Successfully Meeting the Future Demands on UK Airspace

Aviation, facilitated by the effective management of airspace, enables economies to operate more efficiently, enhances people’s opportunity for travel and leisure, and has a key role to play, for the military, in ensuring national security. This article explores the ongoing and increasing pressure on the airspace of the United Kingdom (UK). The author notes that the most recent update to the Department for Transport’s air passenger demand forecasts indicate that overall demand is expected to grow from 228 million passengers passing through UK airports per year in 2005, to 465 million by 2030. The article focuses on how the thirst for aviation, and all it can deliver, needs a corresponding investment to evolve airspace arrangements to meet demand. Four areas are discussed: the impact of continued growth in demand for aviation, especially in the Commercial Air Transport sector; the need to mitigate the environmental impact of civil aviation; the impact of potential future development of UK airports; and the implementation of new technology to manage and control the efficient use of airspace. In addition, there are four fundamental areas that must be attended to: maintaining and improving the aviation safety record, ensuring national security, alignment with the European Air Traffic Management vision, and compliance with government policy. A final section describes the Future Airspace Capacity (FAC) and the Functional Airspace Block (FAB) concept, driven by a performance management approach to service and capability delivery.