Transport Systems Catapult

NATS has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Transport Systems Catapult with the aim of collaborating on innovative new air traffic management services.

Transport Systems Catapult is a not for profit organisation set up by Technology Strategy Board last year in order to better connect businesses with the UK’s research and academic communities.

Its agreement with NATS will see the pair working on a range of projects designed to benefit the aviation industry, as well as the wider transport sector as a whole.

The MoU consolidates an existing relationship that has already seen the joint development of a system to share detailed UK departure information with the wider European air traffic network.

The Departure Planning Information project is designed to increase the predictability of traffic movements, thereby improving journey time reliability and reducing the impact of delays.

Traditionally, departure time predictions can be inaccurate to the tune of several minutes due to the nature of busy air traffic operations and the prevailing weather conditions.

Being able to share the exact time an aircraft is planned to depart will reduce the impact of delays, allow for more efficient aircraft routing and provide greater certainty for ground handling crews at destination airports.

Forming part of the UK’s Future Airspace Strategy, data on up to 87% of all UK flights will be available to share across Europe by April 2015, with the model expected to be replicated elsewhere.