Providers of air navigation services and functions
Services and functions
Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Air Navigation (ANS) service providers are the organisations providing certain services and functions necessary for the safe management of air operations. These services and functions are: air traffic services (ATS), communication, navigation and surveillance services (CNS), aeronautical information services (AIS), airspace management (ASM), air traffic flow management (ATFM) and flight procedures design services (FPDs). In Spain, there are certified ATM/ANS service providers both public and private. Meteorological services for air navigation (MET) are also ANS services, but their supervision is not within the remit of EASA.
The list of service providers is attached below:
Air traffic service providers
- Prevent collisions between aircraft and between aircraft and obstacles and accelerate and maintain orderly air traffic movement. To this end, the Air Traffic Control Services (ATC) are provided.
- Advise and provide useful information for the safe and efficient running of flights. For this purpose, Flight Information Services (FIS), including the Aerodrome Flight Information Service (AFIS) where applicable, are provided.
- Notify and assist relevant bodies in respect of aircraft in need of search and rescue assistance. The Warning Service is provided for this purpose.
Air traffic service providers (ATS) have as their main business objectives in the areas of airspace or aerodromes for which they have been designated:
The air traffic control service (ATC) is provided by air traffic controllers, who issue control authorisations to aircraft crews, apply separations between them and order and accelerate traffic movement, depending on the conditions present at all times.
The control service is divided into three parts, related to the different phases of the flights: area control service (provided from a control centre), approach control service (delivered from a control centre or from an approach control office, which may be physically located in a control tower) and aerodrome control service (provided from a control tower).
The flight information service (FIS) can be provided by air traffic controllers, from different ATC units, or by differentiated FIS personnel.
The aerodrome flight information service (AFIS) is provided by AFIS personnel from the AFIS unit serving the aerodrome.
Both suppliers and ATC personnel, suppliers and FIS (and AFIS) personnel provide Warning Service to aircraft in emergency situations.
CNS Service Providers
- Communications: Provides support for Earth/Earth, Earth/Air and Earth/Space communications between control units and aircraft.
- Navigation: It provides aircraft with information about the space and time they are in.
- Surveillance: It determines the relative positions of aircraft to establish safe separation distances between aircraft by providing the controller with position, identification, altitude and attitude of aircraft en route or approach under its jurisdiction.
The CNS (Communications-Navigation-Vigilance) service is a service whose purpose is to provide adequate support for the development of navigation and air circulation through the knowledge at all times of the aircraft’s position and compliance with its flight plan in a safe and efficient manner without conflicting with other aircraft. It consists of three pillars, communications, navigation and surveillance:
Aeronautical Information Service Providers
- The publication of aeronautical information (AIP), including amendment services and AIP supplements
- Aeronautical Information Circulars (AIC)
- NOTAM — Aircraft pilot alerts of any en-route or location-specific hazards
- Pre-flight information Newsletters (PIB)
The Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) aims to provide the aeronautical information and data necessary for the safety, regularity and efficiency of air navigation.
In order to achieve the standardisation required for the operational use of this information by international civil aviation, the existing regulations define how aeronautical information is collected and managed, and in particular how an aeronautical information service should receive and/or originate, collate or assemble, edit, format, publish/storage and distribute specified aeronautical information/data.
ICAO Annex 15 specifies that aeronautical information should be published as an Integrated Aeronautical Information Package (IAIP), consisting of the following elements according to the type of information to be distributed:
Each element is governed by its own rules and publication cycles/periods.
The AIS service is currently evolving towards a standardised digitisation of aeronautical information and data provided by the AIS service, which is part of the concept called AIM (Aeronautical Information Management).
In Spain, the body responsible for providing this service as an AIS certified provider is ENAIRE.
ASM
- Level 1 — Strategic: definition of national airspace policies and establishment of predetermined airspace structures.
- Level 2 — Pre-Tactical: day-to-day allocation of airspace structures and areas according to user needs. It is coordinated through the Civil-Military Composition Air Space Management Cell (AMC).
- Level 3 — Tactical: real-time use of airspace allowing safe and coordinated operation of operational and general traffic (ATTO/GAT).
- Long-term airspace planning data collection.
- Consolidation of airspace planning and reserve data.
- Distribution of the airspace allocation plan for notification to users.
- Tactical activation and deactivation of airspace structures.
As airspace is a limited resource, airspace management (ASM) aims to maximise the use of available airspace by its multiple civilian and military users in the most efficient and optimised way possible.
An essential concept within this ASM function is the Flexible Use of Air Space (FUA) function, i.e. to consider that airspace cannot be understood as purely military or civilian, but must be a continuum in which the needs of all users should be able to accommodate as much as possible.
To this end, the ASM is developed at three levels according to the tasks of coordination between the civilian and military authorities, and each level is related to the other two:
Level 3 of the ASM is a certified service according to European regulations, and in Spain it is provided by ENAIRE.
This service encompasses both the way in which airspace is distributed according to users (establishing routes, areas with specific requirements, flight levels, etc.) and how it is structured to provide ATS services.
For this purpose it covers different activities:
Developed by European and EUROCONTROL regulations, the ultimate aim of the ASM is the development of the European airspace so that it is flexible and responsive to changes in user needs with the aim of optimising its capacity and the performance of the European network through the smooth and collaborative management of its configurations and the exchange of information between all the operational parties concerned.
ATFM
Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) aims to contribute to a safe and orderly flow of air traffic, ensuring that air traffic control capacity is used to the greatest extent possible, and that the traffic volume is compatible with the capabilities declared by the air traffic services authority.
FPD
Flight Procedure Design Service Providers (FPDs) are responsible for the design, documentation, validation, maintenance and periodic review of flight procedures.
A flight procedure is defined as a set of predetermined flight manoeuvres intended to be followed by a pilot, published by electronic, printed or digital means, or both, and which is carried out in accordance with instrument flight rules (IFR) or visual flight rules (VFR);
Flight procedures developed by an FPD service provider shall be designed, inspected and validated before they can be deployed and used by aircraft in order to ensure the safety, regularity and efficiency of air navigation.
