Airspace
Planning a flypast fit for The Queen
1 June 2022When we were asked by our colleagues at RAF 78 Squadron, based in our Swanwick centre, to support a flypast over London to help mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, how could we possibly refuse? So just how do we plan a flypast in some of the UK’s busiest airspace?
Collaboration is key to a successful summer
25 May 2022The latest forecasts suggest Europe’s summer traffic levels will be close to 85% of what we saw before the pandemic, with flight numbers even exceeding pre-Covid levels at certain times and in certain places.
Tackling the non-CO2 cloud on the horizon
13 May 2022Building on the research and the experience of live trials with SATAVIA, we hope to get a better understanding of what contrail formation means for our controllers and operation over the North Atlantic and how we could implement avoidance strategies without increasing fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions.
There’s definitely a place for Free Route Airspace
22 April 2022Earlier this month, I was invited to present at the Asia Pacific (APAC) Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation CEO Committee Meeting to talk about our recent deployment of Free Route Airspace and the benefits it could deliver across the region.
A revolutionary vision for the future of aviation
19 April 2022FlyZero is looking to realise the UK’s ambition to develop a zero-carbon emission aircraft. Nearly a year on the project has reported its findings, which demonstrate the huge potential of green liquid hydrogen to power even long-haul aircraft.
Pandemic traffic patterns give way to the summer
25 March 2022The Covid pandemic had a huge impact on aviation. Almost overnight the volume of traffic in the UK dropped hugely, by up to 90%. But this also provided an unexpected opportunity to see how we could use the UK’s airspace more efficiently.
Storm Eunice: Go-arounds and air traffic control
25 February 2022There were nine go-arounds in a row at one point at Heathrow, and 40 in total between 07:00 and 14:00, when usually we might see one a day. Add in similar problems at other airports and you’re suddenly dealing with a very complex, dynamic and challenging environment.
Proudly supporting those who serve
8 February 2022Portsmouth has a long and proud military history. It’s a near neighbour of some of NATS’ main sites, notably our Swanwick Centre which is still unique in the world in having military and civil ATC working alongside each other. Many of our colleagues are part of the Armed Forces community, from Veterans to Reservists to […]
Training for change – a human algorithm
27 January 2022We talk often about airspace modernisation and how it’s progressing, but we haven’t talked before about how we prepare our controllers for a new airspace design.
Introducing Free Route Airspace into the UK skies
10 December 2021Last week, on 2nd December 2021, NATS implemented the biggest airspace change ever undertaken in the UK and introduced Free Route Airspace for the first time into UK skies. It’s an exciting milestone in a project which has been underway for over five years and will enable huge fuel, flight time and CO2 savings. But what is Free Route Airspace (FRA) and what does it mean for airlines?