The Government authorises a 25-million-euro contract to integrate SkyNex to improve the air navigation system

Today, the Council of Ministers authorised the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to tender a contract for 25 million euros (not including VAT) for the initial integration and demonstration of the new SkyNex air traffic management system (cycle 1) into the current SACTA-iTEC (Automated Air Traffic Control System). The contract will allow ENAIRE to modify its air navigation system to integrate better features and shift towards a common air traffic management system at the international level.

The contract will allow ENAIRE to modify its air navigation system to integrate better features and shift towards a common air traffic management system at the international level

The future version of the SACTA-iTEC air traffic management system will incorporate the development of the functionalities and subsystems that the iTEC Alliance is carrying out cooperatively.

The iTEC Alliance is made up of eight leading air navigation service providers (DFS in Germany; ENAIRE in Spain; NATS in the United Kingdom; LVNL in the Netherlands; AVINOR in Norway; Oro Navigacija in Lithuania; PANSA in Poland; and NAVCANADA in Canada), and features Indra as its technology provider.

The Alliance has successfully completed the initial definition of the future common air traffic management system, called iTEC SkyNex, which includes the standardisation of common processes and procedures, as well as the joint definition of requirements for the coordinated development of the components.

This tender launches the next phase, which involves building the first common product of the new iTEC SkyNex air traffic management system. Advances in the system will be implemented gradually and sequentially.

The next-generation iTEC SkyNex air traffic management system enables more collaborative and efficient flight control. The system is designed to improve interoperability, lower costs, enhance efficiency and promote a more environmentally and sustainable air traffic management system. We have before us the next generation of borderless air traffic management, which is paving the way for evolving the airspace architecture towards the European Digital Sky.

Roll-out in 2029

The integration of the aforementioned iTEC SkyNex common system is planned as part of the ongoing evolution of the SACTA system, the control system used by ENAIRE in all its units nationwide to provide the air traffic control service. This integration is planned as part of the new version of SACTA, which is scheduled to be rolled out to control centres in 2029.

This contract covers the services needed to integrate these common iTEC components with the SACTA platform at ENAIRE. This includes the work needed to ensure integration with the hardware platform, as well as the necessary changes to the Alliance's common components that guarantee integration with the remaining SACTA systems in ENAIRE.

The new SACTA-iTEC version, necessary to comply with European law, as well as to enhance the technology behind the current version of the SACTA system nationwide, is being undertaken with leading air navigation service providers by putting into service advances that improve operational, maintenance and data exploitation processes, and that guarantee the more efficient use of ENAIRE's resources.

In addition to contributing to the goals of certain financed European projects, the future SACTA-iTEC version will underpin the technological modernisation of the state-owned company's air traffic control system.

It will also enable the launch of features such as silent coordination via the system, trajectory management in 4 dimensions, detection of medium- term planned conflicts, and so on, and the adequate and timely compliance with future European regulations that affect the air traffic control system, as part of the collaborative risk-sharing environment that is part of the international iTEC alliance.

Goal of the iTEC Alliance

The aim of the iTEC Alliance is to create a common system that will be implemented in the 27 control centres of the eight countries that comprise the Alliance. Once its deployment is complete, iTEC SkyNex will manage 12 million flights a year in 26 million square kilometres of airspace. Thanks to this great international collaboration, an aircraft will be able to fly nearly halfway across the world under the control of iTEC SkyNex.