Two European Service Providers Joining for New ATM System

The U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and Spain's Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA) have agreed to jointly develop what they describe as "the air traffic management system of the future."

The two air navigation service providers (ANSPs) say they will set up a commercial joint venture company to develop the Spanish SACTA (Sistema Automatizado de Control Transito Aéreo) ATC system to manage the airspace of Spain and Britain.

This is the first time that two ANSPs have collaborated in such a commercial venture, anywhere in the world.

The new-generation SACTA system will be introduced first in Gran Canaria and the Spanish peninsula in 2007; it will move into NATS' new Prestwick centre in 2009, and then into the Swanwick centre in 2012.

A memorandum defining the deal's basic structure has been signed by Paul Barron and Francisco Quereda, the respective chief executives of NATS and AENA, and the necessary contracts should be in place in the autumn.

While the Spanish SACTA system will be used as the venture's basic ATM technology, it appears that NATS will lead the effort.  "We are committed to a common system as the platform for our two-centre strategy in the UK," said Mr.  Barron.  "Our vision, though, is for NATS to be at the heart of a collaborative venture driving change in Europe.

"Both AENA and NATS will gain from this venture to develop the SACTA system, Mr. Barron added. "NATS' brings our unique experience of managing complex airspace and large volumes of traffic, whilst AENA brings experience, and a system which has proved itself in service over the past 15 years."

Mr. Quereda said: "This is a truly ground-breaking move and we and NATS look forward to taking SACTA forward together for the future," and noted, "SACTA is flexible and adaptable and we have developed it with great care to ensure it meets operational demands whilst remaining simple to maintain. We are delighted to have attracted NATS' expertise to join us in developing the next generation system and have already established a good partnership with them."

The two companies started working together almost two years ago to evaluate SACTA's adaptability for use in the complex airspace over the UK. Definition and specification work has been under way for over a year.

NATS and AENA are also working with Germany's air traffic service provider, DFS (Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH) to evaluate options for the next-generation of flight data processing systems.  08-04-2005.