On June 22, 2019 the Civil Aviation Minister of India, Hardeep Puri, inaugurated the Airports Authority of India’s new central air traffic flow management center. At the center, air navigation management activities are supported by the newest Skyflow software version from ATECH (see figure 1), an integrated and fully automated air traffic flow management solution. According to the Minister, tthe new system will reduce delays and fuel consumption by improving the coordination of air traffic and will also provide a much safer and much more efficient airspace.
During this inauguration, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) emphasized that since 2017 India has become the seventh region in the world to implement an advanced central air traffic flow management (C-ATFM) system. According to reports, the introduction of Skyflow in India has enhanced safety and created annual fuel savings of thousands of crore rupees by minimising the flight delays that are caused by air traffic congestion in the country.
Speaking at the inauguration, Minister Puri said, “I am delighted that with the commissioning of the central air traffic flow management center. Today India takes a lead in global air traffic harmonization, facilitating the efficient flow of air traffic across our skies. Being the seventh largest aviation market with 187 million passengers in 2017-18, India is on a high growth trajectory. It is imperative that we build technological capabilities to keep pace with this growth”.
In addition, an article published by the trade association the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO) in its magazine Airspace in May 2019 refers to how AAI is dealing with the enormous surge in air traffic in India. It says: “The bulk of the strategy implemented by AAI is about preparing India’s 130 airports and 2.8 million square nautical miles of airspace for future growth”.
Part of the solution is the recent implementation of the Skyflow next generation ATFM system in the new Center at Vasant Kunj in Delhi.
South American coordination
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, ICAO reports from South America show that several agreements have been signed since 2018 to increase the air traffic flow management coordination amongst different states. An example is the ATFM service in Argentina, which has been in operation for a year at the flow management unit (FMU) in Ezeiza, when the overall status of ATFM implementation in the SAM region has reached 71% of coverage. In addition, reports indicate that Argentina has decided not to issue any more NOTAMs on ATFM measures, due to the domino effect generated in adjacent countries. This has led to considerations of the use of collaborative decision-making among air traffic management services of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
Another great leap in integration of flow management is soon expected since by 2020, since Department of Airspace Control (DECEA), the Brazilian air navigation service provider (ANSP), is working on a modern centralization concept for flight plans at the CGNA, its Air Navigation Management Center (see figure 3). These are examples of some movements towards a more integrated environment for the future of ATFM in this region, closely aligned with the global trends for this matter. But moving from the concepts and trends to effective implementation is dependent on the required technical facilities.
As such, at the World Air Traffic Management Congress in Madrid this year ATECH presented new integrated ATM solutions under the “Makron” family of products. Some of these tools are the system-wide information management module (SWIM Aquila) and the new IWXXM (ICAO Meteorological Information Exchange Model) compatible meteorological information database (Opmet Aura). All these tools are able to run within specific environments or integrated with the Atech air traffic control system Sagitario as well as with Skyflow.
The development of these tools is based on a transformative vision of what air navigation services provider’s responses are to the expectation of a near doubling in air travel demand over the next two decades. This vision guides the efforts to address the issues of growing traffic and lack of capacity. The efforts include the implementation of modern ATFM systems, as preconized by ICAO Document 9971, amalgamated with advanced information sharing capabilities, using SWIM as described in Document 9965. Thus, any Airport or ANSP facing capacity issues may successfully establish a sound ATFM planning and operational management process to ensure safe and efficient use of capacity, in collaboration across regions. This is already happening within the context of initiatives such as the “cross-border ATFM” in the Americas and the “Distributed Multi-Nodal ATFM Network”, in the Asia/Pacific Region.
Of course, it is still a challenge to advance the desired level of regional implementation, with gate-to-gate data sharing among the involved authorities. In the present context, it is not uncommon for flights to be “captured” only when they are identified by the ATM systems of a control region or sector. This situation reduces the time for decision-making regarding the operation of incoming aircrafts, in particular if outside the estimated time stated in their flight plans. With cross-border integration, advanced ATFM services will increase anticipation, allowing timely and optimized measures to avoid or minimize delays. Airport slots, sector capacity, meteorological information, special use airspaces and other resources are just a few examples of factors to be aware of, at every minute. Provision of reliable data on such aspects are some of the benefits offered by Skyflow, translating flow management processes into digital streams, with priorities established, tasks assigned, and messages sent to appropriate entities.
Based on the ATFM system requirements defined by DECEA, ATECH has developed the Aquila module, which provides features of the SWIM concept integrated within the Skyflow system. This new platform for sharing aeronautical information gives to the control organizations the necessary data to make well informed decisions, choosing efficient actions, ensuring safety to flights and reducing impacts to the user by receiving information from each stage of flights coming from other countries.
As an example, DECEA has recently started operating its PCICEA Project, a platform for sharing current airspace information using SWIM. That is an initial implementation for a complete airport collaborative decision-making information sharing platform (ACISP). Its operation started in November 2018 at the CGNA in Rio de Janeiro, where flight information from Brasilia, Curitiba, Recife and the Atlantic Centers has being exchanged between Brazil and Europe (see figure 4), as a result of an agreement between DECEA and Eurocontrol. Using these SWIM features, the new technologies did confirm the success in sharing data, as expected for a mature cross-border ATFM.
Direct integration
Another example of a quick customization, for regional or local requirements, is the new Aeronautical Infrastructure Reservation (AIR) system (Figure 5), operating in Brazil since March 2018. The AIR is an application module developed for Sigma, the Brazilian version of Skyflow developed by ATECH for DECEA. The module allows direct and online interaction between the airline and the CGNA, simplifying the access and the consultation process for immediate reservation of infrastructure. This helps airlines plan their networks and was made possible thanks to the advanced ATFM solution already in operation in Brazil.
Atech celebrates 10 years as a private company and Skyflow is a good result of the long term R&D efforts in partnership with DECEA. The system provides refined algorithms for decision support, being an advanced automated tool to deal with the airspace capacity-demand balance. Its collaborative decision-making capabilities are a key enabler to include all stakeholders in the decision process. Offering all Traffic Measures Initiatives (TMI) preconized by ICAO, Skyflow is helping countries to provide better Airspace Management.