The Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority have launched a consultation proposing the creation a new UK airspace design service.
The service would ‘act as a single guiding mind’ for modernising UK airspace, leading to quicker, quieter and cleaner flights, plus increased capacity.
Announcing the consultation, MP Mike Kane, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, said the modernisation will also contribute towards the aviation sector achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
“UK airspace is an invisible but vital piece of our national infrastructure,” he said. “Using an ageing network of ground navigation beacons, its design has remained largely unchanged since the 1950s when there were fewer than one million flights per year in UK airspace. This compares with 2.5 million flights in 2019 and projections of three million annually by 2030.
“In many cases, today’s aircraft still use the same outdated routes flying further than necessary at sub-optimal altitudes and speeds because the routes rely on the location of the ground navigation beacons, instead of following shorter, more efficient flight paths.”
If UK airspace isn’t modernised, the UK’s air traffic control provider NATS believes flight delays might increase by more than 200% by 2040, meaning one in five flights would be delayed by more than 45 minutes.
“Doing nothing is not an option,” said Mr Kane. “Modernised airspace will make it easier for aircraft to fly more direct routes, with better climb and descent profiles to and from energy-efficient cruising altitudes to help reduce CO2 emissions. It will also ensure that future technologies such as remotely piloted aircraft systems can operate beyond visual line of sight in the UK in a safe and efficient manner.”
Mr Kane said views from stakeholders ‘will be critical’ to the next phase of work, and responses to the consultation from all interested parties are ‘welcome’.
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The service would ‘act as a single guiding mind’ for modernising UK airspace, leading to quicker, quieter and cleaner flights, plus increased capacity.
Announcing the consultation, MP Mike Kane, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, said the modernisation will also contribute towards the aviation sector achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
“UK airspace is an invisible but vital piece of our national infrastructure,” he said. “Using an ageing network of ground navigation beacons, its design has remained largely unchanged since the 1950s when there were fewer than one million flights per year in UK airspace. This compares with 2.5 million flights in 2019 and projections of three million annually by 2030.
“In many cases, today’s aircraft still use the same outdated routes flying further than necessary at sub-optimal altitudes and speeds because the routes rely on the location of the ground navigation beacons, instead of following shorter, more efficient flight paths.”
If UK airspace isn’t modernised, the UK’s air traffic control provider NATS believes flight delays might increase by more than 200% by 2040, meaning one in five flights would be delayed by more than 45 minutes.
“Doing nothing is not an option,” said Mr Kane. “Modernised airspace will make it easier for aircraft to fly more direct routes, with better climb and descent profiles to and from energy-efficient cruising altitudes to help reduce CO2 emissions. It will also ensure that future technologies such as remotely piloted aircraft systems can operate beyond visual line of sight in the UK in a safe and efficient manner.”
Mr Kane said views from stakeholders ‘will be critical’ to the next phase of work, and responses to the consultation from all interested parties are ‘welcome’.
The post Government seeks industry views on plan to modernise UK airspace appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
