In my view, far from just being just “the people in the tower”, air traffic control is at the heart of an airport. It can help set the tone for the entire operation and can make an airport either poor or excellent.

Fifteen minutes don’t go by without another colleague or friend asking me, “What in the world is going on in your country?!?

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.

We’ve been able to measure the environmental efficiency of the aircraft in our skies for some time now, but until now we haven’t been able to extend that knowledge to planes operating on the ground at airports.

NATS had been working with Heathrow, BA and community group HACAN on a noise respite trial for people living under the airport flight paths. Today, the results have been published and they make for interesting reading.

With less than a year to go to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and planning well under way, we’ve been reflecting on the work we were doing this time last year at the London 2012 Olympics.

Cardiff Airport welcomed its largest ever aircraft for the first time yesterday – a formidable British Airways A380.

Air traffic control is all about getting as many aircraft through your airspace as efficiently and safely as possible. If you can successfully do that day in day out, passengers, airports and airlines will all be happy – sounds simple!

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.

This week the United States celebrated Independence Day, so it seemed an appropriate time for our US Business Development Manager to share his thoughts on independence. ANSP independence.