The UK is one of the few countries around the world with a joint and integrated civil and military air traffic control service, with NATS and MoD controllers sitting side by side in the control centre at Swanwick, Hampshire.

This close relationship allows greater cooperation and the more flexible use of airspace. But what is the difference between civil and military ATM and how do they work together on a day to day basis?

In 2011 the Spanish government decided that the time had come to open the national air traffic control sector up to competition in search of efficiency gains. New beginnings are always hard.

Now that more than 35 million passengers have passed through the airports whose air traffic is controlled by FerroNATS, and with management of over 500,000 flights under our belt, we barely have the time to look back and remember how it all started. But there was a beginning and getting from there to here required a lot of hard work. This blog looks back at the journey.

Automation has a major role to play in the future of air traffic management. People are key to the success of any automation; how they design, monitor and maintain the systems and tools available to controllers, and how those tools are used. It’s something we’re dedicating a lot of attention to and I was pleased to be invited to discuss this at a recent Flight Safety Foundation Forum in Brussels.

Safety is always a key consideration and Aberdeen has supported the adoption of Wide Area Multilateration technology, which uses signals from transmitters and receivers fitted to oil and gas platforms to track offshore flights.

Hear what John Millar, NATS’ General Manager at Aberdeen Airport, has to say about the service his team provides to both fixed wing aircraft and the numerous helicopters in the latest Tower Tour video.

Every year the International Air Transport Association (IATA) brings its members together for an Operations Conference. This year the conference was in Los Angeles and focused on the challenge and opportunity from introducing new technology to enhance safety, efficiency and capacity.

NATS was recently awarded a contract to work with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) on air traffic management, specifically looking at airport expansion plans, high intensity operations and third runway activity.

So we thought it a good and timely opportunity to share a data visualisation we had made for the Asia Pacific region, offering some insight into just how busy the skies of the region are on any given day.

This is the third annual World ATM Congress trade show and we’re looking forward to welcoming delegates onto our stand to talk with our team and watch a range of technical demonstrations, as well as participate in more light hearted activities in the form of refreshments and games.

At Heathrow we have a great relationship with London’s Air Ambulance team at the Royal London Hospital. I was recently asked to speak at a human factors symposium organised by London’s Air Ambulance Institute of Pre-Hospital Care at the Queen Mary University of London’s Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

The ferroNATS project encompassed a series of safe and seamless transitions from one ATC provider to another, and also the recruitment and training of new air traffic controllers, creation of new safety cases for each airfield and the implementation of NATS’ renowned Just Culture for safety reporting.

Now that FerroNATS is firmly established as a trusted air traffic services provider in Spain we take a look at the project, its challenges and its benefits in a new interactive feature.

From the pioneering actions of Alcock and Brown to today’s high capability avionics and air traffic management systems, we see massive change as well as the roots of the next generation emerging. A change that will see the strengthening of the position of the Prestwick Air Traffic Control Centre as the transatlantic gateway, delivering the 2025 vision today, and in partnership with our global industry colleagues.