In Barcelona, ENAIRE, together with EUROCONTROL, analyses the improvements made to air traffic management

ENAIRE held a workshop on air traffic flow management and control in its Barcelona Air Control Centre with representatives of all ENAIRE Control Centres and the Operations management team, together with operational managers from the European Network Manager, EUROCONTROL, and the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC).

A safe and efficient balance between airspace capacity and the demand for existing traffic is essential for airlines and airports

The aim of managing traffic flow is to strike a balance between the absorption capacity offered by the air traffic control system and its demand. This is done by applying a series of measures, including regulating demand.

The goal is to achieve a workload that is better distributed over time, avoiding demand peaks above the manageable capacity, while striving to improve the efficiency of the measures implemented, and thus optimise the air traffic management service that is provided.

In the summer of 2022, a new process was launched to monitor airspace occupancy. This meeting provided a venue in which to share the experience from these months, and to showcase the benefits obtained in terms of efficiency and safety both nationally and Europe-wide. Attendees also gathered suggestions for the continuous improvement of ENAIRE's service in an effort to supplement the tools and applications that ENAIRE has developed as part of its 2025 Flight Plan in terms of flow management, and which currently feature in several initiatives of EUROCONTROL's Excellence Programme.

Present at the workshop were Ángel Luis Arias, ENAIRE's CEO, Enrique Maurer, ENAIRE's Air Navigation Services Director, the Deputy Director of Air Navigation Services, Laura Garces, the Director of Operations, Xavier Benavent, and the Head of the Safety Division, Santiago Cortés. All of them agreed on the importance and impact to customers, airlines and airports of the efficient management that couples airspace capacity with demand to maximise the efficiency of the available capacity, as determined by the acceptable workload for controllers.

The workshop concluded with a roundtable discussion with the flow control and operational safety manages at ENAIRE's control centres in Madrid, Seville and Barcelona, the Union of Air Traffic Controllers (USCA) and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association (APROCTA).

EUROCONTROL, which played a key role in the event, shared its vision as the European Network Manager, and as a local service provider through its Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC). Through its extensive experience in applying new concepts and initiatives to improve customer service.

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, it provides en route control services for all flights and overflights from five control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Gran Canaria and Palma, as well as approach services to every airport in the country.

In addition, 45 control towers receive ENAIRE's communication, navigation and surveillance services, and 21 airports, including the country's busiest, rely on its aerodrome control services.

ENAIRE is Europe's fourth largest air traffic manager and participates in the A6 Alliance, a coalition of air navigation providers responsible for over 80% of European air traffic, and which is seeking to modernise the air traffic management system. It is also a member of other international alliances promoting the Single European sky, such as SESAR Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC, CANSO and ICAO.

ENAIRE, as the agency appointed by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to implement the U-space system in Spain, will be the provider of the Common Information Services (CIS), which are essential for administering U-space services to drones and Urban Air Mobility, in interaction with local air traffic control services, so that all types of aircraft can fly safely in the same airspace.

ENAIRE has received the highest score in Europe on the aviation safety key performance indicator. It has also been awarded the EFQM 500 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.