2025 Agenda

For decades, critical airside and air traffic management operations have relied on legacy technologies that delivered reliability—but at a significant cost. Data became fragmented, interoperability was limited, and both airports and ANSPs grew increasingly dependent on a small number of vendors. As operational needs evolved, change was often slow, complex, and expensive—constrained more by architectural rigidity than by operational ambition.
Today, the industry is once again in a period of transformation. Digitalisation, automation, and data-driven operations are central to future performance. “Platforms” are widely promoted as the solution. Yet many proprietary platforms risk recreating the same structural limitations of the past, this time with modern interfaces and new terminology.
In this joint session, NATS and Searidge share how the UK’s ANSP has adopted an open, platform-based ATM architecture to break this cycle. The speakers will explain why legacy approaches are no longer sufficient, what is driving the move to an open platform model, and how this shift is enabling greater flexibility, resilience, and innovation.
Using real-world examples, the session will demonstrate how a shared digital foundation supports faster deployment, improved situational awareness, and new operational services.
Attendees will gain practical insight into what defines a strong ATM platform, why ANSPs should own their foundational architecture, and how this approach supports NATS’ long-term vision for future UK tower operations.