Martin Rolfe (39) will take up the role of Managing Director Operations on March 19 with responsibility for delivering NATS’ en route business; a contract worth £2.2 billion with its customers and UK regulator and which runs until the end of 2014.

Richard Deakin said: “I am delighted to welcome Martin to NATS. This is a key appointment and Martin brings a strong background in air traffic management as well as a wealth of valuable experience in leading complex safety critical operations to the company.

“Martin will also be responsible for helping NATS develop and deliver services and products that will help grow our business into a truly global player.”
Martin added: “I am delighted to be joining NATS at this pivotal time for the aviation industry. NATS is the recognised leader in its field and to be part of the team as we address the challenges of global harmonisation will be very exciting.”

Biography

Martin joins NATS from Lockheed Martin UK where he was Managing Director of the UK Civil business, responsible for a diverse portfolio of programmes and operations across sectors including Transportation, Information, Communication and Technology, and Mission Systems.

Martin has been working in the ATM domain for 18 years leading large multinational teams across Europe, the US, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Far East, with customers including air navigation service providers, central government departments and military organisations.

An aerospace engineer by background, Martin has formerly worked for companies including LogicaCMG and the European Space Agency in the Netherlands and has served on the Board of Directors of Intellect UK.

Any additional runway capacity, regardless of the specific location the Government decides, will require major redesign of airspace – the largest for 50 years. Redesign will ultimately enable NATS to manage growing traffic more efficiently, to review air traffic control procedures to minimise noise for people living below flight paths and to reduce fuel burn and CO₂ emissions. This work will optimise the use of the UK’s national airspace asset but it is critical to know as early as possible what ground infrastructure the airspace arrangements will need to support.

But in December 2010 significant snow falls caused widespread disruption to flights and when that is taken into account the estimated underlying trend for December shows a decrease of 0.7 per cent.

Almost 154,000 flights were handled during the month compared with just under 145,000 flights during December 2010.

NATS handled just under 2.2m flights in the whole of 2011 – 3.2 per cent more than in 2010. When the effects of volcanic ash and weather disruption during 2010 are taken into account, 2011 saw an underlying growth in the number of flights of 0.1 per cent.

Transatlantic and other international flights showed strong growth during 2011 when compared with the previous year. However, domestic flights were two per cent down over the 12 month period.

All 15 NATS controlled airports grew their traffic figures during 2011 with Aberdeen at 9.1 per cent recording the biggest increase.

Thanks to funding received from EUROCONTROL and the European Commission aimed at fostering the growth of EGNOS operations, the Guernsey based airline, Aurigny Air Services has upgraded aircraft with new Garmin Avionics. Aurigny is now authorised to operate passenger flights into Airports that offer EGNOS based procedures as the primary source of guidance. For Aurigny this represents a major technical advance that will enable more reliable flights in poor weather conditions to the island of Alderney, facilitate a future joined up operation with Southampton and enhance the long-term viability of the Trislander aircraft.

To support the development and implementation of EGNOS, which can be used across Europe, NATS built a consortium to successfully bid for EUROCONTROL/European Commission funding. NATS played a critical role in leading the project and interfacing with the European Aviation Safety Agency, The Director of Civil Aviation (Guernsey) and UK CAA aviation regulators, who certified the airfield and Aircraft operations. Bringing their air traffic control expertise to bear, NATS also designed the approach procedures and developed the requisite safety assurance material.

“EGNOS technology is a significant step towards equipping airfields to operate safely in inclement conditions.” said David Pole, NATS Project Manager and GNSS Systems Engineer. “It’s a cost effective solution for smaller airfields that need the accuracy and reliability of an instrument landing system. Not only does EGNOS improve the regularity of flight services, it also offers reductions in both pilot and controller workload.

Alderney airport is the first airfield in Europe to use EGNOS to support scheduled passenger services. This will enhance the reliability of Aurigny’s recreational, business and lifeline air services to the island, whilst avoiding the substantial cost of ground based equipment.

“Unlike Guernsey, Jersey and many other European airports, Alderney is too small to justify the cost of an Instrument Landing System.” said Aurigny Air Services Flight Operations Director, David Rice, “EGNOS will therefore be of a huge benefit to our Alderney operations and we are delighted to have led the way in testing it for Alderney and other small European airfields.

“NATS has afforded us every assistance, and the relationship between our organisations has been excellent.” Added Dick Emery, Aurigny Air Services Group Technical Director, “From initial contract negotiation to final certification, NATS has contributed much to the success of the project.”

Richard Deakin, NATS’ Chief Executive Officer, said Simon brought “a wealth of experience in public relations with an international perspective” which made him a perfect fit for the company.

Simon Warr

During his three years at Jaguar Land Rover he led a global team of 80 and was responsible for all company internal and external communications, and reputation and issue management with all stakeholders. His key achievement was to lead the company’s communications during its sale to Tata in June 2008.

He said: “It is a very exciting time to join NATS and I am looking forward to furthering the company’s reputation as a global leader in air traffic services.”

A former journalist, Simon is also the Vice President of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce.

Simon is due to start work at the NATS headquarters at Whiteley in Hampshire on 3 January.

The milestone was reached on November 27 while in 2010 the two millionth flight of the year was not handled until December 9.

The year as a whole has shown an increase in air travel with a 2.9 per cent increase in UK flights for the year to the end of November when compared to 2010.

However in November 2011, there was a decrease of 1.6% in UK flights compared to last year, when significant snowfalls had already depressed those figures.

Traffic handled by NATS airports was also down in November, by 1.8 per cent, although Aberdeen recorded an 11.4 per cent growth partly accounted for by a new route to and from Frankfurt that started during the month.

NATS Manchester General Manager Paul Jones (left) with Manchester Airport Managing Director Andrew Harrison (centre) and Area Director for construction company Morgan Sindall, James Morgan at the turf cutting ceremony.

Work has now started at the site and the 60 metre high tower is expected to be completed by Spring 2013. Construction, design and infrastructure company Morgan Sindall, the contractor for the £16m project, was present at the sod cutting ceremony.

NATS, the UK’s leading air traffic control company, and Manchester Airport have teamed up and launched a time-lapse camera that is located on the roof of the current tower over looking the new tower site. It will take a picture every 15 minutes over the course of the project and there will be a weekly one-minute video produced of the works to date that will also be broadcast on the airport’s Youtube channel.

Andrew Harrison, Manchester Airport’s Managing Director, said: “Now the contractors have been announced and work has commenced, this film will be a great way to monitor the progress of the new tower build. It’s a large construction project for Manchester that will create jobs in the process and we are keen to show the benefits of the project to a wider audience across our region. I know that it will be an iconic addition to the Manchester skyline.”

James Morgan, area director at Morgan Sindall, said: “Securing the contract for the new air traffic control tower is testament to the expertise we’ve developed in the UK aviation sector and our ability to consistently deliver on time and to budget.  We are working closely with Manchester Airport’s in-house team as well as architects CPMG and engineers URS Scott Wilson to deliver this project and are delighted to start work on site.”

Paul Jones

Paul Jones, NATS’ General Manager at Manchester, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Manchester Airport Group on the fitting out of their new tower.

“From our vantage point in the current air traffic control tower we will be able to see progress on the new tower every day, and it promises to be an exciting new addition to the airport landscape. We are already planning ahead to next November when we will be able to start fitting out the tower with the 70 different systems that we require – from radar processors to communications equipment, Electronic Flight Progress System (EFPS) and plasma touch displays.”

The control tower, located adjacent to the north fire station, will house a new visual control room, alongside an approach radar section and navigation, surveillance and communication equipment to ensure ATC can effectively service the long-term investment and future growth of the airport.

The new tower will be a standalone, purpose built building, with the base of the building housing a new equipment centre and offices for the Air Traffic Control company, NATS.

With 360-degree panoramic views, it will provide unrivalled views of the entire airfield operation. At present, cameras are used by controllers to assist with the view to the furthest runway end.

NATS will manage the equipment and run the tower’s 24-hour operation while Manchester Airport will own and maintain the building. The current air traffic control centre, located on top of the tower block, is 40 years old and is being reviewed as part of the renovating process.

To access the time lapse footage please visit www.lobstervision.tv and use username: atc and password: atc

Richard Eglese (right) from the Operational Research Society presents the President’s Medal and certificate to Sean Jones (left) and Steve Hammond (centre) from NATS.

The President’s Medal is one of the society’s most prestigious honours and is awarded annually for the best practical application of operational research in industry. Steve Hammond, Capability Lead for Airport Capacity at NATS, picked up the prize on behalf of the Operational Analysis (OA) team at a ceremony held at the Royal Society in London.

Steve said: “We have been awarded this honour for our work to develop a new metric that enables us to measure NATS environmental performance for aircraft under our control.

“This means that, for the first time, we can understand how close we get to delivering our airlines’ preferred flight trajectories. It’s an industry first and everyone involved has worked tremendously hard to achieve this award.”

The metric was developed in order to demonstrate a contribution to a flight’s overall environmental performance. A key challenge in developing the tool was finding a way of stripping out inefficiencies that were being caused by others.

It uses a complex calculation to compare the overall flight track of an aircraft versus the airline’s preferred flight trajectory. The new performance measure, which will be implemented from January next year, is called the 3Di score (3 Dimensional inefficiency).

The judges of the President’s Medal commended the work for going beyond delivering business efficiency alone, and demonstrating the power of operational research in fundamentally shaping the business environment.

Sean Jones, Head of Operational Analysis at NATS, said: “There’s a great deal of industry leading research in which OA is involved. It’s fantastic that we’ve gained some external recognition and from such a highly respected body as the Operational Research Society.”

This equates to 5.73 pence per share. The dividend will be paid to shareholders – HM Government, the Airline Group, airports group BAA and NATS Employee Share Trust – in proportion to their holdings.

NATS (En Route) plc, the company’s economically regulated provider of en route air traffic services, will fund £7.8m of the dividend with the remaining £0.4m coming from NATS (Services) Ltd, the non-regulated side of NATS’ business.

In June 2011, NATS paid a first interim dividend of £42.5m in respect of the year ending 31 March 2012.

Alastair Muir, currently NATS’ General Manager International Policy and Relations and NATS’ Brussels representative, is to take on the role of International Strategy Director.

Alastair will be responsible for developing NATS’ global strategy and for building strong alliances and collaborations. He will specifically focus on NATS’ position in Europe, including ensuring NATS continues to play a leading role in SESAR – the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research programme.

Richard Deakin CEO NATS

“Single European Sky is fast becoming a reality,” Richard Deakin said. “The establishment of Functional Airspace Blocks, creation of European-wide common performance targets, designation of Eurocontrol as the Network Manager and increased momentum on SESAR deployment, are all testament to the fact that SES is no longer just a political desire.

“Ensuring that NATS is a key player and respected voice in this international arena, will be a significant area of focus for Alastair in his role of International Strategy Director.”

Alastair said: “I am delighted to take on this role to evolve and deliver NATS’ international strategy during such an exciting time for aviation.

“It’s important for NATS to continue to play a significant role in helping shape the future of European and global air traffic management, alongside our ATM colleagues, customers and suppliers.”

Biography

Alastair Muir

Alastair joined NATS as an Engineering Cadet in 1986. He has a solid background in all aspects of ATM Engineering. Throughout his career, Alastair has had spells at Manchester Airport and Area Control Centre, Prestwick Centre and NATS’ headquarters.

Since 2008, Alastair has been NATS’ Brussels representative responsible for influencing and lobbying key political and international ATM institutions.

Alastair is also Chair of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation European Co-ordination group.