One of the priorities for NATS is to work with Gatwick to support their strategic vision for growth and an enhanced passenger experience. Today, we delivered the biggest change to Gatwick air traffic control for decades, with the introduction of a second ground movement controller (GMC) position in the tower.

Last month I was at the International Airport Summit in Berlin, where one theme cut through almost every discussion, panel and product demo: predictability, not performance is now what airports care most about.

With global air traffic now matching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels, airports face growing pressure to optimise existing resources. Ahead of the International Airport Summit (IAS) in Berlin this November, International Airport Review (IAR) editor Holly Miles spoke with Chris Miles (Calgary Airport Authority) and Marco Rueckert (Searidge Technologies) about why this challenge is so urgent, the possible solutions, and what’s on the horizon.

By dynamically calculating the spacing between aircraft based on real-time local conditions rather than relying on set distances, Intelligent Approach helps airports to maximise the capacity of their runways and optimise the flow of aircraft into the airport, thereby improving on-time performance.

The NATS ATC team has been working closely with London Gatwick to deliver a big milestone in the airport’s infrastructure upgrades, with the activation of the new Echo Romeo Rapid Exit Taxiway (RET). Construction started in 2023 and it officially opened for operations last month, just in time for the busy summer season which kicks in this weekend.

This week we said a bittersweet adios to FerroNATS, the pioneering Spanish joint venture we originally set up with Ferrovial Servicios – now Serveo – over a decade ago in 2011.

Working together with airports and airlines, we put in place some operating restrictions immediately before and during, the silences, both as a mark of our respect and to minimise the risk of noise disturbing the many commemorations being held up and down the country.

Last week NATS took over the air traffic control service at Gatwick Airport after an absence of six years and our first priority is to get more controllers into the operation.

Hong Kong took a big step back to normality last week with the lifting of its strict hotel quarantine measures. The challenge now is how to rebuild in a safe, considered and sustainable way.

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.