ENAIRE and COPAC make progress in improving operational safety and sustainability through flight observations

As part of the strategic initiative of ENAIRE's 2025 Flight Plan, the Air Operations Safety and Efficiency Observatory, with support from ENAIRE and the Official Association of Commercial Aviation Pilots (COPAC), collected over 1,800 direct observations from pilots and controllers, which will be analysed to help improve aviation safety and efficiency in Spanish airspace. More than 1,000 of these observations were registered in 2021, a 60% increase over the previous year, significantly boosting the information available to identify inefficiencies and improve operational practices.

Thanks to the information collected from flights that land at and/or take off from the five large Spanish airports - Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga Costa del Sol and Gran Canaria - the Observatory identified various areas for operational improvement throughout 2021. It also tracked operational indicators such as punctuality, operating times and aircraft climb/descent profiles.

Another of the Observatory's advances in 2021 was the development, together with the Advanced Technical School for Computer Systems Engineering and the Advanced Technical School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), of a tool based on flight data (ADS-B) for monitoring environmental sustainability at airports, which can be used to analyse fuel consumption, the emission of polluting gases, and other environmental aspects. The plan is to continue expanding the study of the data provided by this tool in 2022 in order to improve operational efficiency.

The Air Operations Safety and Efficiency Observatory, backed by ENAIRE as part of its 2025 Flight Plan, and by COPAC, received over 1,000 observations in 2021, 60% more than in the previous year

The Observatory, which was created in 2019, currently has 41 pilots from various air operators, and 31 ENAIRE air traffic controllers. In 2022, more pilot-observers are planned to be added to increase the amount of data that is collected and its subsequent analysis by the monitoring committees.

This initiative by Enaire and COPAC is also helping to improve pilots' and controllers' mutual knowledge of operations and to foster collaboration in aviation as the level of air traffic continues to recover.

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. Since 1 January 2022, it has chaired 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.

About COPAC

The Official Association of Commercial Aviation Pilots (COPAC) is a public-law, nationwide corporation created in 1998 that represents the professional interests of Spanish commercial pilots. The main objectives of COPAC are to ensure the safety and legality of flight operations in order to guarantee the fundamental rights of citizens as air transport users. It is also responsible for monitoring and studying professional activity and incidents and for ensuring quality training for pilots, and it provides a communication channel between pilots, society and the government. www.copac.es