Today we’ve released the fifth edition of our Aviation Index research study, digging into the UK public’s views and attitudes to aviation.

Despite being a fairly regular occurrence in the world of aviation, an aircraft failing to land and trying again is always seen as something quite scary and dramatic when it’s spoken about in the media.

It’s been over a year since London City Airport successfully transitioned to a digital tower and began controlling flights from a brand-new remote-control centre, based in Swanwick… but how have our engineering teams found it adapting to support and deliver this new technology?

We recently spoke to Graham Lewis, Deputy Service Manager, Swanwick Engineering team, to find out. 

This week sees the glorious return of Farnborough International Air show, a biennial event which showcases a blend of trade stands and air displays. After an unplanned four-year hiatus when Covid cancelled the 2020 event, this year’s show is extra special.

While there are acute differences between our oceanic and domestic operations, there is a great deal we can learn from one to build on the other.

Right now, our big challenge is volatility. We’re currently seeing 80%-90% of pre-pandemic traffic in the UK, but that traffic is both very ‘peaky’ and often presenting in places and at times that were not expected.

When 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?

It’s now more than a year since London City Airport successfully transitioned to a digital tower and began controlling flights from a brand-new remote-control centre, based in Swanwick.

Now, instead of sitting in a physical tower based at London City Airport, a dedicated team of controllers manage the runway through sixteen high-definition cameras and sensors mounted on a mast, capturing a 360-degree view of the City Airport airfield.

Exactly one year after the RAF’s Air Traffic Management unit at Swanwick was assigned the 78 Squadron number plate, they invited NATS colleagues to a Dining in Night to celebrate the anniversary and the strength of our joint and integrated working relationship.

Happy Easter from all at NATS! For those of you with little ones to entertain this Easter holiday, we hope they will enjoy this egg-cellent activity pack and learn a little something about air traffic control. We’d love to see your work on the activities in the pack so if you’d like to share it, […]