Excellence does not supersede any domestic or international regulations on safety management but rather provides a pathway for ANSPs to transition from a purely regulatory compliance organisation to one focused on continual improvement.

Safety Culture Development of a positive and proactive safety culture

Safety Policy Elements: Organisational and individual safety responsibilities Timely compliance with international obligations

Safety Policy

Safety Assurance

Safety Promotion

Elements:

Elements:

Elements:

Safety Standards and Procedures

Safety Reporting, Investigation and Improvement

Adoption and Sharing of Best Practices

Competency

Safety Performance Monitoring

Risk Management Safety Interfaces

Operational Safety Surveys and SMS Audits

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QUARTER 3 2009 19

TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS Example four-phase SMS Implementation Plan Phase

1 2

3 4

Group

Element

Safety Policy

Safety Policy Organisational and Individual Safety Responsibilities

Safety Assurance

Safety Reporting, Investigation and Improvement

Safety Achievement

Competency

Safety Culture

Development of a positive and proactive safety culture

Safety Achievement

Safety Standards and Procedures

Safety Promotion

Adoption and sharing of best practises within the ANSP

Safety Achievement

Risk Management

Safety Assurance

Safety Performance Monitoring

Safety Achievement

Safety Interfaces

Safety Policy

Timely compliance with international obligations

Safety Assurance

Operational Safety Surveys and SMS Audits

Safety Promotion

Adoption and sharing of best practises with external stakeholders

Safety Culture

Safety Culture

CANSO’s safety experts have categorized an SMS into five main elements: culture, policy, achievement, assurance, and promotion. Culture and policy form the basis of an SMS, while elements under achievement, assurance and promotion are developed as the maturity of the SMS grows.

The Standard of Excellence contains a number of tables which enable an ANSP to benchmark its achievement against these elements. The diagram above illustrates some of the different elements of the SMS standard, and the safety category they fall under.

The success of an SMS is completely dependent on the development of a positive and proactive Safety Culture in the ANSP. Safety culture is presented within the CANSO standard as a ‘system enabler’ in that it has the most significant influence on the overall integration and evolution of SMS elements within an ANSP. Closely associated with culture is the safety policy of the ANSP. This has two elements: organisational and individual safety responsibilities, and timely compliance with international obligations. Typically, the safety policy of an ANSP will be expressed in the form of a statement and objective, defining the basic approach to managing safety and describing the safety priorities and specific safety objectives of the organisation.

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Following from Safety policy are the three sub-elements of Achievement, Assurance and Promotion. Some of the elements covered by the safety achievement component include:

• Safety Standards and Procedures • Competency • Risk Management and • Safety Interfaces.

Safety assurance is about review and reporting mechanisms, designed to help ANSPs understand how they are performing and how any deficiencies may be overcome. Safety Assurance requirements include the need to address: • Safety reporting, investigation and improvement • Safety performance monitoring • Operational safety surveys and SMS audits.

Finally, safety promotion means that as an ANSP matures the sharing of information extends from an internal focus to one which engages with those who use its services and external sources of international best practice in ATM.

The SMS Maturity Pathway In addition to categorizing the elements of an SMS in a standard format for ANSPs, the CANSO Standard of

Excellence also provides a ‘maturity pathway’ which separates the levels of SMS maturity into different phases. The aim of the standard is to emphasise a phased approach to implementation of SMS, focused on a step-by-step path from an initiating level towards continuous improvement.

There are five phases of the maturity scale (see chart on page 21). Phase 1 is called the initiating phase; in this phase the SMS framework is very immature or non-existent in the organisation.

Phase 2 is known as planning or initial implementation. Here the SMS framework is not yet effective and does not yet meet the required regulatory standard.

Phase 3 – implementing – means that the SMS framework meets the required regulatory standard. Phase 4 is referred to as managing and measuring; in this phase the SMS is fully implemented and is effective in achieving the overall safety objectives of the organisation. Finally, phase 5 is known as continuous improvement. In this phase the SMS is regularly reviewed and enhanced to meet the highest international standards in ATM safety management. This step is a continual process recognising that planning for safety should never cease within an ANSP. “A phased approach is absolutely crucial for the success of CANSO’s objectives” says Schofield. “CANSO’s aim is to help ANSPs improve their performance, and in ATM safety a Safety Management

SMS Maturity Pathway

SMS Effectiveness

Continuous Improvement Managing and Measuring Implementing Planning/Initial Implementation Initiating SMS Maturity System is a fantastic tool for raising safety levels. However, achieving the highest level of SMS maturity is a longterm process. Each element builds on the other and it is a process that must proceed in a very deliberate steps.”

The phased approach firstly seeks to deliver a framework which documents what the organisation is aspiring to achieve in safety management, and who is accountable for delivering on this aspiration. The approach proceeds in a direct and deliberate manner

and is set out in an implementation plan containing clear deliverables and milestones.

After the initiating phase, the second and third phases of implementation are designed to build on the embedded SMS framework and focus on improving the organisational capability in the measurement and analysis of safety performance. In the final phase, the organisation would look to implement the more sophisticated aspects of SMS that enable the ANSP to measure and

critically evaluate its safety improvement performance. Part of this process involves drawing on lessons from other organisations, to ensure continuous improvement.

The table on page 20 presents how a four-phase implementation plan might look. “It is important to remember that the phased implementation approach is flexible enough for an ANSP to progress at different speeds” says Schofield.

“For example, an organisation may reach the continuous improvement phase in its safety assurance, but be still at the implementing phase in its safety promotion.”

In future years the CANSO SMS Standard of Excellence will be seen as one of the key outputs of the Imagine 2010 programme. Not only for its impact on ANSP safety, but for heralding a wider change for CANSO and its members – as true leaders in world ATM. As such, the success of the SMS Standard for Excellence will be measured not just in the improvement in ANSP safety, but also in the quality and delivery of the Standards of Excellence to come.

Sharing the airspace is an art

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AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 21

FEATURE

Mind The Gap?

CANSO reports on ATCO staff forecasts and remuneration One of CANSO’s key strategic goals is to support the harmonisation of global ANS and improve ATM service delivery. CANSO’s global benchmarking activities across key areas of operational performance are a vital part of the quest to raise ATM performance, and as part of that process, the CANSO Human Resources Workgroup (HRWG) has recently published two important reports: the Fourth ATCO Remuneration Report, and a Global ATCO Staffing Forecast Report. The Remuneration Report is prepared every two years and contains refined performance data, analysis and results covering the period 2008/9. The data draws comparisons across ANSPs, plus analysis of trends in ANSP performance from 2003-2009. The Staffing Forecasts Report contains data, analysis and results and predictions for the period 2008-2015.

“The development of an effective performance framework is essential if we are to understand and improve the performance of our organisations” says CANSO’s Director of Industry Affairs Samantha Sharif. “Global benchmarking of ANSP safety, human resource, economic, environmental, and quality performance measurements remains one of the most effective management tools to support improvements in ANS service provision.” An example of this is that the remuneration report allows ANSPs to quickly identify any large discrepancies in the pay and conditions offered to ATCOs. The report also contains a number of key conclusions and notes some interesting trends.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents were 3% or more above or below the mean annual working hours (excluding holidays/leave) which is a substantial variation in the utilisation of an expensive and critical resource.

The significant levels of overtime being worked by ATCOs (the average across ANSPs being 130 hours p.a.), which is not associated with ATCO absenteeism rates indicates that ATCO staffing

remains under pressure and this is supported by the CANSO ATCO Staffing Forecasts Report 2008-2015.

“We were well aware of the IFATCA estimate in March 2008, suggesting an immediate need for 3000 ATCOs globally” explains Billy Josefsson, senior advisor on ATM and Human Performance issues at LFV, and a co-chair of the HRWG. “And in May 2009 they revised this figure up to

The Report provides comparison data for 6 levels of ATCO employees in relation to gross pay, net pay, composition of pay, and in core conditions such as hours of work. The figures show that pay increases have declined from 2007 to 2008 and that further declines are expected in 2009.

An alternative comparison approach has been trialed this year, with the inclusion of national average wages to provide a means of providing a “relative wealth” comparison. Substantial variation exists in core conditions, such as hours of work and leave provisions, which have a direct impact on efficiency of resource deployment and cost of service provision.

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ATCOs on the move? ICAO English language requirements may make it easier for ATCOs to transfer.

5000, but as an industry there was no consensus around this, and we felt that some concrete work was needed to understand the numbers more accurately.” Josefsson and the HRWG decided to survey CANSO members and other ANSPs on their workforce plans, recruitment and training. The main purpose of this survey was to gain a better understanding of the global demand for ATCOs, whether or not a shortage existed, and on what scale.

Implications and mitigating factors were discussed, along with other data from the survey concerning recruitment and training.

“The findings from the survey highlighted a global ATCO shortage, and that that this shortage is fairly widespread – around 80% of ANSPs reported a headcount shortage for 2008” says Josefsson. “The shortage is most evident in Europe, where headcount numbers are on average approximately 8% below what is required – around 466 ATCOs.” This is consistent with the IFATCA 2008 estimate. Globally, the data suggests a total shortage of around 5% below the required headcount on average.

The shortage is expected to reduce in the near future, however, and predictions suggest there should no longer be any shortage by 2015. So how does this translate in terms of actual headcount numbers? CANSO estimates the global number of ATCOs to be around 70,000. If this is the case, this would put the total ATCO shortage at 3500 – just over IFATCA’s initial 2008 estimate of 3000, but below their revised 2009 estimate of 5000.

IFATCA shared its most recent data with CANSO and an analysis of the figures indicated a possible error which would bring the total IFATCA estimate closer to 4000 ATCOs. Based on this it appears that IFATCA’s most recent estimate may be overstated. However the figures are reasonably consistent and when extrapolated globally tend to reinforce IFATCA’s original estimate of 3000. This suggests that ATCO shortages are a real issue facing the industry, and are fairly widespread.

It is important to note that while there is data confirming anecdotal evidence

that not all ANSPs are experiencing a shortage, with some reporting headcount surpluses of up to 3%, these ANSPs tend to be the odd ones out.

But according to the survey responses, the problem looks like it will gradually ease over the coming 3–6 years, rather than worsen. Based on data provided, the estimated future headcount requirements are set to increase, but will do so at a slower rate than the increase in projected headcounts. Whereas the problem is currently largest in Europe, it appears Europe may also be quicker to close the gap: estimates suggest a break even point at 2013, where actual headcount should match required headcount. The rest of the world should eliminate the gap by 2015, indicating that although the scale of the problem is not so great, it may persist for longer.

We need to ask ourselves why an ATCO moving from one part of Europe to another needs a whole year of retraining If it is the case that individual ANSPs over-report ATCO needs then these individual figures should not necessarily be extrapolated to measure the shortfall in the entire system. However it is possible that the numbers may be too optimistic. The majority of ANSPs have indicated in this survey that they do not take into account attrition in their workforce planning. Data from 2006 and 2007 show higher rates of ATCOs transferring than in previous years.

This may become an even larger issue in the future, especially if the growth powerhouses of India, China and SouthEast Asia take off as predicted. The introduction of ICAO’s Level 4 English requirements is likely to facilitate greater movement between ANSPs in the future.

Samantha Sharif notes that the data raises as many questions as it answers.

“It is not clear how ANSPs will be closing the gap,” she says. “The most obvious

place to look is the planned recruitment rates. However estimates of future intake numbers do not appear to be any higher than current levels – if anything, the figures given indicate a decrease in ab initio intakes.”

Billy Josefsson agrees that ANSPs are restricted by available training capacity.

“Capacities are not anticipated to increase much over the next 3 years, especially for on-the-job training which is where the bottle-neck is likely to occur. We also need to ask ourselves why an ATCO moving from one part of Europe to another needs a whole year of retraining.” Other solutions being considered to help with the shortage include reorganising shifts, collapsing sectors, and reducing leave availability, but these do not increase headcount.

Raising the retirement age is also being considered by a small number of ANSPs, and Josefsson notes that ANSPs are still sometimes caught out by large numbers of retirees. It is also an issue which may be exacerbated by the calls for retirement to be standardised at 52.

The current economic downturn is another factor that needs to be taken into consideration. In fact, there may be a silver-lining for those ANSPs with shortages, in that it may allow the gap between actual and required headcounts to close more rapidly. If ANSPs continue to recruit and train at current levels, in spite of the downturn, they may find themselves in a stronger position to overcome any shortage once normality returns and the growth engines throughout Asia and the Middle East take off.

The ATCO Staffing Forecasts and Remuneration benchmarking process is ongoing and CANSO is repeating this exercise every two years to refine its analysis on trends in ANSP performance. Over time, with each successive report, the organisation aims to make significant advances in terms of global participation, data relevance and integrity. The group is working on harmonising metrics and is leading the way on research in this field. However, with ATCO remuneration and numbers so crucial to current ANSP performance and future planning, it is clear that it will be a major focus for CANSO members for many years to come.

AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 23

TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS

Europe’s CPDLC mandate: Going global?

Will the EU Commission regulation laying down “requirements on data link services for the Single European Sky” be mirrored by similar CPDLC mandates in other regions?

In January 2009, the European Commission adopted a detailed 17page regulation mandating Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) implementation by EU Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) and most aircraft flying in Europe above 28,500 feet (ie. normal air transport cruise altitudes).

The EU regulation will apply from 7 February 2013 – the deadline by which CPDLC must have been implemented by all ANSPs in Western Europe. The same requirement will apply to all ANSPs in Eastern Europe from 5 February 2015.

This landmark regulation will see Europe become the first region to mandate both aircraft and ANSP implementation of CPDLC. But how likely is it that the EU decision will lead regulators in other regions to issue similar mandates?

Core requirements: what the EU Regulation actually says The EU Regulation begins with a statement that could be applied to most regions: “Voice communications channels are becoming progressively congested and should be supplemented by air-ground datalink communications. A number of studies and trials performed within the Community and EUROCONTROL confirmed the capability of data link services to enable the provision of additional air traffic control capacity.”

It goes on to explain the main justification for driving full fleet equipage: “Traffic capacity increase enabled by data link services is dependent upon the percentage of flights operated with data link capability. A significant percentage of flights, not less than 75%, should be equipped with such capability in order to allow sufficient capacity increase.”

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In other words, if aircraft operator installation of CPDLC avionics were left to a voluntary decision on the part of aircraft operators, those that made an early investment in CPDLC would get no benefit if most others dragged their feet. It is therefore essential to financially and operationally penalize failure to equip by closing access to normal flight altitudes.

The EU Regulation specifies data link implementation according to ICAO standards, avoiding any regionallydefined deviation away from the globally-agreed specifications: “ICAO has defined standardized air-ground applications context management and controller pilot data link communication for the introduction of data link services.”

“Air traffic service providers and operators should support these applications and use a common standardized message set to ensure end-to-end interoperable implementations of data link services.”

This stipulation of the need to comply with ICAO standards does not exclude aircraft use of FANS-1/A packages that

have a CPDLC application based on an initial draft of the ICAO standards: “A number of aircraft, mainly for long haul oceanic operations, have already been equipped with data link capability using standards known as Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS) 1/A. It would not be economically justified to request operators to install further data link equipment on such aircraft to comply with the requirements of this Regulation.”

Provision for long haul aircraft equipped with FANS avionics means the mandate will mainly impact short-haul aircraft that have never been equipped with FANS. The EU Regulation requires that CPDLC applications for short-haul aircraft use the ICAO standard ATN/VDL communications stack: “The protocols defined by ICAO based on the Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) and the very high frequency digital link Mode 2 (VDL 2) are currently considered to be the only validated solution for harmonized deployment. Member States should therefore ensure the availability of this solution.”

There seems little prospect of ATNCPDLC replacing FANS before 2015, when the European fleet will have been fully equipped.

ICAO CPDLC/ATN in FANS zones The question of whether the EU mandate for aircraft equipage with ICAO CPDLC/ATN will be replicated in other similar dense continental airspace will be examined later in this piece. For the moment, let’s consider whether regulators and ANSPs covering remote or oceanic airspace where aircraft use FANS CPDLC should be mandating aircraft equipage with ICAO CPDLC/ATN. The short answer is no – for the following reasons: • The Boeing and Airbus FANS avionics packages were designed to replace all long-haul HF radio exchanges. They already implement the full CPDLC message set as well as Automatic Dependent Surveillance, compared with the EU regulation requirement for just four CPDLC transactions with no ADS-Contract.

• The ANSPs covering most of the world’s remote and/or oceanic airspace have invested in FANS ground systems that process all messages sent by aircraft avionics and have defined FANS procedures that would not be supported by an aircraft with only EU-regulation capabilities.

• The ICAO ATN standard’s list of possible links between ATN routers includes the ICAO Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service. But to date no AEEC standards have been developed for the ATN router interface to Inmarsat AMSS, so no avionics have been developed to provide ATN/AMSS service.

As a result, pilots generally have no further need for the HF voice communications that often work very badly. Airlines and ANSPs that today use FANS in remote or oceanic airspace would gain no operational or commercial benefit from aircraft using ICAO ATN/CPDLC instead. The upshot: there is very little prospect of any transition from FANs to ATN/ CPDLC before sometime around 2015, when the European fleet will have been equipped and the industry can investigate a wider range of options.

Will FAA Next Gen mandate ICAO CPDLC/ATN? ANSPs and airlines have developed use of FANS in most regions outside ‘domestic’ Europe, US/Canada and Japan. After the EU Regulation mandating ICAO ATN/CPDLC, the key question is whether the FAA Next Gen team will propose following up the Next Gen CPDLC (Datacom) with a mandate.

The short answer is probably yes, but let’s examine the reasons why: • US airspace density already closely matches European density, and both regions have excellent radar surveillance, so they do not need aircraft to equip with Automatic Dependent Surveillance.

• US controller pilot VHF voice channels are as congested as European voice channels, creating a barrier to further reduction in sector sizes that can only be overcome by transferring routine exchanges to data link.

• The US airlines have thousands of short-haul aircraft that have no FANS avionics, so their equipage with CPDLC should use the ICAO ATN version – ideally with the same profile as the EU regulation.

• Aircraft and avionics manufacturers need to develop ICAO CPDLC/ ATN systems to comply with the EU regulation, so such systems will become readily available to US operators in newer-model aircraft.

be considered bad timing on the part of the FAA to start openly talking about mandating the technology. The FAA document states the following on mandating avionics: “Data Communications policy will be integrated into NextGen rulemaking to ensure the necessary equipage for performance-based airspace. While voluntary compliance is likely to be sufficient in the near future, regulation may eventually be necessary to provide the basis for evolving the NAS from tactical control to management-byplanning and intervention-by-exception.

This is the environment where the full benefits of NextGen will be realized.”

This approach should be sufficient to drive some the initial aircraft equipage

by US airlines, but as the EU mandate requires all aircraft serving European routes to come delivered with ATN/ CPDLC-capable systems, the FAA will need to evaluate whether it is politically feasible to implement a mandate to drive US domestic fleet equipage over the 50% or 75% mark.

As US implementation of domestic ATN/ CPDLC progresses, the momentum will almost certainly push Nav Canada to implement from the border up to the southern Canadian airports such as Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.

Who else will need ICAO CPDLC/ATN?

The FAA in December 2008 issued a ‘Data Communications Program Overview and Draft Acquisition Strategy’, covering the requirement for ICAO CPDLC and also detailing the required aircraft systems. This document specifies systems similar to those required by the EU Regulation, but adds a bit more complexity.

ATN/CPDLC expansion outside Europe and North America will be seen in countries that, like the US, have significant domestic shorthaul traffic with airspace congestion issues requiring the same solution as in Europe. Countries where drivers to implement domestic CPDLC are highest include Japan, Brazil, China and India.

The FAA controls the ATC centre systems for the whole USA, which makes progress in CPDLC ground system implementation much easier to achieve than in Europe. As a first step, it has already announced an extension to its contract for En Route Automation Modernization to include implementation of CPDLC.

ANSPs in these countries will combine CPDLC implementation with other upgrades to their ATC Flight Data Processing Systems, but could aim to follow the implementation schedule specified in the EU Regulation to ready themselves for the arrival in their airports of the first aircraft equipped with the EU CPDLC package.

The current financial situation makes it hard for airlines to get to grips with financing CPDLC avionics, so it might

This article first appeared in SITA AIRCOM Industry Report, Quarter 1 2009. For more information on this topic, visit www.sita.aero

AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 25

1st CANSO Caribbean & Latin American ANSP Conference

civil air navigation services organisation

Building ANS Capability in the Caribbean & Latin America 10–12 November 2009 Willemstad, Curaçaow

Leading ATM organisations from around the world join those from the Caribbean and Latin America to discuss important ATM issues that face this crucial aviation region today.

More information: www.canso.org/caribbeanlatinamerica

Organised by

civil air navigation services organisation

In Collaboration with

Hosted by

Lead Sponsor

PEOPLE

Frontline

Massimo Garbini CANSO’s new Operations Standing Committee (OSC) has the daunting task of bringing together the world’s ANSPs to work towards greater operational efficiency and harmonisation.

ENAV’s Director of Operations, Massimo Garbini, is one of the leaders of that task.

Massimo, setting up a brand new CANSO committee and moving the organisation towards delivering coordinated operations projects must be a daunting challenge. How would you say it is going so far?

An “Interim Implementation Group” is working hard to establish the OSC as a working entity and obtain agreement on a workplan, key priorities and working methods. By March 2010, coinciding with ATC Global in Amsterdam, the OSC will be fully established. During this event agreement will be sought upon the direction and progress key goals for the OSC. The CANSO OSC goal is to provide the necessary coordination platform to offer valuable ATM operational expertise to implementation, coordination and transition issues to its members, aircraft operators, regulators and suppliers.

This platform allows CANSO to extend its engagement of industry partners to more day to-day operational items thus building its credibility, while adding direct value to the global aviation system.

There are so many issues that this Committee could look at, how are you going about establishing the key priorities, or have these already been identified?

The draft Master Plan that has been elaborated and that will be presented to the CANSO Executive Committee in October 2009 for final approval,

identifies key priorities on a short to medium and long term, through five basic key work streams.

Firstly, establishing the OSC through an ‘Interim Implementation Group’ made up of representatives from each region. Secondly, improving ATM operational efficiency by identifying key global ATM issues and coordinating collaborative action.

Thirdly, improving industry cooperation with other key industry groups to avoid duplication of activities and to recognise cooperative or mutually beneficial links. Fourthly, establishing ATM performance benchmarks for longer term improvement in global ANS Provision; and finally, improve the perception of ATM by communicating the benefits of members’ operational improvement activities to the aviation industry, regulators, policy makers and non-government organisations.

Achieving the delivery of the OSC key priorities relies upon the continued support and contributions from all CANSO members and in particular the OSC Deliverable Leads plus active participants, and the CANSO Operations Manager.

At the CEO Conference in June, Hank Krakowski said that unless CANSO sets up its own committee to mirror the sort of committees set up by the likes of IATA, then “Those committees that are already out there will set our agenda for us”. Is that the key reason for CANSO setting up its own operations committee?

CANSO, through the OSC, has the opportunity to create a new collaboration with IATA. Throughout a proactive and not a reactive approach, it will specifically identify future global operational proposed actions and priorities from an ATM perspective and will develop a methodology for assessing and helping States develop their airspace and operations.

In a longer term this means that the OSC may be positioned to set performance benchmarks for the industry to follow, leading to a more efficient global performance regime.

Do you have a view of any ‘quick wins’ that the Committee may be able to achieve over the next 12-24 months?

Or is it more a case of setting out an agenda for long-term operational improvements”.

In its first year, one of the OSC’s priorities is to start a shared process of improvement of global ATM operational capability with IATA by establishing an ‘IATA Operational Response Sub- Group’ to review the IATA ‘User Requirements for ATS’.

Another short term priority for the OSC is to harmonize and coordinate the CANSO workgroups, through the assessment of their operational outputs to propose to the ExCom safe, achievable, concrete and operationally acceptable actions.

AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 27

INSIDE CANSO

Focus on…

CANSO Middle East region CANSO has taken an important step forward this year with the creation of its ‘Middle East region’.

Although CANSO has had members from the Middle East for many years, there was never a critical mass of members to justify setting up a regional workplan.

However, beginning with a CANSO ExCom meeting in Dubai in January 2008, the momentum has been building for a new focus on the region. New Members have joined, and with the promise of new resources, the prospect of a dedicated Middle East region became real. The success of CANSO’s first Middle East ANSP conference, in Jeddah in January 2009, showed the tremendous potential for ANSP development in the region, and the positive role that CANSO could play.

This was followed by a highly productive Safety and Business Transformation Seminar, in May, which set out the key issues facing ANSPs in the region. At the CANSO AGM in July 2009, approval was given to create a dedicated Middle East region, with an office to be based in Jeddah. Mr Salem Jahdli has been Seconded by GACA to be CANSO’s first Director Middle East Affairs, and he has begun to shape the CANSO objectives and work programme.

The first objectives of the Middle East office will be to increase the number of CANSO members in the region, and prepare a workplan of action to tackle the crucial issues facing ANSPs. Both objectives have made a positive start, with interest in Membership being expressed by a number of States.

In addition, a Middle East Strategic Cooperation Committee (MESCC) has been set up, with the aim of providing overall direction and to help coordinate CANSO’s activities in the area. The MESCC has drawn representatives from Bahrain CAA, Emirates Airline, GACA Saudi Arabia, CARC Jordan, NANSC Egypt, SERCO, SITA, Sudan CAA ANS, GCAA UAE, and ANS CAMA Yemen.

The mission of the Middle East office is to improve ATM performance in the region, and the MESCC has chosen to achieve this by focusing on Safety, Airspace Planning, Technology, and Infrastructure.

Safety On Safety, CANSO’s Safety Manager Richard Schofield has already made two trips to the region to plan for the future work programme. “It is very exciting to see the level of commitment being given by the Middle East ANSPs” he says. “They are determined to increase the level of regional cooperation and the spread of best practice, as well as join the rest of CANSO in moving towards measurement and benchmarking of safety metrics. The new CANSO Standard of Excellence in SMS (see pages 19-21 for more information) is a great example of the kind of material CANSO can offer to Middle Eastern members that will offer them the opportunity to make real improvements in safety management, and we expect to be able to create more of this kind of useful material in the near future.”

CANSO’s Director of Middle East Affairs, Salem Jahdli, on why CANSO is so important in the region.

“One thing that is certain about the Middle East is the fast and constant growth of air traffic for many years to come, underpinned by a fairly strong economy, and a geographical position at the cross roads of Europe, Asia and Africa. This necessitates a fresh look at the way we do business. On the ANS front almost every ANSP has upgraded their ATM, COMM, NAV and surveillance systems to state of the art technology. Yet the exploitation of the capabilities that these systems bring is currently limited due to fragmentation, which affects the efficiency of ATM, the ability to increase capacity, and creates a bottleneck for traffic transiting to and from Asia and Europe. Here is where CANSO comes in: to help by introducing best practices which establish a regional consensus on operational and technical issues, deliver high quality services at acceptable cost to encourage users, achieve a more efficient and safe ATM through harmonization of

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operational and technical standards, and lay the foundations to separate regulation from service provision.

To translate this wish list into action CANSO convened a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in May 2009. As a result of that successful meeting a ‘quick wins’ list has been produced by the representatives of most of the M.E. ANSPs, who are very keen to exert every effort to optimize air traffic services in the region. To build on that success the second CANSO Middle East Safety and Business Transformation seminar will be organized in Jeddah in November (see box on page 29).

This will be a very important gathering where the Middle East strategy for the future of aviation will be drawn up – a strategy which focuses on a performance-based approach, and on regional solutions rather than domestic. This will lead up to the region’s premier ATM event, CANSO’s Middle East ANSP conference, in Dubai, where the CEOs of the ME ANSPs will gather along with CANSO members and other dignitaries, to launch a new era in Middle East aviation.”

The Safety programme will be overseen by a Middle East subgroup of CANSO’s Safety Standing Committee. The group’s tasks will include assisting regional implementation of SMS, openly disseminating lessons learned, establishing a positive safety culture, and educating senior management and staff in SMS.

Airspace Planning The elements of Airspace Planning, Technology and Infrastructure fall under CANSO’s Business Transformation programme. Director of Business Transformation Gudrun Held has also been heavily engaged in the Middle East, in particular helping prepare for the coming Seminar and Conferences. She explains why the Middle East needs this kind of coordination. “According to ICAO, passenger numbers in the Middle East are set to grown by an average of 8.2% per year, to 2025. This means the number of aircraft movements will rise from about 625,000 today to nearly two and a quarter million. This kind of growth can only be tackled effectively and safely through a huge cooperative effort.” This effort will be lead by an airspace planning group which has four aims: to improve safety, increase efficiency, raise capacity, and improve organisation.

Technology & Infrastructure Discussions have identified that there are some quick wins to be made in areas such as radar/data exchange, OLDI, AMHS links, AIS connections and maintenance support. Gudrun Held believes that exchanging experiences of issues such as this is one of the principle benefits of joining CANSO’s worldwide network of members. “Access to the experience of CANSO Members is going to be very useful to Middle Eastern ANSPs as they upgrade their own infrastructure” she says. “There are also useful opportunities to pool capabilities and harmonise technology across the region. The eagerness of Middle Eastern ANSPs to tackle these issues is very clear and I believe that significant cost savings and efficiencies can be made.”

Coming Events CANSO’s Middle East office is busy organizing a number of important events to build on the momentum already generated. The second Middle East Seminar will be held in Jeddah, November, and the second ANSP Conference in January, in Dubai (See below). Both these events will showcase CANSO’s aims for the region as well as encourage practical discussion and exchange of best practice.

2nd Middle East Safety and Business Transformation Seminar 1-2 November, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia The 2nd Safety & Business Transformation Seminar is designed to support the building of greater ANSP capability, by working together towards true regional solutions and engaging all partners and stakeholders of the Middle East.

The focus will be on CANSO’s four regional work programmes: • Safety • Airspace Planning • Infrastructure and Technological Improvement • ANSP Cooperation The objective of the seminar is to further develop these work programmes and to jointly discuss the vision and high level strategic plan for the Middle East, which is currently drafted by the CANSO Middle East Strategic Cooperation Committee.

The seminar will also feature dedicated presentations on: • Benchmarking • Institutional Transformation: Separation of Regulation and Service Provision To register for this seminar please go to

www.canso.org/middleeastseminar 2nd CANSO Middle East ANSP Conference 25 Jan 2010 - 27 Jan 2010, Dubai. Hosted by SERCO

Bright Future The Middle East is one of the most exciting areas in world aviation. It has fastgrowing markets, an ambitious vision, and professionals who recognise both the opportunities and challenges facing the region. Most importantly, it is a region with governments who recognise the importance of aviation and are willing to invest in the infrastructure to improve capacity. But the sheer speed of the growth of the region means that even with these advantages, the Middle East will need to access all the help and advice it can from its partners across the world. CANSO offers exactly that opportunity, and the success of its events so far shows that the appetite to take advantage of it is there.

AIRSPACE

QUARTER 3 2009 29

INSIDE CANSO

Who We Are and What We Do

Light area illustrates airspace controlled by CANSO members

CANSO – The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation – is the global voice of the companies that provide air traffic control, and represents the interests of Air Navigation Services Providers worldwide. CANSO members are responsible for supporting over 80% of world air traffic, and through our Workgroups, members share information and develop new policies, with the ultimate aim of improving air navigation services on the ground and in the air. CANSO also represents its members’ views in major regulatory and industry forums, including at ICAO, where we have official Observer status.

JOINING CANSO

contribute to CANSO Workgroups, delivering the standards and policies that will drive the future development of Air Navigation Services.

Full (ANSP) Membership is open to all ANSPs, regardless of whether or not they are autonomous of their government.

Associate members can apply for either Gold or Silver status, which brings differing levels of access to CANSO Workgroups and event and advertising discounts. All members get a free listing in the CANSO Yearbook, and have access to the Global ATM Net, an extranet that is the hub of CANSO’s activities, and home to an extensive member database.

The membership of CANSO is drawn from a wide range of ANSPs and companies involved with the delivery of air traffic services. Membership offers them the chance to network formally and informally, exchange best practice, and

For further information on joining CANSO, please contact Marc-Peter Pijper on +31 (0)23 568 5380 or email marcpeter.pijper@canso.org

Full Members

Associate Members

Aena – Spain AEROTHAI – Thailand Airports Authority of India Airservices Australia Airways New Zealand ANA – Luxen ANS of the Czech Republic ATNS – South Africa ATSA – Bulgaria Austro Control – Austria Avinor – Norway AZANS – Azerbaijan Belgocontrol – Belgium CAAS – Singapore DFS – Germany DHMI – Turkey DSNA – France EANS – Estonia ENAV SpA – Italy Federal Aviation Administration – USA Finavia – Finland GACA – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority HungaroControl Irish Aviation Authority ISAVIA – Iceland

30 QUARTER 3 2009

Kazaeronavigatsia – Kazakhstan LFV – Sweden LGS – Latvia LPS Slovak Republic LVNL – the Netherlands MATS – Malta NAATC – Netherlands Antilles NAMA – Nigeria NANSC – Egypt NATS – UK NAV CANADA NAV Portugal Naviair – Denmark OACA – Tunisia Oro Navigacija – Lithuania P.I.A. J.S.C. – Kosova PANSA – Poland ROMATSA – Romania Sakaeronavigatsia Ltd – Georgia SENEAM – Mexico Serco skyguide – Switzerland Slovenia Control SMATSA – Serbia State ATM Corporation – Russia UkSATSE – Ukraine

AIRSPACE

Gold Members Boeing Era Corporation FREQUENTIS AG GroupEAD Europe S.L. ITT Corporation Lockheed Martin Raytheon SELEX Sistemi Integrati S.p.A. Sensis Corporation Thales Silver Members Adacel Inc. Airbus ARINC ATC Global (CMP Information Ltd) ATCA – Japan Aviation Advocacy Sarl Avitech AG Barco Orthogon GmbH Booz Allen Hamilton Comsoft GmbH Entry Point North

GM Merc A/S HARRIS Helios HITT Traffic Indra Sistemas Integra A/S Intelcan Technosystems Inc. Jeppesen L-3 Communications ESSCO Lochard Ltd The MITRE Corporation – CAASD Metron Aviation M.L.S. International College Naverus, Inc. PA Consulting Group A/S Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems QinetiQ Quintiq SAAB AB SITA Sun Microsystems Inc. Swedavia AB Terma A/S Ubitech Systems Inc. U.S. DoD Policy Board on Federal Aviation WIDE

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