There was no fanfare or fireworks, but last Tuesday was a significant day in the history of transatlantic air travel. For the first time in decades there were no westbound tracks across the North Atlantic.

From 28 March to the 31 August over 4,400 more flights were assigned their requested level when compared to 2018, meaning our trial performance is already indicating noteworthy fuel burn and environmental improvements.

It’s now been over two months since we introduced the Aireon service over the North Atlantic and we’re getting a clear picture of what all that means in terms of early benefits to our customers.

At the end of March, a revolution will begin in the skies over the North Atlantic, as for the first time in the history of air travel, earth orbiting satellites will be used to monitor and manage flights in near real-time.

In April I attended the annual IATA Ops Conference in Ottowa, where we were able to share a vision for transatlantic flights in 2025, jointly developed by us at NATS and the Canadian air traffic service, NAV CANADA. The video we produced is aimed at an aviation audience but hopefully it gives any viewer an idea of the huge amount of work that we’re doing with NAV CANADA to transform transatlantic operations to make it safer, cleaner and far more efficient.