Airbus ProSky was an

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

subsidiary dedicated to improving the performance of global

air traffic management 334x334px, Air traffic management (ATM) is an aviation term encompassing all systems that assist aircraft to depart from an aerodrome, transit airspace, and land at a destination aerodrome, consisting of air traffic services (ATS) including air tr ...

(ATM) prior to Airbus merging it with Airbus LUCEM and NAVTECH to form

Navblue NAVBLUE, an amalgamation of Navtech, Airbus LUCEM and Airbus ProSky, is Airbus’ flight operations software subsidiary. They provide products which include software for flight planning, aircraft performance, flight data analysis, aeronautica ...

. Composed of ATM experts and offering various solutions to enhance air traffic capacity, efficiency and safety, Airbus ProSky works with

air navigation service provider An air navigation service provider (ANSP) is a public or a private legal entity providing Air Navigation Services. It manages air traffic on behalf of a company, region or country. Depending on the specific mandate an ANSP provides one or more o ...

s (ANSP), aircraft operators,

airport authorities An airport authority is an independent entity charged with the operation and oversight of an airport or group of airports. These authorities are often governed by a group of airport commissioners, who are appointed to lead the authority by a govern ...

and Civil Aviation Authorities.

History

Airbus ProSky was launched in January 2011 by Eric Stefanello, Senior Vice-president of ATM who became President of the company since its creation. Its first initiative was a Momorendum of Understanding with China Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) in order to cooperate in ATM modernization. In July 2011, Airbus acquired

Metron Aviation Metron Aviation is an Air Traffic Management company and subsidiary of Airbus, based in Herndon, Virginia. The company specializes in concept engineering in aviation, advanced research software development related to aerospace, traffic flow manag ...

, Inc which became part of the Airbus ProSky group. In October 2012, Airbus announced the integration of Quovadis, its

Performance Based Navigation ICAO performance-based navigation (PBN) specifies that aircraft required navigation performance (RNP) and area navigation (RNAV) systems performance requirements be defined in terms of accuracy, integrity, availability, continuity, and functionali ...

subsidiary into Airbus ProSky. Airbus ProSky has also partnered with ATRiCS, a German-based company providing surface management solutions.

Management team

In 2013, Paul-Franck Bijou became CEO of Airbus ProSky after Eric Stefanello. In 2014, he also became CEO of Metron Aviation, Inc.

ATM Programs

Airbus ProSky is involved in many SESAR initiatives and has delivered several SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) projects. These projects, co-financed by the industry and by the European Commission, have helped defining the future of ATM technology and Airbus ProSky continues to invest in such program.

Solutions

Air Traffic Flow Management

Airbus ProSky commercializes the Metron "Harmony" system, an Air Traffic Flow Management and Collaborative Decision Making solution. Prior to Airbus' acquisition of Metron Aviation, Harmony was deployed in Australia and South Africa. In

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, Metron Aviation's ATFM system has reduced air travel delays and helped air traffic and navigation services (ATNS), the country's ANSP, manage record traffic and passenger volumes during the 2010 World Cup. The ATNS business case to implement ATFM was successful with Harmony providing US$1.2 million in fuel savings per year for every one-minute reduction of runway holding. The system was so effective that it was awarded the Enabling Technology Award by ''

Jane's Airport Review ''Jane's Airport Review'' (part of Jane's Information Group) is recognised by the airport and air traffic control industries as a source for reporting on global market developments. The magazine was established in 2011, and is published eight times ...

''. Airservices Australia has also commissioned Metron Aviation's award-winning ATFM system, Metron Harmony, demonstrating the benefits of technology to address the capacity constraints of global air traffic growth. ATFM indeed optimizes the use of existing airport and airspace resources through a CDM solution that helps airlines and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) share operational data to maximize the efficiency of the entire system. In Australia, after two months of operations, Airservices Australia estimates the system has cut airborne holding by approximately 33 percent and produced

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

savings of US$6.5 million in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

alone, while average flight times have been reduced by five minutes per flight on the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

-Sydney city pair, equating to over 40,000 metric tons of reduced per year. In February 2014, Aerocivil Colombia, the national ANSP of Colombia, awarded Airbus ProSky (Metron Aviation) for the implementation of ATFM & CDM in Colombia. During the World ATM Congress, SENEAM, the Mexican ANSP also announced the first phase of ATFM implementation thanks to Metron Harmony. Airbus ProSky has been involved in various ATFM initiatives with major Air Traffic Management entities such as the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Hong-Kong and China ATMB.

Performance Based Navigation

Procedures

Since the beginning of Quovadis that was later integrated into Airbus ProSky, 50

(PBN) projects were delivered by Airbus ProSky. Airbus ProSky has worked in various places and continues to be very active in supporting PBN. Since 2010, Airbus ProSky has been very active in China and has designed

Required Navigation Performance Required navigation performance (RNP) is a type of performance-based navigation (PBN) that allows an aircraft to fly a specific path between two 3D-defined points in space. Navigation precision Area navigation (RNAV) and RNP systems are funda ...

(RNP) procedures in Ali, Lhassa, Bangda, Rigatse, Linzhi, Li Jiang, Liping, Kangding, Xian and many other airports. In 2011, Airbus ProSky also worked on RNP procedures in Kathmandu, Sanya, Kochi, and started to work on

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

airport RNP procedures. Since then, Airbus ProSky has delivered procedures in Vagar, Abu Dhabi, San Salvador, Guatemala City, Bangdung, Riga, Lanzarote and many other airports.

Operational Approval

Airbus ProSky also assist airlines in getting operational approval for RNP or

RNP AR Required navigation performance (RNP) is a type of performance-based navigation (PBN) that allows an aircraft to fly a specific path between two 3D-defined points in space. Navigation precision Area navigation, Area navigation (RNAV) and RNP s ...

approaches.

Airport Solutions

With ATRiCS, Airbus ProSky proposes surface Management and Airport-CDM solutions.