Our air traffic management systems currently operate on a single integrated infrastructure. This infrastructure must operate in complete harmony with our international neighbours without interruption day in, day out. But that is becoming increasingly difficult as it reaches its end of life.
Our future air traffic management system will introduce new flight data processing capabilities supported by modern Controller tools and a new Controller work station. It will strengthen safety even further, increase efficiency, and reduce the environmental impact of flights through more advanced and upfront detailed planning of flight trajectories. It will also further enhance interoperability between control centres in Europe, allowing us to share these detailed trajectories so that we can optimise aircraft trajectories across borders.
The development of that system is being done collaboratively with Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) from across Europe as part of the iTEC system. This will introduce a common air traffic management system across multiple European ANSPs, responsible for more than 1/3 of flights across Europe, helping to meet the growing demand for air travel in Europe in a safe and efficient way.
We are coupling the core iTEC software with the highly advanced toolset, known as FourSight, which is already deployed by NATS in parts of UK airspace. FourSight gives the Air Traffic Controller unparalleled predictive capabilities to identify trajectory conflicts up to 18 minutes in advance, further improving safety, efficiency and capacity of the operation.