by Tim Rees 

Air traffic control in Australia has begun to re-shape its service philosophy. Over the last few years ATC in Australia, and indeed around the world, has commenced a move towards ‘service provision’. This is ultimately under the umbrella of change from Air Traffic Control (ATC) to Air Traffic Management (ATM).

Historically, ATC has always been a service provided by the States that are signatories to the Chicago Convention. This ‘public’ service, provided by governments, has been to ensure the safety of the aviation industry.

Airservices Australia is a Government owned corporation charged with this mandate and, while most of us are only too aware of the safety and environmental priorities that our industry faces, the charge over efficiency, structure and continual service provision is not so obvious.

ATC in Australia has begun a transition to a Service Delivery Environment (SDE). While this transition is not quite complete, this move has seen us divide the role of ATC into three very specific ‘hands-on’ ATC environments and one over- arching supportive environment. These areas are defined as East Coast Services (ECS), Regional Services (RGS) and Upper Airspace Services (UAS) and overseeing all three is Network Management Services (NMS). Over the next couple of months I will spend some time discussing the service provision particular to each environment – this month we will be cruising the ‘East Coast’.

ECS is defined by what we like to call the ‘J curve’ – the portion of airspace that is our high density, full surveillance environment. This includes airspace from just north of Cairns down and around the coast to Adelaide (hence the ‘J-curve’) and involves our major city-pairs. The typical flight within this environment is short haul, time critical, often heavily constrained by delays and restrictions around Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

East Coast Services encompasses ‘Gate-to-Gate’ operations into major city airports including both regional and long haul traffic along this Cairns to Adelaide corridor.

Opportunities for improving our service delivery include:
Improved fuel burn/flight time from better flow management and capacity/demand balancing;
Improved safety from reduced interaction and ATC/Pilot workload from airborne holding;
Improved safety through flexible sector structure tailored to traffic flows;
Increased Collaborative Decision Making (CDM);
Better integration of long haul operators and regional traffic into and out of major airports.

So what do we need to realise this improvement and what can the industry expect will change? This question has one very simple answer and that is – ‘improve our predictability’. This may seem like a simple statement but to realise this, a lot of information sharing needs to occur.

To improve fuel burn we must manage our (ATM) constraints across the whole network. This will need to include the whole portion of the scheduled flight, from pushback at the departure gate to when and where the aircraft parks at the arrival gate (‘Gate-to-Gate’). 

When we times this equation by hundreds of flights a day, multiple ATM constraints, changing airline priorities and forecast and un-forecast weather issues – therein lies the complexity.

I have written previously on how the approach to demand and capacity is changing, how increased technological solutions are becoming available and how we can use this technology to pre-tactically manage our demand/capacity. This is an enormous help for the arrival and terminal area portions of our flights, but what about the ‘enroute’ phase of flight. Several constraints are at work such as wide route spacing, historically built upon our navaid network; transits of military airspace not being available; individual sector constraints managed tactically and often in isolation and convective weather managed tactically and without pre-planning.

Air traffic controllers in the ECS service delivery line are highly trained in managing traffic tactically. What the International Civil aviation Organisation (ICAO) is proposing is that we move from this tactical management to a pre-tactical and even strategic approach in the management of our ATM constraints, separation and sequencing. While our current automation may not fully support this now, we are moving towards building this capability in the system of the future.

To move towards predictability we have to share lots of information in real time. Airlines need to operate in a commercially sensitive and protective environment and this has to be a priority, but we must also allow all users across the network to see what the plans are that we are making, what the changes are we are proposing and, finally, to have a say in how the plan will be implemented. This collaboration is a priority for development with Airservices and one that I am personally involved in. The business rules that provide this secure framework must include all stakeholders. This includes ATC, airlines, charter companies, air ambulance, defence etc and must have membership levels that determine their interaction and collaboration.

Optimum trajectories for airlines include predictable landing sequences and known flight paths for descent and approach. The aircraft’s sophisticated flight Management system (FMS) will optimise fuel burn with minimal speed brake/engine thrust if the trajectory is known. In our current environment too many factors are not managed pre-tactically (in the enroute phase of flight) and are managed in the descent phase (closer to destination). This period of less-thrust is an ideal opportunity to save fuel, but when radar vectors are introduced and the once known trajectory is now unknown – then engine power is required to slow the rate of descent. Equally if level and speed requirements are to steep or outside of the optimum profile for an unrestricted descent then it is not optimising its idle-descent possibility.

Our current ATM system has been optimised for a balance of safety and efficiency. It has evolved over many years and our current route structure and procedures have been well tested. As our enthusiasm to embrace new technology grows and the pressure as an air navigation service provider to provide more optimum trajectories increases, we must take a deep breath and take in all that tried and true and begin to ask ourselves a series of very important questions. These questions will ultimately fall in the range of ‘the changes to our current system’. How does this change affect what we do; how does our new thinking relate to our current procedures; how will this new technology affect our people; how will we know that we have improved the total system performance?

The answer to those questions will determine how and what we change and, most importantly, when. Legacy aircraft will always be a part of our system. Different airline business models will determine equipage and embracing of new technologies across their fleets and ATC have processes and people that will need to be trained and supported to manage all these changes.

One statement that is very true and rarely argued is that we have to change. Our processes must reduce the effect on the environment; our processes must be efficient and streamlined to operate in times of global economic downturn and uncertainty –to keep the airline industry viable.

When next you have the pleasure of cruising down the east coast, either by car or in an aircraft, take a moment and consider the responsibility our industry has to continually improve what we do to save the best of what we have for tomorrow.