Air traffic control centre sets the standard

A NEW air traffic control centre at Dublin Airport will cement Ireland’s place as a world leader in flight management.

Junior Transport Minister Ivor Callely, said the site, part of a €115 million investment, would show that the Irish Aviation Authority was one of the most modern, technologically advanced service providers.

Around 100 controllers are employed at the centre, handling more than 177,000 flights each year in and out of the airport.

The new Air Traffic Management system, known as CAIRDE 2000, is part of the IAA’s €115 million programme to provide Ireland’s airspace with one of the most advanced computerised radar and flight planning systems in Europe.

The Irish Aviation Authority announced that it had recorded a profit before tax of €9.6 million, up from €5.9 million the previous year.

Dublin Airport chief executive Eamonn Brennan, said: “With modern technology it is incumbent on us to provide safety, capacity, consistency and reliability in vital transport services. Our new system meets these exacting requirements.”

Mr Callely claimed that the European Union Single Sky initiative would ensure safer air travel across the continent in years to come.

The move represented “a new, dramatic and exciting chapter in European air traffic control and provides for a more rational organisation of European airspace with increased capacity while ensuring uniformly high safety standards throughout Europe,” said Mr Callely.

“The development of the Single Sky proposals is both a challenge and an opportunity for Air Traffic Control Authorities to demonstrate in a practical way, the greater efficiencies that can be obtained through the integration and development of services on a European scale.”

Mr Callely said he was committed to bringing forward legislation that would allow for the separation of the service provision and regulatory roles of the Authority.