When an industry’s main driver is safety, change happens in incremental, exceedingly cautious steps. In the Air Traffic Management (ATM) sector, where the slightest error or malfunction can have catastrophic consequences, the integration of each new functionality and/or technology requires extensive testing and, consequently, long lead-times. This increasing demand on safety will not reduce in the future with the new EASA regulation on safety and cyber-security for ground equipment. We can all be satisfied with this trend in a context of growing air traffic demand. At the same time, however, it is now clear to the entire ATM ecosystem that it will not be possible to manage this growing flow safely without accelerating the speed at which we integrate new technologies into our solutions. That is why, over the past decade, Thales has been working on the development of TopSky – ATC new release.
Designed for easier adaptation to changing traffic flows and faster integration of new functionalities and technologies, TopSky – ATC new release is not just a solution, it is also an alliance and a service allowing users to pool resources and work together for the future of ATM– be it flexible, sustainable, or technologically advanced.
TAKING THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE OPEN, SAFE AND SECURE ATM
When the world was in the midst (and the worst) of the Covid-19 crisis, it was difficult to imagine that such worldwide catastrophe could potentially bring positive changes.
However, four years after the world came to a complete stop; air travel demand continues to increase much faster than previously anticipated. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), in 2023 international traffic had almost completely caught up with 2019
levels (88.6%). This was supposed to take five years, according to post-pandemic predictions. It took a mere two. Moreover, the disruptions passengers experienced in the year following the end of worldwide major lockdowns due to shortage of staff forced the ATM world to face the fact that its revenue model was no longer viable in an increasingly unpredictable world.
In other words, increasing the number of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCO) while decreasing the size of their areas of responsibility – to make traffic management humanly manageable – is no longer a solution in many cases. The swift post Covid-19 recovery of air travel is now conducive
to take the opportunity to explore new ways to address air traffic fluctuations by opening-up the ATM world to key technological advances.