In Seville, the SESAR technology consortium is presenting solutions to aviation challenges and to promote the Single European Sky

ENAIRE and the University of Seville's School of Engineering are hosting SESAR Innovation Days from 27 to 30 November. This event, promoted every year by SESAR 3 JU, brings together representatives from the aviation industry and university experts who, within the framework of this European Commission programme, discuss the progress and research underway in order to advance towards the Single European Sky through innovation and digitisation.

The Programme The Digital European Sky is the technological pillar of the Single European Sky (SES) and plays a key role in the research, validation and deployment of improved technologies and operating procedures to make European air travel more profitable, more environmentally friendly and safer. ENAIRE, an active member since its inception in 2009, is strongly committed through its involvement in 27 projects, 4 of which it leads, to validate solutions and identify new challenges.

De Mateo identifies the main challenges of air navigation in response to the need to welcome new stakeholders, and to ensure safe and sustainable aviation in the face of increasing demand

At today's session, Sergio Esteban Roncero, delegate of the rector for the Promotion of Technology Transfer in Teaching Innovation of the University of Seville, Andreas Boschen, Executive Director of SESAR 3 JU and Andrés Sáez Pérez, Director of the University, welcomed the attendees at the School of Engineering welcomed the attendees at the ETSi.

Mariluz De Mateo, ENAIRE's Strategy and Innovation Director, then gave a presentation in which he covered the SESAR programme and identified the present and future challenges of air navigation. On ENAIRE's role in SESAR, De Mateo explained that "we are fully dedicated to the development of innovative operating procedures and next-gen technologies to achieve the SESAR objectives. The SESAR Programme has demonstrated that a public-private partnership, in which all the stakeholders collaborate to develop new functionalities, is the best vehicle not only to overcome our current limitations, but also to face future challenges".

Success of SESAR

In this regard, he underscored the success of SESAR: "ENAIRE firmly supports SESAR as a catalyst initiative to provide an effective and integrated solution to the known and forecast deficiencies in Europe's air traffic management network. Common challenges need common solutions".

ENAIRE's Strategy and Innovation Director broke down the great air traffic data from Spain for the summer season. As a whole, Mariluz De Mateo stated that "the number of air operations in Spain currently exceeds the figures for 2019, and we expect a 2% increase in traffic statistics at the end of this year, which confirms the recovery of the sector in Spain after the years of pandemic".

ENAIRE's Strategy and Innovation Director pointed out some of the challenges identified by SESAR:

• Trajectory-based operations to improve flight predictability and airspace capacity.

• Remote Tower Services.

• Dynamic balancing of air capacity and capacity based on airspace demand;

• virtual centres;

• satellite-based communications, navigation and surveillance technologies.

• extensive toolkits to enhance safety on airport runways and

• Interoperability between all stakeholders

He also stressed the "need to welcome new players" and find technological and procedural solutions "to ensure safe and sustainable air navigation that satisfies the ever-increasing demand".

Innovation and scientific excellence

Andreas Boschen, SESAR 3 JU Executive Director, pointed out in sis speech: “We are delighted to be in Seville for the 2023 edition of the SESAR Innovations Days where we are showcasing innovation and scientific excellence, the twin engines of the Digital European Sky. We count on the 400 brightest research minds in our industry gathering here this week to challenge conventional limits in order to transform European air traffic management, making it smarter, more resilient and above all sustainable. A special thank-you to the support of our Spanish members and partners located here, ENAIRE, Indra, University of Seville, Ryanair and Seville Airport”.

During SESAR Innovation Days, technical sessions and conferences are being held and are scheduled featuring representatives and experts from CRIDA (ENAIRE's R&D subsidiary), EUROCONTROL, the manager of the European Network, the European Commission, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Polytechnic University of Turin, the United States Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), the University of Westminster, the University of Braunschweig, as well as Deep Blue, Ryanair, Seville Airport, Indra, and others.

ENAIRE's Southern Region

On the first day, Monday the 27th, around a hundred people visited the operations room of the Seville Control Centre, which manages an airspace of 187,000 km² that covers Andalusia, the province of Badajoz, part of Ciudad Real, Albacete and Murcia, the entire Bay of Cádiz and all the western Mediterranean, as well as Ceuta and Melilla. The staff responsible for this work throughout the South region consist of 284 air traffic controllers and 223 engineering and support personnel.

Carlos Caspueñas, the Director of ENAIRE's Southern Region, guided the visit and explained the structure of the airspace managed by ENAIRE, the technical facilities and personal that make it possible, the extraordinary recovery of traffic in the Southern region, as well as the great effort required by the flexible use of airspace. He also noted the collaboration with Airbus and the technical improvements that ENAIRE is incorporating.

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, Canary Islands and Balearic Islands, as well as approach services to every airport in the country.

In addition, 46 airports receive ENAIRE's communication, navigation and surveillance services, and 21 of them, including the country's busiest airports, 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 3 Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC and CANSO.

ENAIRE, as the responsible body identified by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to implement the U-Space system in Spain, will, through its digital platform, provide the Common Information Services (CIS), which are essential to facilitate U-space services to drones and Urban Air Mobility in cooperation with local air traffic 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.