Recently, the media has been focusing on the shortage of female engineers. Initiatives such as National Women in Engineering Day – a day dedicated to raising the profile and celebrating the achievements of women in engineering – provides an opportunity for organisations such as NATS to inspire future generations and demystify what an engineering career means in reality.

Top airport and industry experts convened in Seoul last week for the ACI World Annual General Assembly at a time when sharing lessons learned through experience and working in co-operation is seen as the way forward.

It hardly matters which way the wind is blowing around Belfast International Airport – with two runways running at 90 degrees to each other they could be on easterlies, westerlies, northerlies or southerlies.

Fashions – including in aviation – come and go…and come back again! But are we really ready for the return of the airship?

The ongoing debate about airport capacity isn’t just about runways, it is also about resilience to challenging weather conditions. Heathrow is the busiest two runway airport in the world, handling over 470,000 flights a year.

The idea of sending instructions to an aircraft as data rather than voice communication seems like an obviously good one. It would lessen the chances of a misunderstanding while at the same time freeing up the pilot and controller for other tasks – a two-fold safety advantage.

Every year our controller help guide Santa Claus through UK airspace, but that’s only part of the story. His journey through UK airspace has to be carefully planned, taking into account his delivery schedule and the weight of the onboard cargo, weeks in advance.

Can we really expect our online orders to be delivered by drone within the foreseeable future?

NATS employees working at airports face a number of challenges in ensuring they provide a safe and efficient service to their customers. But in few places will they find the sort of daily complexities that are faced at Cardiff Airport.

Safety is always our number one priority, and that includes when it comes to cyber security and information assurance. Improving security is an on-going effort to ensure that we understand and can guard against the latest risks.