As airlines work hard to reduce their fuel burn and CO2 emissions, we at NATS have also been coming up with ways to help, using air traffic control initiatives to play our part.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games will see thousands of athletes and spectators flocking to Glasgow for the festival of sport – with many of them arriving by air into one of the UK’s busiest airports.

Last week I took part in a panel discussion on the use of technology in aviation to drive sustainability at Air Transport World’s Eco-Aviation Conference in Washington DC.

It was striking that at a conference wholly about the environment and aviation, NATS was the only ANSP represented, yet the topic of air traffic management (ATM) was seemingly on everyone’s lips.

One of the main things occupying the minds of those involved in providing air traffic services is how we reduce costs for airlines whilst improving safety and reducing emissions. Adrian Clark is one of our experts who forms part of the SESAR team looking into how to do this in Terminal Operations.

Perhaps sustainability doesn’t immediately spring to mind when you think about aviation, but at NATS we are well aware that the environment and local communities are central to our business and core to our success.

We’ve developed a new monitoring tool to help our operational and environmental managers better understand flight profiles around our airports.