Air Traffic Control Services
NATS provides air traffic control services at 15 of the UK's biggest airports, and "en-route" air traffic services for aircraft flying through UK airspace. This year we will handle more than two million flights carrying over 220 million passengers.
We compete for our business at the airports and have won all 15 of our contracts by being extremely good at what we do and the service we can offer. In 2005 we won our first overseas contract, for RAF Gibraltar.
Our "en route" business is regulated, and we operate under licence from the Civil Aviation Authority. The terms of our licence, available in full on the CAA website, require NATS to be capable of meeting on a continuous basis any reasonable level of overall demand. We are charged with permitting access to airspace on the part of all users, whilst making the most efficient overall use of airspace.
NATS is leading the industry in terms of technological and business development and sells a range of product and consultancy services.
Airport Operations
The drive towards greater commercialisation, new airport developments, the expansion of the airline industry and regulatory compliance are all combining to create a challenging environment for operators.
Fundamentally, an airport is a safety-critical environment. Air traffic control must have the infrastructure, technology and training to enable the safe provision of air navigation services. The airport needs to be able to handle current and projected capacity with fully co-ordinated resources, minimising delays.
Typical problems that might impact day-to-day operations include:
- Surface movement and ground control, for example congestion or runway incursions
- Outdated operational procedures
- Failing equipment
- Lack of safety management systems
- Pressures from the environmental lobby (noise or particulate pollution)
- Cost and capability of ATC staff
Our team of experts can advise on all aspects of your current or planned operations and procedures. NATS can assist in the design of new procedures, perform capacity studies and provide safety services to ensure operations are optimised.
- NATS project management and engineering teams can meet all your technology needs. We provide a turnkey operation to replace or upgrade systems, integrate and commission them into existing infrastructure and provide through-life maintenance support.
- NATS has worked closely with governments, regulatory bodies and environmental groups to ensure that air traffic operations - for example departure and arrival routes and holding areas - have minimal impact on the environment.
- A key NATS strength is the quality of its resources. NATS can provide fully qualified and experienced air traffic controllers to manage an ATC operation or implement a comprehensive training programme to ensure local staff are fully capable of delivering air navigation services.
Traffic management
Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) face a difficult challenge: dealing with growing traffic in ever more complex airspace whilst managing peak demands without restricting the flow of traffic or compromising safety.
In this challenging environment ANSPs need to consider some or all of these issues:
- Overcoming airspace capacity constraints
- Optimising civil and military airspace and operations
- Minimising the imposition of traffic flow restrictions
- Planning for new procedures and changes in airspace
- Implementing paperless systems
- Dealing with shortages of skilled staff
- Coping with peak demands and sector overloading
NATS is leading the world towards a more proactive system of air traffic management, identifying and resolving issues before they become a problem. NATS has developed tools, systems & technology that help ANSPs around the world to optimise the use of their airspace. For instance our real-time simulation facilities allow for successful design and extensive testing of new airspace models. Our flow management suite of tools is proven to reduce delays and optimise performance in an operational environment and our electronic flight data enables us wider sharing of real-time flight information.
Management of Airspace & Operations requires effective coordination of all stakeholders:
- ANSPs
- Regulators
- Airlines
- Military
- Government bodies
- Local authorities
Address
NATSCorporate and Technical Centre
4000 Parkway Whiteley Fareham
Hants
PO15 7FL
United Kingdom
Tel: 01489 616001
Email: info@nats.co.uk
URL: www.nats.co.uk