From today, NATS is introducing Direct Route Airspace into Prestwick’s Rathlin and Central upper airspace sectors.

This is a real landmark which will lay our foundations for the eventual adoption of Free Route Airspace across the whole of Northern Europe

Earlier this week we opened our headquarters for the Middle East, with a permanent office in Dubai. To mark the occasion, a number of our senior executives met with Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, to discuss some of the most aviation opportunities and challenges facing the Gulf.

The Icelandic Met Office currently has an ‘Orange’ risk warning over Bárdarbunga volcano and we thought it would be useful to set out in clear steps the impact it might have on UK aviation.

The teams that man Hampshire and Isle of Wight’s Air Ambulance have saved countless lives, flying to the rescue of those in need all over the county. It’s heroic work, with the crew ready to leap into action at a moment’s notice.

Watch Dr Girgis explain more about life as an Aviation Medical Examiner and the services the centre offers in a recent video we made with him.

Today the AIP for the reclassification of the London CTR was published, marking 56 days until the change comes into effect.

This is what you need to know.

Whenever there’s disruption to the air traffic operation somewhere in Europe, for example the industrial action in France last week, we tend to get calls from journalists who are keen to understand the impact on the UK and how we’re managing it.

English is the international language of the air, although a few minutes spent listening to an air traffic controller and you’d be forgiven for not realising it!

European airspace is some of the busiest and most complex anywhere in the world. Every day thousands of air traffic controllers guide millions of passengers safely to their destinations. Yet to most people, the choreography going on above them is entirely unnoticed.

We’re showcasing some of the work we have been doing on airport and airspace capacity at the World ATM Congress in Madrid. Val Wilson is an expert in capacity management. In this video she describes some of the work NATS is doing to release capacity around the world.