National Air Traffic Services (NATS)

A Record Year for UK Air Traffic Controllers

Global Aviation takes a closer look at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) an organisation which provide air traffic control services to aircraft flying in UK airspace and over the eastern part of the North Atlantic. We came away with some very interesting facts and found out that last year was not only a record breaking year for NATS but also a year which saw the launch of NATS’ revolutionary First Brief.

NATS is the UK’s leading air navigation service provider, controlling all en-route flights and air traffic at fifteen of the UK’s major airports. The organisation handled a record 2.3 million flights through British airspace in 2005, a rise of 5.7 per cent over the previous year and the highest annual growth since 1999.

This increase in flights was contributed by the low-cost airlines flying to Eastern Europe, which grew the region by 36.5 per cent over the last 12 months. Air traffic to the Middle East, Asia and Africa showed a significant growth, rising by 12.9 per cent.

Records were also broken at NATS’ en-route centres,London Area Control (LACC) at Swanwick, Hampshire;London Terminal Control (LTCC) at West Drayton;Scottish Area and Oceanic Control at Prestwick; and Manchester Area Control. All four centres exceeded previous annual records.

NATS handled a record 2.3 million flights through British airspace in 2005

Upsetting the trend was the start of the winter schedules in domestic traffic. The strong growth seen all year had slowed considerably from a peak rise in May 2005 of 9.5 per cent to 0.4 per cent in December2005. Transatlantic over flights have again remained below the level set in 2000, before the downturn in air travel following the US terrorist attacks in 2001.

At the airports where NATS provides air traffic services all showed year on year growth, of a 4.5per cent rise for the year as a whole. Bristol,(NATS’ newest UK airport) showed a 14 per cent increase in en route movements in December compared with the year before, whilst out of NATS’15 UK airports, London City achieved the largest annual growth at 17.4 per cent. On top of all this,last December, NATS handled 172,491 flights, an increase of 4.5 percent on the same period last year.

NATS is continually investing in new technology that will enable it to increase the number of flights it handles from two million to three million per year by 2013. In November last year First Brief was launched as a revolutionary automated briefing product by NATS in partnership with Real Time Engineering Ltd (RTEL).

Gone are the days of paper systems…

This system was developed for NATS by RTEL; First Brief ensures that air traffic controllers are aware of the latest changes in situation and procedure affecting the airspace under their control, while engineers are briefed on the most up-to-date status of the systems they manage

Gone are the days of paper systems, First Brief provides guaranteed accuracy of vital information,where operational information must be distributed to staff in a controlled,guaranteed and verifiable way and a detailed audit trail for management and regulatory requirements.The system allows a high degree of select ability, so users only see information relevant to them.

It is now fully operational across all NATS airports and air traffic control centres in the UK, and can be tailored for airlines, aircraft maintenance and airport security.