NATS Altitude

Join us as we speak to experts across aviation for their exclusive insights into the industry, the challenges it’s facing and the exciting developments that will lead the future of airspace. ✈️ Martin Rolfe, CEO of NATS explains why events like Airspace World are important to connecting ANSPs and the technology NATS has on display during the event. Simon Hocquard, President & CEO of CANSO shar...

The latest episode of Altitude comes from Passenger Terminal Expo (PTE), the global gathering of the people shaping the future of airports. From infrastructure and sustainability to digital transformation and passenger experience, we speak to airport industry leaders from across the world working to meet rising demand and new expectations. ✈️ Luke Bugeja, CEO of Ferrovial Airports, explains how ai...

In this month’s Altitude, we look beyond the horizon of traditional aviation to explore one of the most promising innovations in sustainable flight: wake energy retrieval - a technique inspired by birds flying in formation that could help reduce fuel consumption on long-haul flights by up to 5% - the equivalent of 6 tonnes of CO2 emissions.  We’re joined by Airbus’ Laura Montironi, the leader of P...

Air traffic control is often judged by what passengers see on the day, but long before an aircraft pushes back, teams across Europe have been spending months - or even years - modelling, preparing and planning.   In this episode of Altitude, we go inside the world of operations planning and resilience, looking ahead to this summer. From weather and airspace constraints to military exercises and sp...

This month's Altitude shines a light on aviation’s most pressing challenge - reducing its environmental impact.  The panel has a fascinating discussion looking at the role of air traffic management, including whether sustainability can truly be compatible with growing demand, and why Air Navigation Service Providers cannot afford to wait until 2050 to take action.   Join our host Rachel Gardn...

In this month's Altitude, we walked the floor at DroneX Tradeshow & Conference to get the very latest news and views on the UK uncrewed aviation industry straight from the experts. ✈ Craig Roberts of PwC talks about their latest report - 'UK drone regulations and net risk', balancing risk to unlock growth and save lives.  ✈ Alan Hicks gives an update from Manna Air Delivery, wit...

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) has launched one of the UK’s most ambitious trials of uncrewed aircraft in support of frontline policing. In this episode of Altitude, we speak to the team as they prepare for a bold new era - testing high-endurance, uncrewed aircraft capable of flying beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) in real operational scenarios. From the control rooms at NATS to the...

In celebration of International Women in Engineering Day, we invited three amazing aerospace engineers to share their stories. Josna Joies from NATS talks surveillance systems - vital to our work keeping the skies safe - and how she was inspired by astronaut and aerospace engineer, Kalpana Chawla.   Yvette Lawrenson takes us behind the scenes at Windracers and their amazing uncrewed aerial vehicle...

Aviation is at a crossroads.  On one side is the familiarity of legacy systems, including decades-old air traffic control infrastructure and manual ground operations. On the other is the promise of digital transformation: smarter flight management, real-time operational insights, and seamless passenger experiences driven by advanced technologies. With many organisations currently caught in the mid...

A decade ago, NATS became the first air traffic management service in the world to introduce Time-Based Separation in a groundbreaking collaboration with Heathrow Airport and Leidos UK. Since then, it has reduced carbon emissions by 300,000 tonnes, saved airlines 100,000 tonnes of fuel and cut headwind-related delays by 62%, something that’s helped passengers avoid 3.5 years’ worth of holding over...

The race to net-zero aviation is on, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. In this month's Altitude we're taking you inside the cutting edge of sustainable flight, where game-changing technology, bold policies, and radical thinking are reshaping the skies. From hydrogen-powered aircraft to AI-driven efficiency, from SAF breakthroughs to the future of airspace, we unpack the innovations that...

Beyond the tower and the terminals lies the APOC – Heathrow’s Airport Operations Centre. From here, up to 50 people from across the airport community are looking after just about every aspect of the Heathrow operation. From responding to suspect packages and monitoring traffic to planning presidential visits, it is all done by the team here.  Alongside them is the NATS HOEC team – the Heathrow Ope...

From keeping us safe and reducing our climate impact to delivering hot meals in just three minutes – just some of the incredible drone use cases we heard about in a special episode of Altitude recorded at the DroneX Tradeshow & Conference.  ✈ Taryn Evans tells us about the National Police Chiefs'​ Council ambitious drone programme. ✈ Alan Hicks explains how Manna Drone Delivery have made...

NATS has just reopened recruitment for trainee air traffic controllers, but what does that process look like and what kind of career can successful candidates look forward to? In this special episode of Altitude we’re exploring the whole recruitment process, from understanding the requirements and the application process through to assessment and beyond. We’ll also be looking at the training, what...

The 6th June 2024 will mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day – the Allied invasion of Western Europe during the Second World War and one of the most pivotal days in human history. Most people will be familiar with the sight of the landings in Normandy, but fewer know the story beyond the beaches. D-Day itself saw an incredible 14,674 flights, all handled with nothing more than flare guns and signal l...

With such unique requirements, one of the most essential and complex users of our skies are the emergency services.  In this month’s Altitude, we’re joined by pilots Captain Andrew Brandt from the National Police Air Service and Captain David Rolfe from London Air Ambulance Service to learn about their amazing life saving work and how collaboration is essential to keeping the ground and skies safe...

From delivering airspace modernisation and integrating drones through to understanding the impact of AI and the ever pressing need to address aviation’s climate impact, the list of priorities for leaders in air traffic management is a long and complex one.  Our industry is in the midst of a period of unprecedented change and that’s in addition to delivering the safe and resilient service people ri...

Ice, snow, howling winds and temperatures as low as minus 30.C are hardly ideal conditions to be running an international airport, but that’s the reality for the team at Rovaniemi, Finland’s second busiest airport.  In beautiful Lapland, sitting on the edge of the Arctic Circle, the near constant need to clear runways and de-ice aircraft should conspire against delivering a smooth operation, but t...

Human Factors is the understanding of ‘the human in the loop’. It’s about how people behave and interact both with technology and each other, and it’s something that has become fundamental to safety across aviation and a host of other industries. But what really is Human Factors? Where did it come from and why is it become so integral? In this month’s Altitude, we’ll be digging into the history, t...

For more than 25 years, Concorde was the world's only successful supersonic airliner. Flying faster than the rotation of the earth, it could cross the Atlantic in just two and a half hours, with passengers arriving at JFK before they left Heathrow. Now, 20 years after its final ever flight from Heathrow to Filton on 26 November 2003, we look back at the history of one of aviation’s great engi...

Can we expect Artificial Intelligence – heralded by just about everyone as the next great technology leap forward - to have a role in air traffic management?  But how can we look beyond the hype and understand what this technology could really do for aviation? When is it right for AI to play a role in a safety critical industry and how could it impact human decision making? Will we ever really see...

Airspace – our invisible motorways in the sky – is the underpinning of the entire aviation industry. Vital to the safe operation of tens of thousands of flights every single day, it is an infrastructure relied on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to enhance the UK’s global connections. But it is also in need of a radical transformation. In this episode of Altitude, we examine why airspace modernisa...

The Berlin Airlift was a significant episode in the beginnings of the Cold War, with American, British, and French aircrews flying hundreds of daily cargo flights to deliver essential supplies into a West Berlin blockaded by the Soviet Union. Despite impossible odds, Berlin was sustained by air for 15 months from June 1948, with more than one third of flights being handled from Gatow Airport in th...

While the weather may have played its part, Saturday 6 May saw a wonderful flypast over central London to mark the coronation of King Charles III. But what does it really take to organise such a spectacle in what is some of the world’s busiest airspace and why does the weather have such an impact? Did the King get to choose the types of aircraft?! In this episode of Altitude we’re joined by specia...

NATS has just reopened recruitment for trainee air traffic controllers, but what does that process look like and what kind of career can successful candidates look forward to? In this episode of Altitude we’re exploring the whole recruitment process, from understanding the requirements and the application process through to assessment and beyond. We’ll also be looking at the training, what’s invol...