The Government authorises upgrading the air traffic control communications service for 42.4 million euros

At its meeting today, the Council of Ministers authorised the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to tender a contract worth 42.2 million euros (excluding VAT) through ENAIRE to renew and modernise the air traffic control communication system and adapt it for data and voice transmission over IP.

This system provides air traffic management services with the highest guarantees and enhances operational safety and cybersecurity

This advances the IP digital protocol of the SACTA-iTEC air traffic control system, used by the national air navigation manager, to provide a homogeneous and scalable solution across all air traffic control centres that streamlines the operation and maintenance of the systems.

Thanks to this contract, the capacity and resilience of the air traffic control communication systems will be increased, ensuring service continuity for air navigation in Spain in coming years, with the highest guarantees, enhancing operational safety and protection in the field of cybersecurity. 

The project will last five years and it includes an infrastructure validation process and a phasing-in period that will not affect the service, since there will be redundant processes and equipment in place. The actions will be carried out at the Air Control Centres in Madrid, Barcelona, the Canary Islands, Palma, Seville, and the Málaga control tower, and at its Centre for Experimentation and Development in Madrid.

This renewal is driven by the technological evolution of the equipment and the impending end of its useful life, making its replacement necessary for greater resilience, while also enabling improvements in its architecture. This entire process is part of the Technological Modernisation and Digitisation plan laid out in ENAIRE's Strategic Plan (2025 Flight Plan).

New system architecture

This new architecture achieves offers excellent robustness, reliability, diversity and scalability characteristics, and it will provide a base for future functional upgrades to the SACTA-iTEC and COMETA systems. It also complies with European regulations, supporting the European Air Traffic Management Master Plan, which encompasses the Single European Sky regulations.

The project poses a significant technological challenge, as it requires replacing the systems that currently support operational communications without affecting the service provided.

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 four years in a row. It has also been awarded the EFQM 600 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.