ENAIRE, EUROCONTROL and IATA celebrate the 12th edition of their international operational safety conference.

ENAIRE, the national air navigation service provider, EUROCONTROL and IATA held the twelfth edition of their international operational safety conference, called the Safety Workshop, at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB) in Palma 21-22 November.

The event brings together pilots, air traffic controllers and operational safety specialists from all over Europe, including Razvan Ularescu, an expert in Operational Safety at EUROCONTROL, the European network manager for air navigation safety.

Javier Arturo Anadón, from Air Europa and representing IATA, the International Air Transport Association, and Gustavo J. Barba, from the Official Association of Commercial Aviation Pilots (COPAC), will also be there to present the lessons learned this year by the Aviation and Safety Observatory, which runs in partnership with ENAIRE.

Coordinating the seminar for ENAIRE will be its Head of Operational Safety, Jesús Romero, who will explain how, with even higher traffic levels in some units than in 2019 (pre-pandemic period), severe incidents have gone down in 2023 compared to that year . In addition, another indicator of the maturity of ENAIRE's safety management system is the number of reports received: despite the drop in severe incidents, we have received the most notifications ever, which is indicative of a good reporting culture, confidence in the system and the ongoing effort to improve safety.

Three major operational improvements

In the case of ENAIRE, three major and recently incorporated operational projects are presented today that will improve the safety of operations. One of them is the AMBAR project at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (with new independent approaches to its runways), which will be presented by Miguel Ángel García Hortal, Head of Safety for the Centre-North Region.

Another improvement, and the most recent one, is the MIDAS project at the Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport, which involves a new maneuver in its approach, which will be presented by the Head of Safety for the Southern Region, Ricardo Espantaleón.

Félix Travieso, Head of Safety for the Canary Islands Region, will present the NIVARIA project, which improves the approach maneuvers to the Tenerife South Airport and connections with other airports in the archipelago.

Analyzing Palma and its surroundings in detail

The second day will be devoted to presenting and analyzing in detail the operations and main safety aspects in and around Palma Airport.

Special emphasis will also be given to the perspective of the airlines that operate there, with presentations by various carriers such as Lufthansa, EasyJet and Vueling.

The conference will end with a round table featuring pilots and air traffic controllers, who will discuss the issues raised during the two days and draw the most relevant conclusions from the event.

Europe's safety leader

As part of the organisation's successive strategic plans, the 2020 Flight Plan and the 2025 Flight Plan, safety and sustainability in flight management are priorities at ENAIRE, as is the quality of its services.

Spain's leadership in air traffic management is also reflected in terms of safety standards, whose rates have also seen an improvement in the 2023 summer season compared to the figures for 2019, despite the increase in air traffic managed.

As a result, ENAIRE and CRIDA, its research, development and innovation subsidiary, received the 2021 CANSO Global Air Safety Award at the 2022 World ATM Congress, along with congratulations from the European Network Manager (EUROCONTROL) for the quality of its services in the first year of record traffic (2022) following the pandemic.

ENAIRE has also been the European leader in the efficiency of its Safety Management System since 2019, achieving and maintaining the highest possible result since 2020 (100%).