Flight Prepare screen

NATS Flight Prepare, available for free on both iPad and iPhone, takes pilots through a range of questions, highlighting the factors that could lead to them straying into controlled airspace. Pilots are then given a score based on their answers and can share the results on social media.

Questions cover a range of topics, from the weather conditions and need to brief passengers, to the importance of contacting the Distress and Diversion in the event of becoming lost.

The app has been developed following research conducted by NATS into the causes of airspace infringements. The results of 400 pilot questionnaires identified human factors, such as workload and fatigue, as major contributors.

Flight Prepare screen

With the assistance of industry experts, including GA pilots and instructors, these were then translated into a series of questions and prompts designed to reduce the impact and likelihood of a pilot infringing.

NATS’ Terminal Control Safety Manager Jonathan Smith said: “An infringement occurs every 11 hours in the UK and they’re bad news for everyone involved.

“This app will remind pilots of the simple things that can easily be forgotten before taking to the air, while increasing awareness of their own potential to infringe and the factors to be aware of.”

The NATS Flight Prepare App is the latest in a series of initiatives from the air traffic control company aimed at reducing controlled airspace infringement rates. In January it launched the Infringement Prevention Award to recognise the clubs and schools that are doing fantastic work to reduce the number of infringements by their members.

• Download the app from the Apple app store: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/nats-flight-prepare/id648884942?ls=1&mt=8

Presenter Dan Snow will be in the Heathrow Airport control tower for Airport Live as the BBC gets unrivalled access behind the scenes throughout the airport for the programme due to aired between 20:00-21:00hrs each evening 17–20 June.

Presenters Dallas Campbell and Anita Rani will also be airside, granted unparalleled access to get to grips with the extraordinary science, engineering and logistics that make air travel at one of the world’s busiest airports possible.

There will be a significant focus on the work of NATS’ air traffic controllers who manage around 1,400 aircraft movements each day, including access to the heart of the operation in the visual control room of the tower.

Dan Snow said: “Air travel has become an everyday luxury that we take for granted, but behind the scenes it’s a fascinating web of processes all precisely managed to maintain equilibrium.

“Over four nights we’ll get the chance to see how it all works. We’ll take a look at the complex choreography of air traffic control, learn to fly the world’s largest passenger jet, the A380, and discover how weather plays a crucial role in keeping the whole operation running smoothly. Airport Live will be a thrilling journey through the skies and a definitive account of modern air travel.”

NATS’ General Manager at Heathrow Jon Proudlove said the BBC programme would shine a light on an aspect of air travel that the public does not generally get to see.

“The work of the NATS air traffic controllers at Heathrow is crucial to the efficient running of the airport, ensuring that the runways that we have are used to their maximum capacity safely every day,” said Jon.

“This programme will show some of the challenges we face and the technology that we use to ensure we get the very most we can from what is available.”

The BBC said Airport Live would mark the most complete exploration of Heathrow’s grounds and skies and would feature a mix of live and pre-recorded footage that would explain how an airport worked.

BBC Two will go behind the scenes airside; into the heart of the air traffic control tower; onto the tarmac as a plane is turned around for departure; and into the hub of engineering to watch a service on a plane. Everything and everyone is on a deadline and BBC Two will be there to watch this daily race first hand.

NATS, the UK’s major provider of air traffic services, is to provide expert airspace advice to the Airports Commission, set up by the Government to recommend on future airport capacity in south-east England.

The Airports Commission will contract with NATS to support its consideration of options for meeting the UK’s aviation airport capacity and connectivity requirements over the short, medium and long term.  This work will inform the Commission’s interim report, due for publication by the end of 2013, which will provide an assessment of the nature, scale and timing of any need for new capacity.

It will also set out the Commission’s recommendations for short and medium term actions to improve the use of existing runway capacity in the next five years and in relation to any long-term options that should be taken forward for more detailed consideration from 2014 onwards.

Richard Deakin CEO NATS

Richard Deakin, NATS Chief Executive Officer, said: “Airports are only as good as the airspace that supports them – and we have unrivalled expertise and understanding of how to make best use of this critical, but invisible pillar of transport infrastructure. I am delighted that the Commission recognises the value we can add and we look forward to working with them.”

NATS will provide input into the Commission’s review of potential measures to increase airport capacity in the short-term, ensuring as far as possible that robust assessments of their airspace implications have been carried out. This includes analysis of the likely benefits, feasibility, risk and estimated timeframe for implementation.

NATS will also contribute to the early assessment of longer term options for improving airport capacity, including airspace considerations for new runways or airports, with a particular emphasis on operational and network feasibility and identifying key constraints.

More efficient air traffic control procedures and the better use of airspace have saved 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ since 2008, a report from NATS shows.

The savings equate to cutting £160 million from airline fuel bills.

The UK’s leading air traffic control company has released a five year retrospective report on its environment programme, highlighting the initiatives it has introduced to cut airline fuel costs and minimise CO₂ emissions.

In 2008, NATS was the first air traffic control service in the world to set targets to support the sustainable development of aviation. Since then it has pioneered a number of practical and technological changes designed to optimise airspace and aircraft performance.

The unique 3Di airspace efficiency metric, introduced in 2012, allows NATS to measure the environmental efficiency of every aircraft under its control, while 125 airspace changes have unlocked more direct routes and further savings.

The introduction of iFACTS alone – NATS’ next generation air traffic control tool – is estimated to be saving 10,000 tonnes of fuel, worth £6 million a year. iFACTS gives controllers a view of the future track and trajectory of the aircraft under their control so they can optimise route for fuel and emissions savings.

Ian Jopson

Ian Jopson, Head of Environment and Community Affairs at NATS, was proud of the company’s achievements: “We have made great progress over the past five years, but as we celebrate these successes we must also look to the future.

“Our work towards delivering the next generation of air traffic management infrastructure, tools and operating concepts will provide a step change in our environmental performance, but this work needs investment and against a backdrop of economic pressures we will need to innovate to continue delivering.”

As well as changes in the skies, over the past seven years NATS has introduced a number of sustainability measures on the ground too.

Since 2008 NATS’ energy consumption has fallen 29 per cent, with water usage also dropping by 45 per cent.

View the entire report on NATS’ environment webpages.

The latest punctuality figures issued by NATS, the UK’s leading air traffic control company, showed that the total for air traffic control related delays during the whole of March was 379 minutes.

That is the lowest monthly total of NATS-attributable delay since records started being kept almost 20 years ago.

Almost all of the delay for March came on Easter Sunday when there was a need to regulate the air traffic flow because demand exceeded the available capacity of the airspace.

Those flights that were delayed were held up on average by 10.8 minutes.

The punctuality figures for the first three months of the year – January to March – show that the average NATS-attributable delay for all flights was just 0.4 seconds. It was 1.2 seconds over the same period in 2012.

Martin Rolfe

NATS Managing Director Martin Rolfe said: “These record low figures for air traffic control delays illustrate that our determination to keep the travelling public moving is paying off.

“If you are held up in an aircraft in the UK today the chances are very high that it is something other than NATS air traffic control that is causing the problem.”

NATS handled 165,237 flights in March, which is 2.8 per cent down when compared with March 2012.

The hardest hit market sector was Transatlantic overflights which was 8.1 per cent down on the same time last year.

The company expects that an online system, as opposed to a face-to-face assessment, will speed up the process, be more cost efficient and encourage more people to apply.

NATS receives around 3,000 applications for each of its four-yearly college intakes. Yet such is the specialist nature of the job, only 25 will actually begin training.

The new online assessment looks at an applicant’s numerical, verbal and spatial reasoning. Those who are successful are then invited to continue through what is a three stage recruitment process.

Claire Burton, NATS Talent Acquisition Manager, said: “It takes a very special person to become an air traffic controller which is why we invest so heavily in finding the right people. However, we have successful controllers from all walks of life, so we would want to encourage applications from all backgrounds.

“By making the initial assessment process online only, we want to speed it up, make it more efficient and see more people coming forward for what is a very fulfilling career.”

Training air traffic controllers is a huge investment, with the safety of the flying public being the top priority. NATS invests £750,000 in the training of each new controller and it takes around three years to become fully qualified.

For successful applicants, training takes place firstly at NATS’ head office in Fareham, Hampshire, before being placed either at one of the two air traffic control centres in the UK, or one of the 15 NATS operated airport towers.

NATS guides around 2 million aircraft through some of the busiest and most complex airspace anywhere in the world. Increasingly its expertise is in demand from other countries, with NATS also working in Asia, the United States and the Middle East.

There are still places available for training courses starting this year.

For more information on training to be an air traffic controller, visit www.nats.co.uk/careers/atc.

Business Secretary Vince Cable was among those to visit the exhibition being held at the London headquarters of UKTI.

Mr Cable said: “Britain’s aerospace industry is the biggest in Europe and second only to the US worldwide. Our expertise in air traffic control management – demonstrated so well by this exhibition – proudly sits alongside world-beating capability in wing and engine manufacturing and advanced aircraft systems.

“Encouraging more exports is a key part of the Government’s Plan for Growth. Over the past three years with support from UKTI, NATS has grown from operating in just two countries to now exporting its air traffic services to 30 around the world, including Japan, Qatar, the US and Australia.

“I congratulate NATS on this achievement and wish them well for future successes.”

Richard Deakin, NATS CEO, added: “NATS has grown enormously in past few years and the UKTI has been an invaluable support.

“Our expansion into new markets is testament to the fact that Britain is a world leader in air traffic management and NATS’ knowledge and skills are in demand across the world.”

The exhibition runs until 11 April.

High resolution imagery is available from the NATS Flickr photostream.

Simon, currently Chief Technology Officer for IT solutions company Logicalis, will lead the work to ensure NATS’ systems align with its operational and business strategy, such as integration with the Single European Sky initiative.

Simon Daykin

Simon is a Chartered Engineer and started his career with Racal Comsec.

He has also worked as a Systems Integrator at Thales Sensors and Corporate and as an Infrastructure Architect at Portman Building Society before moving to Logicalis UK where he has led the development and design of their data centres, cloud platform and major customer projects.

He said: “I’m very excited to be joining NATS at a time when infrastructure is at the centre not only of what it is doing within the company, but also more widely through Single European Sky and wider alignment.

“Robust IT architecture is absolutely the key to NATS’ continued success.  I’m looking forward to applying my expertise to a new industry and working with experts to help implement the technical challenges NATS faces in the future.”

Simon Hocquard, NATS Operations Strategy and Deployment Director, said: “I’m delighted to have attracted Simon to NATS. We’re moving into a new era and he brings a fresh approach.  His enthusiasm for technology is inspiring and he does not believe in new technology for technology’s sake.

“He is particularly good at articulating complex technological challenges – and understands what those challenges are likely to be.”

Simon, who joins NATS at the end of April, is married and lives in Fordingbridge.

Mr McLoughlin met with NATS CEO Richard Deakin to see the work of air traffic controllers looking after the world’s most complex airspace. Every day NATS guides 6,000 aircraft through UK skies and around 2 million annually.

Mr McLoughlin said: “I was very pleased to have the opportunity to visit the Swanwick site and see this hugely impressive and vitally important operation first-hand, and to talk to the highly skilled NATS staff about their work.”

In the 12 years since it became a Public Private Partnership NATS has invested heavily in new technology, such as iFACTS a tool that allows air traffic controllers to see 18 minutes into the future, which has boosted performance and slashed delays.

Last year delays attributable to NATS reached their lowest ever level, averaging just 1.6 seconds per flight.

NATS’ international growth agenda and south-east airport capacity were both subjects high on the agenda, with Mr Deakin highlighting the central importance of airspace to the efficient running of any airport.

Mr Deakin said: “NATS has got enormous expertise in designing and managing airspace both in the UK and around the world. Airspace capacity in the south-east of England is just as constrained as the infrastructure on the ground, something that the Secretary of State fully appreciated.”

Mr McLouglin’s trip follows a visit by members of the Airports Commission to Swanwick earlier this year.

View and download hi-res photos of the Secretary of State’s visit.

NATS also picked up the award for Contribution to Sustainable Transportation for its 3Di environmental metric.

The Olympic award, which was presented by Sir Peter Hendy CBE, acknowledges the planning, outreach, teamwork and operational excellence that enabled London’s skies to remain fully functional during the largest peacetime military operation the UK has ever seen.

Paul Haskins

“Anyone working in the London transport sector understands the complexity of this thriving, bustling city” said Paul Haskins, General Manager, London Terminal Control, NATS. “To be recognised for our contribution to keeping London moving during an event as challenging and visible as the Olympics is a real honour.  Our close collaboration with the MoD in the years preceding the Games and over the summer was absolutely instrumental in ensuring that residents and visitors could rely on safe and efficient air travel.”

“Outside the normal parameters of the 24/7 air policing coverage provided by the MoD for UK airspace, creating a security-assured, known-traffic environment throughout the Olympic Games challenged the MoD to implement new ways of working with commercial, recreational and military air traffic.” said Air Vice-Marshal Stuart Atha, Air Officer Commanding No 1 Group and Air Component Commander for the Olympics.

“Working alongside NATS, we created a bespoke air traffic control operation dedicated exclusively to securing London’s skies. This award is a testament to the level of commitment that went into delivering security-assured airspace without impacting the business-as-usual flows of commercial traffic.”

Over the course of the Olympic Games there were only 593 minutes of delay to commercial flights attributable to NATS, compared with 13,300 over the same period in 2011 – a 95% reduction.  NATS generated just 0.1 per cent of total European delay attributable to ATC, despite handling nearly a quarter of Europe’s traffic including an influx of over 850 additional commercial and Heads of State flights. And the MoD ably met the UK government’s number one priority of ensuring the security of the skies above London.

Ian Jopson

NATS also won in the “Contribution to Sustainable Transport” category for 3Di, NATS’ revolutionary environmental efficiency metric, which tracks the environmental performance of every flight in UK airspace to enable NATS to make emissions-saving improvements to its operation.

“3Di has been a remarkable success story since its introduction over a year ago.” said Ian Jopson, Head of Environmental and Community Affairs, NATS.

“We’ve already been able to use the data 3Di generates to enhance the environmental efficiency of our operation, saving emissions as well as fuel costs.”

The London Transport Awards, in association with Transport Times magazine, were judged by Transport Times publisher Professor David Begg, Chair of the Judging panel and publisher of Transport Times; Janet Cooke,  Chief Executive, London Travel Watch; Nick Lester, Director of Transport, Environment and Planning, London Councils and Elsie Owusu OBE, Principal Partner of Fielden & Mawson.