ENAIRE replaces radio navigation aid in the province of Palencia

On 31 January, ENAIRE put a new state-of-the-art radio beacon into service in the province of Palencia that caters for aircraft flying over the north of the peninsula by providing course guidance and distance information to streamline air navigation.

The new VOR /DME means an investment of 770,000 euros

The renewal of this VOR/DME system which was reaching the end of its service life was carried out as a precautionary measure by ENAIRE, the public company belonging to the Ministry of Public Works that manages air navigation in Spain. This system has been in operation since 1998 and lends its technical support to en route instrument procedures in the north of the Peninsula and Madrid's nearby surrounding terminal control area (TMA). Renewal procedures were agreed for 770,000 euros under ENAIRE's Radio Aid Renewal Plan.

The system's temporary downtime and consequent renewal work began on 21 June, in compliance with the effective dates announced in the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIRAC).

After disabling the original system, ENAIRE carried out the work to uninstall the old system, install the new one, replace the radiant equipment, setting and fine-tuning the new radio aids, followed by their in-flight verification or calibration and final system activation.

These installations help to increase ENAIRE's international ranking as an air navigation manager, in line with European requirements to gradually implement new technology to improve European air traffic management.

Radio aids

Radio aids are systems which provide information on the aircraft's position by means of radio signals, as well as guidance signals during different flight phases. These signals allow aircraft to obtain on-board navigation information to streamline operations between airports.

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the company belonging to the Public Works Department that handles air navigation in Spain. It renders aerodrome control services at 21 airports, including those with the most traffic.

All aircraft crossing the airspace assigned to our country receive communications, navigation and surveillance services using ENAIRE's modern network of facilities, consisting of:

5 control centres, 2 terminal area control centres, 308 radio aids providing en-route airport guidance and approach support, 54 en-route, approach and surface surveillance systems, 130 communications centres (combining transmitter/receiver centres and control towers), 100 REDAN voice and data communication nodes for air navigation applications, 126 control tower posts, and 153 control centre posts.

In 2018 ENAIRE operated 2.1 million flights to and from four continents (Europe, America, Asia and Africa), transporting 300 million passengers.