Under the high patronage of King Mohammed VI and upon invitation of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN), the Solar Impulse aircraft of Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg should take flight 24 May 2012 at 06:45AM (UTC+2) from Payerne (Switzerland) with final destination Rabat (Morocco). The prototype will land in Madrid (Spain) for a technical layover, as well as to change pilots, around 02:00AM (UTC+2).

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) encouraged China to continue to develop its air transport sector by ensuring sufficient capacity based on global standards and best practices.

In the next week we will be publishing the 4th 'Special Bulletin' on 'SESAR and Next Gen'. This issue will feature articles from Indra, FABEC, ATCA, Skyguide and more. Once published, the digital magazine will be sent out to all members, and available to view on the network.

A new Air Traffic Control backup system has successfully passed final acceptance at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta and is planned for operation by July. The new PRISMA ATC system acts as a back-up system supporting the ageing ATC equipment on site, which has caused more than one failure and major delays in recent months. The new system will ensure improved stability, safety and efficiency of air traffic control services at the airport.

Forty more airports in 11 European countries will soon be accessible for EGNOS-equipped aircraft thanks to ACCEPTA, a European Union-funded project that is co-funding the publishing of EGNOS landing procedures or installing EGNOS navigation equipment.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has directed its investigators and staff to pursue stiffer penalties for individuals who purposefully point laser devices at aircraft.

The article Fake Smoke, Real Stress, published in the Lufthansa magazine Lufthanseat and the DFS Direct publication, describes how air traffic controllers and pilots are using combined simulation to improve their skills in an emergency situation they hope to never encounter in the real world. In this training environment, DFS controllers operate at the DFS NewSim radar simulator and Lufthansa pilots at their full flight simulators, allowing a realistic, high-fidelity re-creation of an integrated and interactive air traffic and cockpit environment.

Michael Huerta, Acting Administrator of the FAA made the following speech to the Aeroclub in Washington this week.

Copperchase announces the successful application of it Flight Plan Converter
(FPL Converter-FPL2012 TTT).

COMSOFT, the German ATC/ATM supplier has revamped its website.

Hungarian air navigation service provider HungaroControl has launched a complex modernisation programme to meet new challenges presented by regional integration in line with the Single European Sky. The Business Process Reengineering project and the introduction of an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system will help HungaroControl continue to successfully provide its services under the new business and financing conditions and contribute to successful cooperation in the Functional Airspace Block for Central Europe (FAB CE).

Today 115 European network, regional and leisure airlines joined forces to respond to a pilot and cabin crew demonstration, which creates a misleading picture of European aviation safety regulation.

More than 60 participants joined a FABEC Consultation and Information meeting which took place on 11th May in Brussels. The purpose of this meeting was to inform stakeholders especially staff representatives and airspace users on the ongoing establishment of FABEC. According to the European legislation, States have to provide by 24th June a set of comprehensive documents such as a Treaty or a common airspace policy. Additionally, a cost-benefit analysis has to prove the overall-added value of establishing FABEC.

The sun has been becoming increasingly active recently as we have seen from reports on TV and the media. Spectacular light shows of auroras, in geographical locations that do not usually experience such phenomena.This solar activity can also cause a disruption to aviation's communications, navigation and surveillance systems.

Environmental restrictions are in place at most European airports. A response to environmental challenges is the implementation of the Continuous Descent Operation (CDO) technique.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is awarding a contract to ITT Corp. and GEs Naverus to help accelerate the development of satellite-based procedures that will allow aircraft to fly more directly to their destinations.

Cassidian, the defence and security division of EADS, has successfully completed all certification measurements of its MSSR 2000 I (MSSR = Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar) secondary radar by the AIMS Program Office of the US Department of Defense.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global traffic results or March showing that total passenger demand rose 7.6% and freight demand climbed 0.3% compared to the same month last year.

NAV CANADA, the country's air navigation service provider, today released a report detailing its progress in efforts to reduce aviation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through improvements to air traffic flows.

Searidge Technologies, provider of intelligent video solutions to Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) and airports, announced that Aspen-Pitkin County Airport (ASE) has selected Searidge to provide an intrusion detection solution for the perimeter adjoining the movement and non-movement areas of the airport.

From 17:00 UTC on Wednesday 25 April 2012, Mode S implementation in Europe will move to the next stage by extending the number of flights using downlinked aircraft identification so that air traffic controllers can identify them.

Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has been awarded contracts to modernize the air traffic control systems in the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected Saab
Sensis Corporation, a subsidiary of defense and security company Saab, for the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) Adaptation of a Surface Management Tool to Multiple, Capacity-Constrained Airports.

Luciad, the market leader in high performance visualization, is pleased to announce its support for Cloud based Geospatial Situational Awareness applications and services.