The Executive Director of the SESAR Deployment Manager and her team visit ENAIRE's General Director and see, on-site, the improvements made in the Madrid Control Centre Complex and in the centralized systems

The Executive Director of the SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM), Mariagrazia La Piscopia, the day before yesterday visited ENAIRE's General Director, Ángel Luis Arias, with the aim of fostering their existing partnership, as ENAIRE is one of the relevant members of the SESAR Deployment Manager, which she leads.

She also visited the Control Centre Complex in Madrid to see, on-site, the projects already implemented in Spain, which are coordinated by the SDM and subsidised with European funds. 

SESAR Deployment Manager is responsible for managing the implementation phase of the SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) programme, which represents the technological pillar of the Single European Sky (SES), whose aim is to modernise air traffic management in Europe.

The consortium behind SESAR Deployment Manager is made up of the main European air navigation service providers, airlines, airports and EUROCONTROL/Network Manager, as a continuation of previous partnerships in which ENAIRE has been a member since 2014.

As a member, ENAIRE partakes in the synchronisation of the execution and implementation of projects within the scope of the SESAR programme. The Executive Director of SESAR Deployment Manager was received at ENAIRE's Control Centre in Madrid by the Director of Strategy and
Innovation, Mariluz de Mateo and the Director of the North Central Region, Enrique Gismera. During the tour of the Control Centre, Mariagrazia La Piscopia was able to see the main functionalities of some of the aforementioned projects, as well as their degree of execution.

"This visit allowed us to exchange on ATM modernization and digitalisation through SESAR deployment and how we can continue our active role in making the European skies more sustainable and resilient", stated the general director of ENAIRE, Ángel Luis Arias.

Mariagrazia La Piscopia: "It was a pleasure to be at ENAIRE and see on site their very active involvement and commitment to SESAR deployment. It is great that deployment can count on the strong shoulders of our members to modernise and digitalise the European skies as one dedicated team. I am happy to see ENAIRE met the first regulatory deadlines set in CP1.”

Data network
Among the projects of the SESAR programme implemented by ENAIRE  stand out the ground-ground communications via the proprietary REDAN Data Network. REDAN is a network comprising transport and other value-added elements  that integrates voice and data communications for air navigation, providing coverage at every airport, air traffic control centre and, in general, installations that generate or use aviation information.

Flow management and Civil-Military Coordination
Significant improvements have been made to air traffic flow management (ATFM service). The Civil-Military Coordination at ENAIRE and the relationship with EUROCONTROL/Network Manager have been systematised with aim of considering military activities in the daily reservation of airspace.

Improvements within the scope of the AIS
The Aeronautical Information Service (AIS), for which ENAIRE is responsible in Spain, is another area that has been improved thanks to the CEF projects. The implementation of the AIXM format has allowed optimising the exchange of information with other systems, which involves a leap in
digitisation. By way of example, ENAIRE is developing programs such as INSIGNIA and ICARO MAP, which can be accessed from any computer, as they are websites.

Digitisation of control towers
The CEF projects have also led to implementing stripless operations at the airports of Madrid, Barcelona and Palma, among the three most trafficked, thus switching to a digital environment, and this was highlighted during the visit of the Executive Director of the SESAR Deployment Manager.