First, we have news from the US where the FAA has awarded more than $100 million to 12 airports across the country. "This funding will reconfigure complex taxiway and runway intersections to help prevent incursions and enhance the safety of the National Airspace System," said FAA Associate Administrator Shannetta R. Griffin, P.E. You can see the full list of airports and their planned updates here.
Next up, there's news of a pioneering project in Central America to strengthen the single sky, similar to those initiatives already underway in North America and Europe. Indra was awarded a 24.6 million euro contract to upgrade the air traffic control systems of Corporacion Centroamericana de Servicios de Navegación Aerea (COCESNA). The organisation will implement new technology in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua while modernizing a total of nine air traffic control centres.
In France, there's news of bans on short-haul flights. The aim is to cut carbon emissions where train alternatives exist. Lawmakers have voted to end domestic aviation routes where people could make a train journey in under two and a half hours. The ban effectively rules out air travel between Paris and other cities including Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux, while connecting flights remain unaffected.
And last but not least, we're hearing news about advancements in air traffic controller flexibility. The SESAR solution "Increased Flexibility in ATCO Validations" explores ways to deploy more flexible air traffic controllers to specific parts of en-route airspace, sectors and working positions. The tools and procedures have been developed to reduce the need for controllers to have local knowledge of a sector.
ANSP news
- Planning the King’s Coronation Flypast With Civil Air Traffic - NATS Blog - The flypast for the King’s Coronation involved massive collaboration to succeed within some of the world’s busiest airspace. With 68 aircraft originally planned to take to the skies, months of planning and coordination were undertaken to ensure that the display would run as smoothly as possible.
- FAB CE - Call for Papers: Research workshop "Predictability and Flexibility" - FAB CE and FABEC are continuing the series of successful annual InterFAB research workshops with a forum in April 2024 dedicated to predictability and flexibility. These both central aspects in ATM are identified in the ICAO Framework as key performance areas determining the quality of the operational service provided to the civil and military airspace users.
Airports news
- FAA Invests Over $100M to Reduce Runway Incursions at Airports - The FAA has awarded more than $100 million to 12 airports across the country to reduce runway incursions. Projects will reconfigure taxiways that may cause confusion, install airfield lighting or construct new taxiways to provide more flexibility on the airfield.
- Queenstown Airport Invites Feedback on Its Draft Master Plan - It proposes a series of infrastructure improvements over the next decade to deliver on the 10-year Strategic Plan approved in September 2022. It also allocates space to provide options for the community’s needs beyond 2032 and to enable and support the continued decarbonisation of aviation.
- The digital airfield – Airport World - Esri’s global transportation industry director, Terry Bills, explains how the digital transformation of airfield inspections has enhanced safety and operational efficiency at two very different US gateways.
- Antalya International Airport Expansion, Turkey - The Antalya international airport is undergoing an expansion to upgrade the infrastructure and expand passenger handling capacity.
Market news
Context information
Reports and data
- Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic - Traffic development: April 2023 - Traffic development in the airspace of the Czech Republic (FIR Prague) - Number of movements 2022: 44 104; Number of movements 2023: 48 253; Traffic comparison 2023/2022: + 9,5%. Traffic development at Prague Airport: Number of movements 2022: 7 655; Number of movements 2023: 9 067; Traffic comparison 2023/2022: 18%.
Research and innovation
- Green light for solution to increase controller flexibility - The SESAR solution "Increased Flexibility in ATCO Validations" (PJ.33-W3-01a) explores ways to deploy more flexibly air traffic controllers to specific parts of en-route airspace, sectors and working positions. The tools and procedures developed, which are tailored to reduce the need for controllers to have local knowledge of a sector, have now reached V2 maturity. This is an important milestone on the way to deployment. The solution is part of the SESAR project FALCO (Flexible ATCO Endorsement and LDACS Complement).
- Norway to implement SESAR-inspired virtual centre technology - In May, Norway’s air navigation service provider, Avinor, announced its decision to select Frequentis to provide its voice communication solution (X10 VCS) for the control centres in Royken, Stavanger and optionally Bodo, Norway. The solution builds on research and development undertaken in SESAR on virtual centres within the framework of SESAR 2020.
UAV and UTM
- FAA plans major overhaul of detect-and-avoid regulations to extend BVLOS operations - Unmanned airspace - The FAA plans to issue a request for comments on May 25 2023 from industry on its plans to expand beyond visual line of sight drone operations. In its draft Docket No.: FAA-2023-1256 UAS Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight Operations publication the FAA is planning to review its approach to recognising detect and avoid standards and the considerations around third-party suppliers offering DAA services.
- Belgium partners gear up for U-space implementation - Antwerp, Brussels and Liège have been selected to test and implement a set of services for the integration of drones into the airspace within the framework of U-space. The trials are part of the work of BURDI, one of several Digital Sky Demonstrators that were launched in 2022. In this article, Luc Antoon from skeyes, Belgium‘s air navigation service provider, and BURDI coordinator, gives an insight into the work of this ambitious demonstrator.