National Air Traffic Services (NATS) is to resume work on the new Prestwick Centre in Scotland, putting it on course for operational service by 2009. The project was suspended for two years due to the downturn in the aviation industry following the 9/11 US terrorist attacks.
Richard Everitt, Chief Executive of NATS, will this morning confirm the go-ahead for the project, following the successful completion of consultation with NATS’ airline customers. He will be joined at Prestwick by Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Transport and for Scotland, on behalf of the Government, NATS’ largest shareholder.
The new centre will ultimately showcase the next generation Air Traffic Management system, designed to put NATS at the heart of moves towards the Single European Sky. Work on this system is already under way through a proposed collaboration with Spain’s air traffic service provider AENA, and Germany’s ATC provider DFS.
NATS plans to launch operations at the new centre using SACTA (Sistema Automatizado de Control Transito Aereo), the system currently in service with AENA at its five ATC centres across Spain. NATS has been evaluating the system with AENA over the past six months; it is intended that SACTA will provide the platform for the new-generation system under the Spanish/German/British collaboration.
Following approval by the NATS Board earlier in the summer, resumption of the Prestwick Centre construction depended on the successful outcome of consultation with customer airlines. Work is now expected to get under way on site at Prestwick next spring.
Richard Everitt said: “NATS wants to play a leading role in European air traffic control and work closely with Spain and Germany to develop a state-of-the-art system for a state-of-the-art building.
“The Prestwick Centre has always been a part of NATS’ future planning and indeed is one of our commitments under the PPP. We’re delighted we can finally start turning it into a reality.”
Alistair Darling said: "I welcome NATS' confirmation that it is to press ahead with the construction of a new air traffic control centre at Prestwick. This centre is an essential part of NATS operations and demonstrates its commitment to making improvements in air traffic control.
"I welcome the benefits this major investment will bring to the local economy in Ayrshire. This area has real potential as a major centre for aerospace and aviation excellence.
"The new centre will help NATS to meet its future challenges and build on its excellent progress in maintaining its position as a world leader among air traffic control providers."
Derek Stevens, Chairman of The Airline Group, added: "The Airline Group is extremely pleased with this announcement which will help fulfil our commitment to building a new Scottish centre.
“Today sees a major step forward in the development of an efficient, cost-effective and resilient two-centre approach for air traffic management in the UK. The airlines flying the crowded skies of Europe urgently need a Single European Sky. A new Prestwick centre will make a vital contribution to turning this concept into reality."
NATS’ two control centres, at Prestwick and at Swanwick in Hampshire, will put the UK at the forefront of moves towards the Single European Sky objectives of consolidation, collaboration and common systems across the continent. Europe’s ATC is currently split between 68 centres across 31 countries with 19 hardware systems, 22 operating systems and 30 programming languages.
The new Prestwick Centre will enable NATS to consolidate its current Manchester and Prestwick en-route operations into a new building to form the sixth largest ATC operations centre in Europe, in terms of traffic handled.
The construction project itself is expected to generate around 400 jobs.
