ENAIRE successfully implements its new air traffic control post (iFOCUCS) in the Valencia Control Centre

ENAIRE, the national air navigation service provider, has successfully implemented the first iFOCUCS air control posts in the operations room of the Valencia Control Centre, which will help to increase the efficiency of operations.

This new control post is being placed in service as part of the 2025 Flight Plan, within its Digital Sky initiative, a key component of ENAIRE's strategic technological modernisation plan.

The new iFOCUCS control post will be deployed gradually in the control centres of Barcelona, Valencia, Canary Islands, Madrid, Seville, Palma, Málaga and Zaragoza. To this end, in April and July 2022 the Council of Ministers authorised an investment of more than 75 million euros to replace 223 posts from which air traffic controllers manage flights in Spanish airspace.

In parallel, the Canary Islands Control Centre has also started the installation of the new control posts.

This new control post is being placed into service as part of ENAIRE's strategic technological modernisation plan, known as the 2025 Flight Plan

ENAIRE continues to set the example in global air navigation, as demonstrated by the implementation of the new iFOCUCS control post: “The implementation of the first control posts is the culmination of the enormous effort made in the process of developing and validating the new control posts, and reinforces ENAIRE's initiatives in the field of digitisation and technological modernisation, in keeping with its Strategic Plan, the 2025 Flight Plan”, stated ENAIRE's CEO, Enrique Maurer.

What does the new iFOCUCS post offer?

ENAIRE has developed, together with Indra, the new iFOCUCS station because future versions of the Automated Air Traffic Control System (SACTA) it uses to manage flights make it necessary to incorporate relevant information on new functionalities for control personnel, as well as complementary information to support the controller's work.

Because of this, the new iFOCUCS station will increase the viewing area while maintaining the resolution, allowing controllers to work without paper flight progress strips in the future, all as part of a design concept that is ergonomic and efficient, and intended to enhance the human factors of the controller's position.

Personnel from ENAIRE's technical control and operation/engineering staff were actively involved in its design and development in order to ensure it adapts to the real needs of the service as efficiently as possible.

The project is part of ENAIRE's Strategic Plan - the 2025 Flight Plan - and will contribute to the European Common Project 1 as the first project to deploy the new SACTA and COMETA (IP voice communications system) control station.

The new iFOCUCS post is a key element for enabling the technological evolution of Spain's air traffic control system (SACTA), as part of a global technological partnership within the European iTEC alliance, which will be key to implementing new tools for air traffic control, as well as to improving the efficiency, safety and quality of services, in keeping with the construction of the Digital Single European Sky.

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Sustainable Transport and Mobility, 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, 46 airports receive communication, navigation and surveillance services from ENAIRE, which also maintains their air traffic control systems, and 21 of them, including the country's busiest airports, rely on its aerodrome air traffic 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 responsible agency identified by the Ministry of Sustainable Transport and Mobility 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 for three years in a row. It has also been awarded the EFQM 500 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.