If EUROCONTROL’s most optimistic forecasts hold true, air traffic will not recover to 2019 levels until 2024. Now that the workload has decreased, are they taking advantage of this situation to implement new technologies?

ENAIRE’s Strategic Plan 2021-2025, the so-called Flight Plan 2025, has been developed taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the transformation taking place in the air navigation sector. The ultimate goal is to emerge stronger from this terrible crisis that has hit the airline industry so hard.

Flight Plan 2025 has a strong international focus and aims to promote the modernisation of ENAIRE through technological and digital transformation and cultural and organisational change, with the intensive participation and involvement of our professionals and stakeholders. This plan proposes air mobility in its threefold dimension as a human right, an element of social cohesion and a lever for economic growth.

Thus, apart from strengthening safety as a main strategic priority, it states that the scalability and resilience of services must ensure economic sustainability, improving the efficiency, productivity and flexibility of the organisation and the quality of services, optimising the use of resources and taking advantage of all the available technological improvements that we are already developing and implementing.

What investments will ENAIRE make in the 2021-2025 period?

We have planned, and are already implementing, a major investment plan to digitalise and comprehensively modernise Spanish air navigation technology in line with the requirements of the Single European Sky (SESAR programme) and to embark upon development and internationalisation efforts in order to become a global services operator.

Between 2021 and 2025, ENAIRE will invest more than 100 million euros per year, with the most significant investment of 172.4 million euros in 2022. The total investment amount for the period is 737 million euros.

737 million euros will be invested to modernise Spanish air navigation and become a global operator

They have further reduced charges, their main source of income. What are your turnover forecasts for 2021?

En-route charges have actually been lowered again in 2021, to 11% on the mainland and 8.5% in the Canary Islands, which were already among the lowest, again as a measure to support airlines in this second year of the pandemic.

In terms of our revenue, we believe that the 2021 charge reductions may be offset by the increase in traffic in 2021 over 2020, but we do not expect our 2021 revenue to exceed 50% that of 2019.

In truth, our forecasts are that ENAIRE will not recover its 2019 turnover before 2024, although this will be heavily influenced by the evolution of the health and economic crisis and its consequent impact on air traffic.

What is the ‘Green Sky’ project and what new measures to reduce carbon emissions would you highlight?

Flight Plan 2025 considers environmental sustainability as a fundamental issue that must be tackled in conjunction with the recovery of the air transport sector. ‘Green Sky’ is the name of ENAIRE’s sustainability strategy for the 2021-2025 period.

‘Green Sky’ is based on three basic lines of action, two of which are specifically aimed at climate action, and a third one aimed at reducing other impacts on the environment. ENAIRE contributes to the fight against climate change, firstly, by reducing atmospheric emissions associated with air transport through the actions contained in the ‘Fly Clean’ programme, which aims to optimise our air route network and reduce the distances flown and aircraft fuel consumed.

A second programme, called ‘Eco-Enaire’, contributes to the reduction of ENAIRE’s own emissions through an ambitious plan for energy efficiency and self-consumption of renewable energies. Similarly, our sustainability strategy includes a specific programme, called ‘Fly Quiet’, with the aim of reducing the acoustic impact on the airport’s surrounding populations and protected natural areas.

The widespread use of virtual networks has increased cyber-attacks, have you been affected, and what protective measures are being taken in the aviation sector?

Remote working has received a strong backing that has brought it to the forefront of the social and labour market. The communication and remote access infrastructure, which was already in place and fully functional, as well as different collaborative tools, have seen their use increase exponentially, strengthening in terms of capacity and infrastructure. All of this, of course, while applying rigorous security measures to guarantee the integrity and confidentiality of information, as well as the availability of the associated services, in full compliance with the Certification of Conformity with the National Security Scheme, for which we have been awarded the highest category.

Thanks to all of this, despite having observed an increase in cyber-attacks during the pandemic, ENAIRE has continued to provide its services in accordance with its commitments to security, quality and efficiency, without suffering any incident with a negative impact on its operations.

Flight Plan 2025 considers environmental sustainability as a fundamental issue that must be tackled in conjunction with the recovery of the air transport sector. ‘Green Sky’ is the name of ENAIRE’s sustainability strategy for the 2021-2025 period

In January 2023, the new European ‘U-Space’ regulation on drones will enter into force. What advantages will ENAIRE’s ‘U-Space’ platform offer?

The ‘U-Space’ platform will improve the safety and efficiency of operations by providing enhanced situational awareness (i.e. operators/pilots will be able to be aware, in real time, of drones flying in the vicinity, with the ability to see them on their screens at all times). This is very important as even in Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) flights there are situations where it is difficult to tell whether our drone is sufficiently far away from another drone in the vicinity. All of this is a simple but fundamental example of how to increase the safety.

All of the automation and digitalisation involved in the platform will also be very useful. This will make flight planning much more streamlined, efficient and safe, while greatly reducing the number of operational coordinations that our professionals have to perform.

It will also provide other benefits such as ensuring people’s privacy. We will be able to know for sure that the drones flying around us are legal drones, operated by professionals. This is also something that our platform will provide through the Network e-Identification service. This will enable law enforcement agencies to monitor the drones they are flying at all times.

In their recovery plan, they have emphasised communication and cooperation between the company and its professionals. What are these measures?

ENAIRE is an organisation that has long been committed to ensuring the well-being of the people that make up its workforce. Accordingly, since 2020 ENAIRE has sought to reinforce this approach to support its leaders and teams. A very important part of the Flight 2025 Plan focuses on promoting cultural transformation, diversity management, talent, conciliation, project orientation, team promotion etc. In short, on achieving a working relationship committed both to sustainability and growth and to the personal and professional progress of all its employees.

Four European cities –Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Cranfield in the United Kingdom, Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands– will serve as test sites for the AMU-LED urban drone project, which forms part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and the SESAR (Single European Sky) initiative.

Ineco is a member of the consortium of 16 companies and organisations, led by Everis, that is managing the project, which began in January. Its fellow members include: Airbus, AirHub, Altitude Angel, ANRA Technologies, Boeing Research & Technology-Europe, FADA-CATEC, Cranfield University, EHang, ENAIRE, Gemeente Amsterdam, ITG, Jeppesen, NLR, Space53 and Tecnalia.

Over the next two years, more than 100 hours of flight time will be logged for different types of drones, scenarios and applications, including:  air taxis, cargo transport, delivery of medical equipment and goods, infrastructure inspection, police surveillance and emergency services support. The results will make it possible to evaluate the impact of unmanned vehicles on urban mobility, while providing information that is of great use to regulatory authorities.

Unmanned aircraft (UAVs, RPAs or drones) are nothing new; these kinds of aircraft have been used as aerial targets to test weapons for more than a century and, indeed, the popular term ‘drone’ was coined by the British military in reference to the sound that these devices made. This is demonstrated by the fact that they were mentioned at the Convention on International Civil Aviation in Chicago, in 1944, which saw the creation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO); in fact, Article 8 prohibited the use of unmanned aircraft without the express authorisation of each state.

Spain is one of the most active countries in terms of numbers of AESA-registered operators and is also the world’s tenth largest drone manufacturer

However, it was the evolution of microelectronics that enabled the sector to break into the mass market. Since the beginning of the 21st century, drones have been increasingly used by the military, although it was not until this decade that the technology started to become available for civilian use thanks to its gradual reduction in price. The low cost and ease of use of these small remote-controlled aerial vehicles, usually multicopters, has rapidly increased the popularity of their use in both recreational and professional fields. Growth of the sector in the last five years has been exponential, as shown by the number of drone patents issued. This growth is not surprising given that this technology has myriad applications, especially in imaging and photography, cartography and topography, surveillance and security, but also in agriculture, emergency support, environment, infrastructure maintenance, etc.

Spain is one of the most active countries in terms of numbers of AESA-registered operators and is also the world’s tenth largest drone manufacturer according to the Global Trends of Unmanned Aerial Systems report published by the Danish Technological Institute in 2019. Ineco pioneered the use of this technology for bridge inspections in 2015.

Ineco is actively participating in the SESAR projects related to the development of U-space: TERRA, IMPETUS and DOMUS

First steps

Drones also pose risks, of course, especially if they are operated in residential areas, controlled airspace close to manned aircraft or when drones are flown out of sight of the pilot on the ground. These hazards need to be carefully considered for both recreational and, especially, professional use: they include device failure, loss of control link, in-flight hacking and loss of the navigation or traffic separation systems.

For this reason, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has stipulated that drones with a take-off weight exceeding 150 kg must undergo a certification process, similar to that for manned aircraft, for both manufacture and operation. However, lighter drones, which are not intended to carry people on board, are not subject to such rigorous safety mechanisms. Consequently, their components and manufacturing are less robust, especially in the case of drones manufactured in large production runs, and standards are more appropriate for toys than aircraft.

In order to minimise the risks, a few years ago, the member states of the European Union began to restrict drone operations through regulations. In Spain, Law 18/2014 regulated the use of drones for the first time, limiting their operations to a height of 120 metres above the ground, prohibiting use near airports and controlled traffic regions (CTRs), in cities and areas with high concentrations of people, and allowing only flights within visual line of sight (VLOS), that is, less than 500 metres from the pilot on the ground. And, of course, drones must be remotely piloted (RPAs) and not operate autonomously.

This regulation greatly limited the type and complexity of drone operations, so three years later Royal Decree 1036/2017 was published to make the development of the sector compatible with safe operation. The new standard still allowed for simple operations, but also more complex ones with prior authorisation by the Spanish Aviation Safety Agency (AESA).

To obtain authorisation, a safety study must be carried out, in addition to specific training and equipment to limit the risk, as well as coordination with those affected, if any, for example, air navigation service providers in the event of operations in controlled airspace. Ineco, in the context of the Ministry of Public Works’ Transport and Infrastructure Innovation Plan, has carried out these kinds of safety studies to obtain the authorisation required to perform complex piloting projects such as the recording of data from radio navigation systems in airports.

European regulations

Operating requirements in different European countries vary widely. To alleviate these regulatory differences, the EU has published a new regulation that divides operations into three categories (open, specific and certified), depending on the complexity of the operation, in order to harmonise requirements in all countries and facilitate the provision of services in any member state.

In short, it is now possible to carry out almost any kind of operation with drones in any environment, but only if operations are not carried out simultaneously. This means that if demand continues to grow as expected, it will be necessary to coordinate flights to maintain safety. To make this great development of drone operations possible, the EU, in its Warsaw Declaration of 2016, agreed on the need to develop the concept of U-space to allow safe operation of multiple drones at low altitude (below 150 metres) and especially in urban environments.

U-space will make it possible to coordinate drone operations so that they can be carried out simultaneously

U-space is a set of services, technologies and procedures to allow the safe and efficient operation of a large number of drones. The conceptual and technological development of these services is being carried out through the Single European Sky ATM Research programme (SESAR), as the EU considers it vital to provide an adequate environment to exploit all of the benefits that drones can bring to society. It will make it possible to coordinate drone operations so that they can be carried out simultaneously. However, the level of coordination will vary depending on the risk and density of this kind of aerial vehicle in the areas in which they are intended to operate; for this reason, the CORUS project has defined different types of airspace for drones: X, simple operations (VLOS) without coordination; and Y, complex operations in simple environments, so they will only require prior coordination of paths through flight plans, and Z, highly complex operations (urban-Zu, airports-Za) that require coordination in real time due to the risks to people and the number of operations.

Ineco is actively participating in SESAR projects related to the development of U-space: it is heading up the TERRA project, which is responsible for defining the ground technologies needed to support the provision of services, is also participating in the IMPETUS projects, whose purpose is to design information systems for the use of drones, and is involved in the DOMUS demonstration project, led by ENAIRE.

EVOLUTION OF THE SECTOR IN SPAIN

Activities with RPAS

The annual World ATM Congress (WAC) event plays host to product demonstrations and launches, contract closures and networking opportunities, together with a busy schedule of conferences and high-level meetings. This year, a total of 225 exhibiting companies and 7,500 delegates from 130 countries took part. Every year, the World ATM Congress brings together around a hundred air navigation service providers (ANSPs), product developers, leaders and experts in the aviation industry, government representatives, manufacturers and industry suppliers from around the world.

Organised by the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) –of which Enaire (formerly Aena) is a founding member and which brings together air navigation service providers from around the world– in partnership with the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA), an association that represents the air traffic control sector, the World Air Traffic Management Congress is an indispensable event that Ineco has been attending for almost 20 years.

The Galileo system: the brightest star

Galileo is the flagship project of European satellite navigation: a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that will boast a total of 30 satellites by 2020 –26 of which are already in orbit– managed by the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA). Galileo is compatible and interoperable with systems such as the US’s GPS and Russia’s GLONASS, and will offer an unprecedented improvement in performance in terms of precision, resilience and robustness.

In 2016, the GSA entrusted its operation and maintenance to a consortium led by Spaceopal for the following 10 years. Spain is part of this consortium, through a group of public enterprises led by Ineco, in partnership with Isdefe and INTA (National Institute of Aerospace Technology). Ineco is in charge of the operation, top level maintenance and management of the hosting services of the European GNSS Service Centre (GSC) located at the INTA’s facilities in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid).

Orderly skies

With a marked international orientation, the air navigation sector moves in a world of extreme safety requirements and resulting advances in new equipment and technologies to ensure this safety.

Since 2007, Ineco has been part of the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) project, which is currently in the deployment phase of unifying space and air traffic control in Europe. In this respect, WAC 2019 played host to SESAR guided walking tours which saw the involvement of Ineco’s aviation experts Pilar Calzón, Víctor Gordo, Fernando Ruiz-Artaza, José Manuel Rísquez, Mercedes López and José Recio. There were also presentations on the integration of small drones and their application in airports and CTR environments by Víctor Gordo, and on the HEDIPRO flight procedure design tool by the engineers Javier Espinosa Aranda and Fernando Carrillo, also from Ineco.

The company has extensive experience in calculating and designing aeronautical charts for the publication of procedures based on PBN, GNSS, GBAS and vertical guidance approaches (APV SBAS), airspace restructuring –such as the restructuring carried out at Spanish airports and in countries of the likes of Egypt and Morocco– and navigation easement studies. Designs of instrumental flight procedures for the international market are also carried out, such as those implemented for the airports of the Sultanate of Oman, Cape Verde and Singapore Changi Airport.

In addition, in partnership with ENAIRE (formerly Aena), Ineco has carried out more than 2,000 radio simulations to assess the impact on airport CNS systems of infrastructures close to airports, such as shopping centres and housing developments, and within the airports themselves, for instance, new terminal buildings and runway extensions. To achieve this, the company uses its own NAVTOOLS proprietary software.

RPAS: all of the guarantees for drone flights

Ineco’s RPAS radio navigation aid verification project, which was presented during WAC 19, is an innovative solution for in-flight recording of radio navigation aid signals and a console on the ground that makes it possible to determine the trajectory flown and quality of guidance provided by the radio navigation aid.

The company is certified to operate and owns a light commercial drone for inspection of bridges and viaducts, and has also acquired a drone with greater capabilities and autonomy able to carry payloads of up to 4 kg, enabling more complex operations to be carried out.

From SACTA to iTEC

In terms of automated air traffic control systems, Ineco has historically worked in collaboration with Enaire and other industry partners on the evolution and development of its control system, known as SACTA, which
was designed entirely by Spanish companies and is a benchmark at the European and global levels. The SACTA and ICARO systems and the ACC voice communication system (COMETA) provide all aeronautical information necessary for air traffic control in Spain and are constantly updated.

The company is currently collaborating with Enaire on the development of a future automated air traffic control system (iTEC). Ineco is also working on another fundamental element for air navigation safety: guaranteeing the quality of the aviation data that ENAIRE collects, publishes and supplies.

December 2016 saw the completion of the first SESAR research and development programme, with a total of 63 Air Traffic Management (ATM) solutions, all with a shared goal: increasing the number of air operations, increasing safety, and reducing the costs and environmental impact associated to each flight, all priority issues for the EU. This was possible thanks to the combined work of airport managers, air navigation service providers, the aviation industry and airspace users. This was a fruitful collaboration as part of the company SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU), a public–private partnership bringing together all Air Traffic Management (ATM) R&D initiatives in Europe. Founded in 2007, the company was created by the European Commission (EC) and Eurocontrol to coordinate the growing number of partners and to manage financial and technical resources, with a view to making the Single European Sky project a reality.

According to statements by the EC, SJU has met its expectations. The parties responsible for technological development for the future European Air Traffic Management system presented a total of 63 solutions at the end of 2016, defining standards, operating procedures, technology and pre-industrial components. These solutions were developed with a clear focus on subsequent deployment and implementation.

ENAIRE’S leadership

Together with its shareholder ENAIRE (formerly Aena), Ineco began participating in 2000 in the area of ATM in European R&D Framework Programmes, which were co-financed by the European Commission and ultimately replaced by SESAR JU to unite efforts, to avoid the duplication of work and to promote the deployment and implementation of the different developments. Since the development phase got underway in 2008, ENAIRE has participated in 95 projects (the programme includes over 300), taking a leading role in 16 of these. Ineco’s contribution to SESAR began in December 2010, with the company ultimately participating in 54 projects. Participation in SESAR has allowed us to keep up to date with the evolution of ATM technology and operations, putting this experience at the service of our clients and shareholders. Regarding this, it should also be highlighted that Ineco, jointly with ENAIRE, led WP6 Airport Operations, diferent kind of operational projects and also Operational Focus Area(OFA) in which projects were grouped assessing the same concept. The company also contributed in the development of operational concepts in the Network, Route, TMA and airport areas and in the coordination and execution of validations (both in fast and in real time) and the subsequent analysis of indicators from different perspectives (for example operations, economics, environment, safety and human factors).

Ineco experts also developed Touch It!, a tablet application enabling measurement of the workload of any human actor in their professional setting, whether this be aeronautics or not.

PLANNED OBJECTIVES. The hexagon in the graph above shows SESAR’s six proposed performance areas for measuring the success of the works carried out. The blue hexagon shows SESAR‘s initial targets, with the green one showing the high level of achievement reached by 2015, with a year still remaining for development.

SESAR deployment phase

In order to truly meet the objectives set, conceptual development of solutions is not sufficient. The industry must put these into production, at the same time deploying or implementing them. Similar initiatives in the past have not achieved this. However, there is now a body (the SESAR Deployment Manager) and a budget earmarked for making this happen.

The SESAR deployment phase guides and ensures the deployment of the developed solutions in a coordinated way within the European Union. As part of this, the EC published a regulation in 2014 called the Pilot Common Project, defining the first large-scale actions to be carried out in order that the technologies presented be available and put into operation. This is a mandatory regulation which all providers must put into effect in accordance with the implementation phases. This level of integration and information will also involve on-board equipment, manufacturers, flight personnel, controllers, airlines and the aeronautical industry as a whole.

What are the benefits? In addition to advances in terms of the safety of air operations and reducing fuel consumption, the advantages include interoperability and reduced operating costs. But above all, it is also a political achievement, a shared experience which confirms the movement towards a more united, collaborative Europe, gradually finding supranational systems to bridge the historical borders fragmenting and hindering the dream of a unified territory.

PRESENTATION OF PROJECTS. Form left to right: aeronautical engineers Ester Martín, José Manuel Rísquez and Laura Serrano, who attended the SESAR Showcase event on behalf on Ineco and representing ENAIRE. The event was held in Amsterdam on 30 June and featured presentations on the 63 solutions developed.

SESAR 2020: Second phase of development

Starting in October 2016, a second phase of development, SESAR 2020, is following suit, not only in launching the development of new solutions but also in completing the development of those that began in the first phase. This new programme presents a series of R&D projects, from early conceptual ideas to validation in operational settings for deployment. These projects are grouped into three large areas:

• Exploratory research, the most innovative part of SESAR, which is subject to open calls for projects.
• Industrial Research & Validation, where concepts offering significant ATM benefits are refined and validated. Only SJU partners and associate companies can participate.
• Very Large Demonstrations: projects included in the step prior to industrialisation and/or production, which are oriented towards validated concepts that require European or global coordination.

In the first development phase, there was a separation between operational projects and systems projects. This risk disappears in SESAR 2020, as each project includes a team of both operational and systems experts, with both groups being involved in the entire life cycle and development of the project: concept, requirements, validation, verification, etc. In addition, certain processes have been elaborated to ensure greater involvement from airlines, which are one of the most important actors in the world of ATM as they will be the users of the future ATM system developed by SESAR.