Industry events provide a useful opportunity for organisations to promote their wares and for individuals to reinforce relationships and grow their network of contacts. NATS will be exhibiting at the CANSO World ATM Congress at the IFEMA complex in Madrid from 10 – 12 March.

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

Take a trip down memory lane and read all about the colourful history of Prestwick Control Centre with this amazing timeline, which details the most significant milestones from 1939 to the present day, featuring some mesmerising photographs.

You will have hopefully seen today’s news that NATS has started a trial promoting the use of ADS-B by General Aviation that encourages pilots to connect a transponder to a non-certified GPS source.

In order to minimise the impact of space weather and prepare for its effects, NATS works closely with the Met Office and their ground-breaking new space weather centre.

On 24 December each year, UK airspace plays host to a very special visitor, someone to whom the normal rules of the air do not apply – Santa Claus.

Over the past few years more and more effort has gone into reducing the impact that aviation has on the environment. But, even if we were able to drastically cut carbon emission tomorrow some impact from climate change is now inevitable and we need to be prepared.

Following the success of our two data visualisations – Europe 24 and North Atlantic Skies – we’ve taken a lot of time to think about where to go next. We are therefore very excited to publish UK 24 – your guided tour to some of what makes UK aviation work.

The recreational and commercial use of small drones in the UK is on the rise, highlighting the need to support recreational operators in understanding their responsibilities as airspace users.

The new European Commission has indicated that they plan to review the effectiveness of existing legislation before introducing new legislation and I think that’s a good move. They could start by looking at the Single European Sky (SES) initiative.