NATS is one of the leading ANSPs in Europe and worldwide, what is your vision of the future of ATM?

I see ATM as an enabler of a successful aviation industry: we have a vital role to play in making sure that the aviation industry can continue to grow in a safe and sustainable way.
To deliver this I think we'll see increasing collaboration as all stakeholders in the industry - airlines, airports, air navigation service providers and suppliers - recognise that we all want a similar thing; a thriving aviation industry.
In practice, I think that means we'll need to get better at exchanging data - both between ANSPs and with others; we'll need to recognise that airlines and airports are our customers and behave accordingly; and we'll need to continue to find new ways of doing things to make the most of capacity, at the same time as maintaining high levels of safety, keeping costs down and helping to reduce the environmental impact of aviation.

What are the main challenges we are facing in Europe and how is NATS addressing those challenges today and in the future?

There are a lot of challenges in Europe - reducing costs, deploying new technologies, managing growing demand safely - but the biggest challenge in Europe today is arguably meeting the often conflicting demands of the politicians, European Commission and most importantly our customers. There is a very strong demand from the customers to reduce ANSP costs and improve service quality however this gets translated not only into legislation about how well we have to do things but also the specifics of how we should go about achieving them. This can inadvertently incentivise the wrong behaviours, driving a focus on regulatory compliance over and above delivering the best possible performance and value for our customers. Placing more focus on performance and less focus on how that performance is delivered will help to ensure we're all focused on delivering for our customers.

What are NATS key priorities for the future at national and international level?

It should go without saying but our first priority is always safety and keeping our operations safe whether they are in the UK or internationally based. The key priority after that has to be the deployment of SESAR related technologies and methods of operation. This should help bring costs down and capabilities up and ultimately mean we can offer a better service to our customers. NATS has committed to deliver a c. 21% real reduction in price by the end of 2019 and so we must focus on doing that whilst of course delivering the quality of service that our customers have come to expect and preparing our business for RP3 and beyond.
Internationally we're working with customers including other ANSPs where we can really contribute value to their business and to ours. We won't be taking on new contracts that don't make sense financially or that don't make a real difference to the customers and regions where we are active.

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

ANSPs play a vital role in ensuring that the aviation industry can flourish safely and efficiently across the globe. We can only do that effectively by cooperating closely with each other so that, at an operational level, we ensure that the technical systems are deployed in a timely and synchronised manner so as to minimise the transitional impacts on our customers and on a day to day basis, the flows of traffic operate as effectively and efficiently as possible.
But I don't think cooperation among just ANSPs is enough. We need to work together with our airline and airport customers, the ATM systems and airframe manufacturers to make sure that our future capabilities will provide the services that our customers need and are willing to pay for. The SESAR Deployment Manager - a consortium of ANSPs, Airlines and Airports - is a great example of the kind of collaborations we need to create in the future, as well as ANSP Alliances like A6 & Borealis that can focus on delivering something extra by working together.

NATS is an example of privatised ANSP, structured as Public Private Partnership. ENAV is in the process of privatising, what are the lessons learnt deriving from your experience?

This question is enough for an entire article on its own! I think it can probably be boiled down to a couple of really critical factors that need to be taken care of. Firstly, make sure that the financial structure is robust enough to withstand a significant shock within the industry that would affect the company's revenues. 9/11 happened shortly after the NATS privatisation and had a massive impact on the aviation industry as a whole, which very quickly put NATS' own finances under significant stress.
Thankfully, after a refinancing programme, we survived that issue and were much stronger when the financial crisis hit Europe in 2008. I'm sure ENAV has carried out plenty of due diligence but I recommend the UK National Audit Office report into the refinancing of our PPP. It is freely available on the internet.
The second issue is to make sure that you really prepare your people. An ANSP's strength is through the capability of its staff and no matter how prepared you think you are now, prior to the privatisation, there will be some significant culture changes necessary following the actual privatisation and they will take time and leadership to deliver. A big event like a privatisation can be very daunting to staff who have a long experience of what it is to work for a company and now expect it to change to something very different. If you can take care of this and so take the staff along with you on the journey it will be a far more rewarding experience for everyone involved.