Aeronautical system upgrade to boost air safety

This will include information on aerodromes, runways, instrument approach and departure procedures, geographical and route information, and aeronautical maps General Manager Air Traffic Control, Jason Harfield, said that the project, called the Mercury Project, will increase assurances over the quality and integrity of aeronautical information. The $16 million project aims to establish a world-class aeronautical information management capability with a focus on improving the management and distribution of aeronautical reference data to key stakeholders. As well as improved aeronautical data quality and service delivery, the system will see cost savings as a result of removing manual data re-processing and through the rationalisation of databases and system interfaces. Current Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) systems rely on an aging Aeronautical Database Management System. The existing legacy system is more than 15 years old and, together with various software components, is used to automate the production of the ERSA and Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) pilot charts, Mr Harfield said. Over time, these systems are becoming increasingly complicated and expensive to maintain, while their capacity to satisfy operational requirements is diminishing. The Mercury Project was initiated by Airservices to ensure compliance against Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards. Contracts for the project were today formally exchanged between Airservices CEO Greg Russell and Ingegneria dei sistemi (IDS) S.p.A President Giovanni Bardelli.