The world's aviation centre of gravity is in Madrid

The new era of technological innovations to ensure the safety of millions of passengers travelling by air and to ensure the control of all aircraft in flight are on show for three days in Madrid, which has become the centre of gravity of world aeronautics. 

The World Air Traffic Management Congress, the largest on an international scale, has just opened its doors in the Spanish capital. From 26 to 28 October, it brings together the institutions, companies and professionals dedicated to guaranteeing passengers' peace of mind, from the moment they board the plane at any airport of departure until the aircraft stops its engines at the airport of their destination.

The Congress and the exhibition taking place in parallel host 172 exhibitors and more than 6,500 registered professionals from 108 countries. Both events are jointly organised by the American Air Traffic Industry Association (ATCA) and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO). 

CANSO encompasses the vast majority of air navigation service providers, which, with technologies governed from their centres and control towers deployed around the world, are responsible for securing civil airspace day and night.

Among the companies that carry out this important responsibility are, for example, the Spanish ENAIRE, the French DSNA, the German DFS and the British NATS, but also the Argentinean EANA, the Indonesian AirNav, the Nigerian NAMA and up to 90 official entities that provide similar services all over the world. 

Considered to be the most important event on a global scale in the air navigation sector, the inauguration of the 2021 edition of the World ATM Congress (WAC) was presided over by King Felipe VI. In his words, the monarch stressed that the mere fact of making the Congress a reality is "solid" proof that we are witnessing a "constant, necessary and long-awaited" recovery of air transport, one of the industries most affected by COVID-19.

It should be remembered that the impact of the pandemic throughout the world has seriously damaged an economic sector of enormous importance such as aviation, which represents more than 3% of the world's GDP and has negatively affected the 9 million direct jobs and 49 million indirect jobs generated by global air activity.

At the opening ceremony, Don Felipe was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Isabel Pardo de Vera, and by the heads of the two organising professional organisations: Brian Bruckbauer, Executive President of ATCA, and Simón Hocquard, Director General of CANSO. Also by the Air Chief of Staff, General Javier Salto, and the president of Expodronica, Isabel Buatas, as the Congress is hosting for the first time the most important event in Spain and southern Europe for remotely piloted aircraft - better known as drones - whose flight demonstrations will take place on 28 October at Madrid's Cuatro Vientos aerodrome. 

In the 21,000 square metre exhibition area, seven auditoriums have been set up to accommodate the 225 speakers in nearly two hundred forums, presentations and demonstrations. This concentration of informative sessions aims to show and explain to managers and technicians from airports, airlines and governmental institutions from the five continents the latest innovations, improvements and solutions in products and services developed to solve the present and future challenges faced by the growing air traffic, once the crisis has been channelled by COVID-19.

The main contributions include sessions dedicated to holographic radars and new versions of 3D radars, innovative airport movement surveillance systems, remote control towers, space-based control of aircraft in flight, drone traffic monitoring, threat detection, aircraft cybersecurity, advanced autonomous air mobility in urban and commercial aircraft, as well as the evolution of the regulatory framework in Europe and the rest of the world.

The exhibition area occupies 21,000 square metres in Hall 9 of the Institución Ferial de Madrid (IFEMA). More than 40 Spanish companies are grouped there, including Alter Technology, GMV, ENAIRE, Indra, Ineco, Isdefe, SENASA, Sener Aeroespacial and institutions such as the Guardia Civil and the National Police. In addition, 23 large companies from the United States, 15 from Germany, 13 from the United Kingdom, 9 from France and as many from Italy, as well as a smaller number of companies from other countries. 

Among the fields of activity receiving most attention at the Congress is automated airport management and other fields of activity out of sight of remotely piloted aircraft or drones. The main challenge facing the ATM sector is to finalise the safe, smooth and efficient integration of drone operations into the so-called non-segregated airspace.

In addition, the European Union is engaged in the construction of the Single Aviation Area through its SESAR technology pillar. Its aim is to overcome the fragmentation of airspace between different countries, so that it can be managed and administered jointly and efficiently.

The objectives to be achieved are to establish a high-performance air traffic management system in the old continent in order to achieve greater capacity and fluidity of flights, reduce the costs of associated services, reduce the environmental impact and improve the current levels of safety of operations.

The new Single Aviation Area environment must accommodate and integrate the more than 150,000 flights performed annually by the more than 11,000 military aircraft - over 3,300 combat aircraft, 900 transport aircraft, 1,300 light aircraft and 3,700 helicopters - serving the various armed forces of the 44 European nations.