ENAIRE will increase its investment by 26% in 2021, with safety, efficiency and sustainability being its main goals

ENAIRE, Spain's air navigation manager, has included an investment of 127.1 million euros in Spain's Budget Act for 2021. This amount represents an increase in the planned investment of 26%, compared to the investment in 2019, which was 100.7 million euros.

ENAIRE's CEO, Angel Luis Arias, noted that "the investment planned for 2021 will allow us to digitise the Spanish Sky and help make it safer, more sustainable and more connected".

The planned investment focuses on a thorough technological modernisation of systems and on digitisation, in keeping with the Single European Sky

ENAIRE's increased investment focuses on incorporating new technologies to thoroughly modernise its systems and digitise the company, in line with the requirements of the Single European Sky.

Along with other objectives, the keys to these investments focus on safety, efficiency and sustainability. In this regard, ENAIRE plans to increase operational safety and the efficiency, resilience and scalability of its systems and services, as well as to contribute to environmental sustainability by using renewable energies to improve energy efficiency.

Within this general framework of action, the main areas of investment needed to achieve the stated objective, as well as to contribute to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda's Safe, Sustainable and Connected Mobility Strategy, are specified below. These main areas of investment are as follows:

- To develop the Air Traffic Control System (SACTA) by incorporating the most advanced technologies, in line with the European "Digital Sky" project and the development of the future European control position.

- To modernise the communications systems between pilots and controllers by applying the latest Voice over IP technology.

- To modernise navigation and surveillance systems.

- To modernise the company's management systems through process digitisation and automation.

- To modernise Spanish airspace in line with the European "Digital Airspace" project in order to achieve operational excellence.

- To contribute to "smart mobility" by adapting the air navigation system to drone operations.

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the company of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda that manages air navigation in Spain. It renders aerodrome control services at 21 airports, including the busiest in terms of air traffic, plus en-route and approach control, from five control centres: Barcelona, Madrid, Gran Canaria, Palma and Seville. In addition, ENAIRE provides communications, navigation and surveillance services to 45 air control towers.

In 2019, ENAIRE handled 2.1 million flights to and from four continents (Europe, America, Asia and Africa), transporting 320 million passengers.

ENAIRE is the fourth most important European air navigation service provider, and, in a clear commitment to the Single Sky initiative, belongs to international partnerships such as SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, A6 Alliance, iTEC, CANSO (Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation) and ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization).