NATS is one of the most advanced providers, what operational and technical challenges are high in your agenda?

First and foremost, we must continue to deliver a safe, efficient service to our customers as traffic continues to increase. Last year there were more than 2.6 million flights in UK airspace, more than ever before. The UK government forecasts that by 2030 there will be 3 million.

If we’re to respond to the air traffic demands of the future and continue to provide customers with services that meet their changing needs, we need to evolve the technology and services to support them.  Those demands aren’t just about increasing traffic volumes; there are new airspace users like drones, super-fast jets, even space travel that need to be factored in, as well as continuing to manage the impact of noise on local communities, particularly around airports.

We are already introducing SESAR technologies to meet the Single European Sky requirements and we are actively involved with our European partners in shaping and leading how those technologies are deployed.  NATS has a £800m capital investment programme which includes an intensive deployment programme over the next five  years for next generation systems such as our FDP platform, iTEC (interoperability Through European Collaboration). 

Modernising our airspace, which is now UK Government policy, is critical to maximising the benefits that new technologies can deliver, both in ATM and on the aircraft.  We have a complex programme over the next five years to deliver modernised airspace at network level in tandem with 15 airports delivering low level changes. This will help us deliver environmental benefits allowing aircraft to climb faster and remain higher for longer, removing the holds, reducing the noise footprint, and burning less fuel.

Innovation is certainly playing a key role in the aviation sector. Remote Towers, drones and satellite technologies represent key areas of work for ANSPs, what is your experience and your view for the future?

Our world is changing fast.  We have new airspace users emerging, raising new challenges in terms of airspace capacity and keeping our skies safe.  There is so much going on it’s very difficult to single out any one thing, but there are three initiatives we’re involved in which I believe are game changers.

This year we’ll start space based ADS-B trials on the North Atlantic of variable Mach, reduced separations and advanced safety nets.  Eventually this will allow aircraft to fly user preferred routes rather than being locked into the existing organized track structure, with clear benefits in fuel burn and safety. We’re doing this through Aireon, where we and a number of other ANSPs (including ENAV) are shareholders and we genuinely believe the future scope of this technology will transform oceanic operations.

The second is digital towers.  We are working with London City airport to move their tower operation to a digital tower, based at our main en-route operational centre on the UK’s south coast.  This is on course for next year, and will be the biggest airport operation ever to move to a digital tower operation, improving resilience and operational flexibility.  We’re working with Heathrow and with Changi in Singapore to prototype similar operations and I can only see this increasing as airport operators look to maximize their own use of their precious airside real-estate and reduce their costs, as well as integrate the data from the tower into wider airport operations.

Of course, the growth in the use of drones in recent years has been nothing short of phenomenal and introduces a whole new challenge.  We believe that airspace should be open to everyone who wants to use it and segregating each type of user, as we have in the past, just means the airspace will end up being divided into smaller and smaller chunks, restricting everyone’s freedom to make use of it.  The challenge on us is to evolve our airspace into a single expanse, with access determined on the basis of the technological capability of the vehicles wanting to use it, including precise information on their location and intentions.

It’s important to be open to these challenges, and recognise that what has been fit for purpose for the past might not be fit for purpose for the future.

The role of ANSPs is changing, how can cooperation among ANSPs help in achieving your objectives?

A successful future lies in ANSPs working together.  As traffic increases, the whole European network is only going to be seamless if all ANSPs work together to achieve this goal. We must cooperate much more to improve the delivery of the network, and to deliver operational and technological change which one ANSP on its own could not achieve.

Our transformation will enable us to connect and share information, in near real-time, with other Air Navigation Service Providers, Airports and Airlines, and in future, all sorts of aircraft too. By sharing data we’ll make better use of our airspace and we’ll know not only where aircraft are at any point in time, but also with much greater certainty, where they’ll be at a given point in the future.

We’re already seeing, with AMAN and XMAN tools, how working with our neighbours is helping to reduce holding at Heathrow, and this kind of cooperation can only deliver more benefits in the future. I can see a time when air traffic will be managed according to a single comprehensive operational plan that covers all airports and airlines and extends across international borders; a plan that is developed a year in advance and continually refined on a daily, hourly and minute-by-minute basis facilitated by data information exchange. The challenge will be to ensure an EU-wide regulatory environment that encourages and rewards this approach rather than frustrating it.

BREXIT is certainly a topic that is high in the agenda of aviation at international level. What is your view and how NATS is preparing for the possible scenarios?

At time of writing, we still don’t know how this will turn out.  To borrow a phrase from Donald Rumsfeld, we don’t know what we don’t know and we’re not sure if or when we’ll know what we don’t know! 

What we do know, and I can be very clear about, is that no matter how this evolves, in practice, we expect to continue to provide an ATC service in UK airspace pretty much exactly as we currently do.

Of course we have carried out contingency planning for a no deal Brexit as this is still a possible outcome.  When the Government can give greater certainty about a more specific Exit deal with the EU we will be able to determine whether our response needs to be different from those we are already planning.  It is our expectation that, irrespective of the outcome, NATS will continue to work with all of our neighbours across Europe and continue to enjoy a close and productive relationship with our ANSP colleagues, irrespective of our membership of the EU.

We have helped shape the development of SES and I believe our involvement is valued across Europe. Our involvement has included working with our ANSP and airline partners to improve ATM performance in safety, capacity, cost efficiency and environmental measures.  NATS has every incentive to align with SES regulations regarding safety and interoperability and we fully intend to continue working to these goals with our European partners.