Adacel to showcase latest tool at Airspace World 2024

Adacel Technologies Limited, an industry leader in advanced Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Air Traffic Control (ATC) simulation and training solutions, is pleased to announce the Company’s participation at Airspace World in Geneva, Switzerland, March 19-21, 2024. Adacel’s exhibit will be located at stand #L15.

In addition to showcasing latest developments in Aurora, MaxSim, and Reval, Adacel is unveiling its latest tool, FAST – Framework for Accelerating System Training. FAST is designed to provide real-time training and testing solutions to operational ATM systems. Driven by Adacel’s state-of-the-art MaxSim simulator engine, FAST interfaces with ATM systems to augment and enhance the training process. FAST has a variety of applications, some of which include:

  • Evaluating concepts of operation and de-risking implementation.
  • Validating operational procedures based on realistic traffic scenarios in a representative Controller Working Position (CWP) environment.
  • Interfacing with existing systems to simulate training scenarios, emergencies, higher traffic levels, and new ATC procedures.
  • Providing a solution for performance or capacity testing.

“We are thrilled to reunite with our industry peers, partners, friends, and customers at this year’s Airspace World,” shares Daniel Verret, Adacel’s CEO. “Our team’s
hard work has led to remarkable progress with our products, and we can’t wait to showcase our latest innovations during the show,” continues Mr. Verret.

Neil Bowles, Adacel’s new Vice President, Air Traffic Management said, “I’m excited to be back at Airspace World and looking forward to our industry’s flagship event.
Adacel’s ATM products enable safe and efficient operations from oceanic airspace to innovative digital tower implementation. We are ready to welcome visitors to our stand where they can meet our team and see how tools such as FAST can accelerate system training and help define new concepts of operation.”

2023 ATM Awards launched

Following its success earlier this year, CANSO is once again partnering with Air Traffic Management Magazine to bring you the Air Traffic Management Awards 2023, the winners of which will be announced at Airspace World 2024.

The awards acknowledge the pioneering concepts, initiatives, and significant achievements of leaders and organisations in the air traffic management industry and are open to all ATM, UTM, UAM, UAS and Space stakeholders. Manufacturers, software developers, research agencies, standards organisations, air navigation service providers, regulators, drone service providers and operators, airports, and aircraft operating companies are also encouraged to enter.

There are five individual categories plus an overall winner to be judged by a panel of experts from our industry. The categories are:

  • Digital Transformation in ATM
  • Reimagining ATM Operations
  • Greener Skies
  • Resilience in ATM
  • Integration of drones/AAM

Entries must be submitted by Wednesday 17 January 2024 and are free to enter. There will be an awards reception in Geneva, at Airspace World 2024 to announce the winners and runner-ups.

More information about the process, the categories, and the link to enter is now available on the Air Traffic Management Magazine website here.

In other Airspace World news, registration to attend the event is scheduled to open in the coming weeks. And for potential exhibitors, the floorplan for Airspace World is filling up rapidly – if you haven’t booked your exhibition space at our exciting new event, please contact sales@airspaceworld.com.

A look back at Airspace World 2023

Our week started with the CANSO Executive Summit 2023

And then three days of Airspace World 2023

We hope you enjoyed the networking, discussions and debate as much as we enjoyed providing it for you. We look forward to welcoming you back to Geneva next March for Airspace World 2024.

Academia vital to CATS roadmap

An education session on CANSO’s Complete Air Traffic System (CATS) revealed the work being done to make the seamless skies vision a reality.

Simon Hocquard, Director General of CANSO and Chair of the CATS Global Council, set the scene by asking how the industry can achieve a fully scalable, sustainable and resilient airspace system while safely integrating the ever-growing variety of new airspace users.

Managing the growth in commercial passenger traffic and the diverse performance profiles of new vehicles requires innovation and collaboration.

Recognising that every key player in the airborne vehicle ecosystem had a slightly different view of the future skies, CANSO set up the CATS Global Council to establish a shared global industry vision.

The CATS vision – which took account of the views of the 70 different organizations that make up the Global Council – was released in October 2021, and followed by the development of a roadmap to provide a clear direction for that vision.

The session explored the critical role universities and research centres will play. With artificial intelligence, data analytics, communication networks, and automation so vital to the next generation of air traffic management, the industry needs to engage with academic excellence.

Universities and research centres also help to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among stakeholders. Combining the cutting-edge ideas of academia with the practical know-how of industry experts is helping to build an innovative yet realistic foundation for success.

In his opening speech, Hocquard also noted that universities and research centres are a link to “promoting public awareness and understanding of the benefits and challenges of air traffic management”. In many aspects, they also work closely with governments and other authorities and so can ensure the CATS vision is reflected in national and international policies and regulations.

Ultimately, the CATS vision and roadmap will create a safer, more efficient, and more sustainable airspace system for generations to come.

The panel:

Dr Tatjana (Tanja) Bolić, University of Westminster

Prof. Clyde Rinkinen, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Prof. Francis Schubert, McGill University

A virtual insight into future skies

A vision of future skies is available at the Altitude Angel stand. Its simulation tool shows virtual integrated skies, where crewed and uncrewed aircraft safely share the same airspace, all managed digitally.

The tool shows a Skyfarer drone making a delivery between two UK hospitals and display all the technology developed by Altitude Angel to date, including its GuardianUTM platform and ARROW ground-based DAA (Detect-and-Avoid) system.

The simulation shows the flight being planned and the operation submitted, via the GuardianUTM platform Approval Services and Strategic Deconfliction functions. GuardianUTM then manages the flight and performs real-time tactical deconfliction on simulated drones, just as it would in real life.

Users can even choose which aspect of the scenario they wish to experience; that of a delivery drone, as a pilot in a GA aircraft or HEMS/blue light helicopter responding to an emergency, or in a UAM eVTOL craft flying alongside the delivery drone.

“Our immersive simulator is a first for the UTM/ATM industry,” says Richard Parker, Altitude Angel’s CEO. “We’re taking airspace managers out of the control tower and placing them right in the heart of the flight. The experience will give airspace regulators a unique opportunity to see and understand what tomorrow’s skies will look like, which we hope will allow them to realise what can be achieved within current regulation as well as help inform and shape future regulation.”

The ARROW ground-based DAA system is also a cornerstone of the UK’s drone superhighway, 265km of corridors running between the Midlands and the southeast. The superhighway is being built by Altitude Angel and several partners and, says Parker, will “revolutionise the way we transport goods and travel.”

The highways consist of a series of towers that are piggybacking on British Telecom (BT) infrastructure. As coverage improves, more direct routes will be flown. The so-called Skyway should be operational from summer 2024 and there are plans and funding to expand the network.

2023 Digital European Sky awards announced!

Projects addressing sustainable air traffic operations, better weather forecasting enabled by artificial intelligence and urban air mobility have received the top prizes in this year’s SESAR Digital European Sky Awards. The winners were announced on 9 June during an awards ceremony at Airspace World, the annual gathering of the global ATM industry. 

A distinguished panel of aviation representatives evaluated some thirty contributions to make a shortlist of the nine most exemplary projects in three categories: exploratory research, industrial research and very large-scale demonstrations. A People’s Choice Award was also handed out following votes cast by the audience during the ceremony at Airspace World.

The winning projects were recognised for demonstrating excellence in technological innovation, their potential to have a positive long-term impact on ATM performance, as well as their overall contribution to the SESAR programme.

Picking up the award in the exploratory research award category, the ISOBAR project was recognised for prototyping a storm forecaster tailored to air traffic management and a user-driven mitigation plan that takes into account flow constraints and network effects. The set of weather management boosters includes a neural network that integrates convective prediction into a structured airspace map, together with a set of AI modules, such as AI-based hotspot detection and adaptive mitigation measures, to support decision-making by the human operator.

Coming out top in the industrial research award category was the 4DSkyways project. Over the past two years, it advanced trajectory management (TM) solutions in support of the roll-out of trajectory-based operations (TBO), a critical enabler for greener and more efficient air traffic tested by controllers operations. The solutions, which were intensively tested by controllers and flight crew, allow for faster data exchange between the air and ground, as well as improved conflict detection and resolution.

In the very large-scale demonstration category, SAFIR-Med was recognised for its successful demonstration of emergency medical service delivery by drones. The project carried out a series of demos in the cities of Maastricht, Aachen, Hasselt, Heerlen and Liège showing how drones can be used to support Europe’s healthcare system. The results of this working is helping to accelerate the adoption of drones into the healthcare system in a safe, sustainable and socially acceptable way.

The ALBATROSS very large scale demonstration received the the People’s Choice Award. With over 1,000 flight trials, the project showed how to make more energy-efficient trajectories an everyday reality. The project has already brought optimised descent and climb operations to Paris airports that can reduce fuel use by up to 7% according to project lead Airbus, and Amsterdam Schiphol is on a pathway to zero emission taxi operations by 2030 with tests underway using autonomous tow trucks.

Presenting the winners with their awards, Andreas Boschen, Executive Director, said: “I would like to congratulate the winners, as well as all the nominees for their outstanding work and dedication to delivering best-in-class innovative solutions for air traffic management. The winning projects are emblematic of the work underway to deliver smarter and more sustainable air transport, across all three strands of research which make up the SESAR innovation pipeline.”

See pictures and the full list of winners here

ACI World and CANSO sign a Memorandum of Understanding

New program to unlock airport capacity and support the sustainable growth of air travel demand

Airports Council International (ACI) World and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) have today announced the development of the Airport System Capacity Enhancement (ASCE) program aimed at removing the barriers to unlocking airport capacity and supporting the sustainable growth of air travel demand.

The ASCE program is one of the core areas of cooperation to come from a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed today at Airspace World by the Director Generals of ACI World and CANSO, representing airport operators and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) respectively. The MoU will see closer levels of collaboration between both organizations to promote the safe, efficient, and sustainable development of civil aviation.

Challenges of air travel growth

According to the latest ACI World Airport Traffic Forecasts 2022–2041, total passenger traffic worldwide is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5% from 2021–2041, to reach 19.3 billion passengers. This includes a steep recovery gradient observed in the first five years (CAGR for 2021–2026) at 19.0%. In addition, the aviation industry has committed to the ambitious long-term environmental goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement.

Accommodating the growth of air travel demand has long been a challenge for the aviation system and the future forecasts necessitate cooperation among stakeholders to ensure a safe, efficient, and sustainable air transport system for passengers.

Benefits of the Airport System Capacity Enhancement Program
The ASCE program focuses on the entire airport system and surrounding airspace as these areas can often be the most significant capacity challenges. Unlocking capacity through improved coordination, changes to procedures, and strategic investments in technology and infrastructure, can provide significant advantages.


Improvements in capacity usage can reduce delays and inefficient operations that can result in additional costs for airports, ANSPs and aircraft operators, as well as disruptions for passengers. In some cases, improvements can be made that enable the deferral of costly infrastructure or system investments and contribute to aviation’s ambitious emissions reduction goals.

How the Airport System Capacity Enhancement Program works
The ASCE program provides a comprehensive onsite review led by industry peers and experts to optimise the use of airport system capacity, both in the air and on the ground. The airports and ANSPs being reviewed benefit from an assessment tailored to their unique needs and receive expertise, practical recommendations, and targeted solutions that contribute to their long-term capacity usage and operational efficiency.


ACI and CANSO will collaborate on a pilot of the program in order to refine and validate methodologies. An ASCE program pilot is planned to take place at Jorge Chávez International Airport, in Lima, Peru, with another one intended in the coming months. Interested parties looking to reap the benefits of the program are invited to fill in the ACI World-CANSO ASCE form.

ACI World Director General, Luis Felipe de Oliveira said: “Leveraging all the available capacity across the airport system is one of the key ways that airports and air navigation service providers can support the growth of air travel demand and the sustainability of the global aviation ecosystem. This includes the ability to meet the industry’s ambitious emissions reduction goals while sustaining economic balance by deferring or reducing the need for expensive CAPEX investments. For these reasons, ACI World is proud to be strengthening its relationship with CANSO through the MoU and the launch of the Airport System Capacity Enhancement (ASCE) Program—dedicated to optimizing capacity for today and tomorrow’s passengers.”

CANSO Director General, Simon Hocquard added: “ACI and CANSO have many shared priorities and we are pleased to be working with our airport partners on this program. I believe focussing on unlocking system capacity in the airport and airspace terminal environment can deliver real benefits for the system. We need new perspectives on the management of congestion and to be looking at new ways to utilise existing infrastructure resources if we are to meet future demands.”