With the Christmas and New Year celebrations already a distant memory, 2016 is shaping up as another very challenging and exciting year for both NATS and the wider aviation industry.

We wanted to find ways in which we could increase engagement with the non-ATM community, rather than just expecting stakeholders to interpret a 200 page report.

Some readers of the general media coverage of this year’s Dubai Airshow will have come to the conclusion that the astonishing regional growth in aviation is slowing, if not yet coming to a hard stop.

On 24 December, UK airspace hosts the most important flight of the year; someone to whom the normal rules of the air do not apply. The person is, of course, Santa Claus.

Last week was the 60th annual conference & exposition of the Air Traffic Control Association of the USA (ATCA), in Washington DC. It’s always an interesting event, bringing together ATM professionals, suppliers and commentators from all over the world to discuss the key issues of the day.

If you’re a member of the General Aviation community, you can’t help but have noticed that over the summer NATS announced some important changes to the AFPEx service.

Flying is one of the safest ways to travel, with the vast majority of us never experiencing anything other than a straightforward journey. However, in the unlikely event of something going wrong we’re all glad for the skill and training of the professionals whose job it is to look after us.

SESAR is showcasing its success stories in a number of critical areas, such as enabling greener aviation, increasing connectivity and mobility, advancing the digitalisation and virtualisation of ATM, and ensuring the safe integration of new types of aircraft, such as unmanned aircraft.

This week Europe’s aviation community gather for the European Commission-sponsored Aerodays conference. It’s a major event that only takes place once every few years to develop innovative concepts and technologies that will help ensure the aviation can grow, safely and sustainably, and to discuss emerging issues.

A record attendance was recorded at the 26th Bi-Annual North American/European Air Traffic Flow Management Task Force (NAMEUR) Meeting in Dublin, Ireland. Work has already started on the next meeting, NAMEUR/27 which is planned for late April 2016 in Miami, USA and which will be hosted by IATA.