03
June - Dubai, United Arab Emirates: UK
air traffic service provider NATS has this week signed a Memorandum
of Co-operation (MoC) with Dubai-based airline flydubai. The MoC will
allow the two organisations to explore how their core capabilities
can be utilised to deliver significant benefits to the airline’s
business.
The
initial focus of the co-operation will examine how NATS can use its
extensive operations and global air traffic management (ATM)
knowledge to benefit current and future flydubai operations.
The
agreement will aim to deliver measurable improvements in the safety,
capacity and efficiency of flydubai’s flights, in addition to
enhancing the airline’s productivity, contingency and growth
capabilities, which are part of flydubai’s seven focal pillars of
programme improvement.
Richard
Deakin, NATS Chief Executive Officer, said: "This MoC represents
a significant opportunity for NATS to demonstrate the tangible
benefits air traffic management can have on an airline customer’s
operation. The co-operation will involve a series of customer-led
propositions which support flydubai's significant growth ambitions."
The
latest member to join NATS’ Middle East operations is Ben Kiff,
Proposition Development Lead for NATS Middle East activities.
Ben
Kiff commented: "This is one of a number of regional activities
between NATS and an airline and it is exciting to be developing this
specific proposition in collaboration with flydubai. The next
few months will see NATS focus on bringing extensive Procedure Design
(Pans Ops) experience forward in collaboration with members of the
Aeronautical Services team at flydubai to deliver improvements to
specific procedures in consultation with the relevant ANSPs and Civil
Aviation Authorities."
Commenting
on the new MoC, James Vial, flydubai’s Senior Vice President Flight
Operations, said: “flydubai is keen to tap into the extensive
experience NATS brings from its previous projects and existing
services. We have seen and continue to see significant growth at a
diverse range of destinations where support and assistance from an
entity like NATS can be of huge benefit to both the airline and,
importantly, local ANSPs and authorities.”
NATS
is currently working on projects in Qatar, Kuwait and Oman, and has
previously worked with Bahrain and Al Maktoum International Airport
in Dubai to support the safety, efficiency and environmental
performance of its airspace. NATS successfully completed work on the
Qatar Airspace Design and Implementation (QADI) project for Hamad
International Airport, which officially started commercial operations
last month with the arrival of a flydubai flight.
In
the UK, NATS guides around two million aircraft through some of the
busiest and most complex airspace anywhere in the world.
Increasingly, its expertise is in demand from other countries, with
NATS also working in Asia, the United States and the Far East.
