NATS scoops prestigious award at key industry showcase

NATS, the UK based global provider of air traffic services and solutions, picked up a top award at the IHS Jane’s ATC Awards in Madrid last night.

The company, jointly with Lockheed Martin and Altran, overcame fierce competition to win in the Enabling Technology category for its next generation air traffic control tools, iFACTS.

iFACTS is a set of tools which reduces a controller’s workload and increases the amount of traffic they can safely and comfortably handle. It provides decision making support and facilitates the early detection of conflicts in and around the sector.

It means controllers can quite literally see into the future and predict aircraft positions, heights and headings up to 18 minutes ahead of time.

Frank Wood, General Manager NATS Programmes Division, said: “iFACTS has helped revolutionise the way NATS works, with the amount of ATC attributable delay reaching record lows. This is clearly great news for our customers and it is fantastic to see that achievement has been recognised by the industry”.

Last year, delays attributable to NATS averaged just 1.6 seconds per flight during, although in reality 99.8 per cent of UK flights did not suffer any NATS air traffic control delay at all.

The Jane’s ATC Awards were presented at the CANSO ATM Dinner on the eve of the inaugural World ATM Congress.

Visitors to the event can find out more about iFACTS on stand 890 where NATS is exhibiting.