QinetiQ and Boeing to Look At Airport Capacity for Eurocontrol

An air traffic management (ATM) team led by QinetiQ, in collaboration with Boeing Research and Technology Europe (BR&TE), has been awarded a €170,000 contract to review existing and planned aircraft arrival management tools for air traffic controllers.  The purpose is to develop enhanced concepts for increasing European airport capacity.

The team will advise Eurocontrol on aircraft performance and flight management systems, which will be a key step in Eurocontrol's TMA 2010+ cross-domain initiative to meet a predicted doubling of traffic demand at European airports over the next decade.

Dr. Miguel Vilaplana, who is BR&TE's project leader said: "Trajectory prediction is a core technology for the development of operational decision-support tools, which will enable the evolution of the ATM system."

Boeing and QinetiQ signed a MOU (memorandum of understanding) to explore potential collaboration on the development of a variety of technologies, including air traffic management, aviation security, acoustics and lightweight materials in February 2004.

In a related development, QinetiQ notes that it has just been accepted onto the U.S. Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) Program which aims to triple America's air transport capacity by 2020.  01-13-2005.