Wednesday’s theatre highlights

There’s another day of packed and insightful content in Airspace World’s five theatres on Wednesday. Here are some highlights.

CANSO-IATA Panel: Collaboration to Ensure Airspace Optimization and accommodate growth

Leidos Theatre – 12:00-12:50

As aviation demand continues to grow, optimising airspace capacity while ensuring efficiency and sustainability requires unprecedented collaboration. This panel brings together senior leaders from airlines, ANSPs, and aircraft manufacturers to explore innovative, joint approaches to airspace management. Discussions will focus on:

  • How enhanced collaboration between ANSPs and airlines can unlock more efficient, flexible airspace usage.
  • The critical role of data sharing and operational coordination in overcoming capacity challenges.
  • Balancing growth, sustainability, and resilience in a rapidly evolving, complex airspace environment.

Panellists

Achim Baumann, Airlines for Europe (A4E) Policy Director

Captain Norazman Mahmud, Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) Chief Executive Officer

Carlos Cirilo, CANSO Director of ICAO Affairs

Greg Byus, United Airlines Senior Manager for Air Traffic Strategy

James Evans, Airways General Manager – Commercial

Kathryn Leahy, NATS Chief Operations Officer

Malcom An, The Boeing Company Senior Managing Director, Global Strategic Initiatives, Commercial Sales & Marketing

The ASTM Approach to New BVLOS Rules, U-space & Autonomy

Wing Theatre – 11:30–11:55

Global, industry-consensus standards are at a critical juncture to enable and adapt with BVLOS UAS operations, fulfilling requirements in frameworks deferring to these standards. As standards bodies fulfill these requirements, a central objective is to foster interoperability and harmonization and avoid fragmentation that limits advanced operations. With a goal of enabling widespread and equitable BVLOS operations under these forthcoming standards, this is an opportunity to enable the UAS industry for long-term and significant growth.

In this presentation, the ASTM F38 Committee on Unmanned Aircraft Systems Chair will share current ASTM initiatives and priorities in the busy realms of the FAA Part 108 rule to enable BVLOS operations, U-space harmonisation, and autonomy.

Speaker

Mark Blanks, Wing Head of Global Flight Operations, Standards, and Regulatory Affairs

Smarter and Greener: Machine Learning-powered traffic management decision making at LVNL

SANS/NERA Theatre – 16:00–16:25

Fewer delays for airlines and travellers. This is the goal of the Decision Support Tool (DST) developed by Air Traffic Control the Netherlands (LVNL). To keep the volume of flights to Schiphol in balance with the capacity of the airspace, LVNL must frequently delay flights by regulating them. Regulating involves delaying flights at their departure airport by holding at the gate, causing the flights to arrive at Schiphol later. These delays are costly for airlines and annoying for travellers. DST uses new simulation techniques and machine learning to achieve an optimal balance between capacity and sustainability, well before flights enter the Dutch airspace.

DST aims to reduce delays for airlines and travellers by providing decision intelligence for more informed ATFM decisions for Amsterdam Schiphol airport and the Dutch FIR. In doing so, the system not only saves valuable time and money for passengers and airlines but also decreases environmental impact by preventing unnecessary fuel usage.

Speakers

Ferdinand Dijkstra, FerWay (representing the TriOpSys consortium) ATM/ATC expert

Steven Geurten, Luchtverkeersleiding Nederland LVNL (Air Traffic Control the Netherlands) Flow management position controller

Sink or SWIM

Frequentis Theatre – 10:30–10:55

Accelerate SWIM efforts using proven SWIM EMS solutions that ANSPs, airports and airlines use today in production today.

A SWIM EMS is part of the same type of modern information exchange foundation that has proven itself in other transportation segments and global finance for over a decade. Its use can extend beyond SWIM and ATM to enrich services by exchanging other types of information. For example, AAM services and applications can exchange information with taxi, ride-sharing and other public transportation services. Information exchange with catering, baggage handling and even airport retail services become not only possible but expected.

Speakers

Wayne Osse, Solace Chief Architect, Global Aviation and Transportation

Transforming skies: Flight Centric ATC as a game changer

Viasat Theatre – 12:00–12:50

Flight Centric ATC represents a new paradigm in airspace management, moving away from the traditional sector-based approach. Instead, the entire airspace is viewed as a unified area, managed by multiple controllers or controller teams collaboratively overseeing all aircraft within it. The goal of this concept is to eliminate sector boundaries, ensuring a more even distribution of controller workload and enabling the management of a higher number of aircraft simultaneously across the entire airspace.

In this panel discussion, five leading experts will discuss the advantages of Flight Centric ATC, as well as potential obstacles to its implementation. The session will include audience interaction, offering attendees the chance to ask questions and delve deeper into the future of this transformative concept.

Panellists

Dmytro Tereshchenko, UkSATSE Unit Instructor Kyiv ACC

Ella Pinska-Chauvin, INTEGRA Consult ATM Senior Consultant

Mara Weber, German Aerospace Center Researcher and SESAR 3 Solution Lead

Predrag Terzioski, EUROCONTROL Senior Expert on Operational Concepts & Requirements

Tobias Finck, German Aerospace Center Project Lead and Business Manager

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