ENAIRE to upgrade the working positions of air traffic controllers

ENAIRE, the air navigation manager in Spain, plans to upgrade the working positions of air controllers as part of its commitment to the control service's excellence and innovation. This action is part of its 2017-2020 strategic plan (Flight Plan 2020), which will entail a total investment of 300 million euro.

A multi-disciplinary working group will be created to upgrade the current working positions for air traffic control, and it will initiate its activity in 2018. This team will take into account the participation of the social stakeholders and air control professional associations. Human factors will play a significant role in defining the new control position.

These improvements are performed as part of the iTEC partnership, of which ENAIRE is a founding member. This partnership has brought together the main providers of air navigation services in Europe, and it is developing the new generation of working positions for common and interoperable controllers, as well as the future Common Flight Plan Processing.

New operational functions

This upgrade of the air control system includes new functionalities within an ambitious plan of deploying tools that will assist the controller. Among others stands out the extension to the En-route Control Centres and Terminal Area of the implementation initiated in Control Towers of operating without the files in paper form in which controllers record information about the instructions given to pilots and their requests.

This new functionality involves an evolution towards further interaction of the controller with the system, automatically updating the data and optimising the management of flight plans, authorisations and traffic transfer, which can be directly viewed on the radar screen.

The data collected from the planes' on-board systems will be presented via data links, which will provide the controller with further information.

Advanced radar surveillance functions and additional tools and security networks will be incorporated with the purpose of increasing predictability when it comes to managing potential conflicts between planes.

This technological upgrading programme is complemented by a provision of resources and equipment aimed at further guaranteeing the provision of the service in contingency situations and consolidating the training of our controllers.

Committed to ‘SESAR 2020’

In addition to upgrading air traffic management systems, ENAIRE has planned to invest in improving the following areas:

-          Reporting
-          Navigation and Surveillance
-          Infrastructures
-          Technical Operation
-          Information technologies and systems
-          Aeronautical information services

These technological advances, which are in line with the Single European Sky programmes (SESAR 2020), will help deal with the expected growth of air traffic in upcoming years, thus guaranteeing the provision of air navigation services to customers and users with security, quality and efficiency.