Airbus ProSky was an

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

subsidiary dedicated to improving the performance of global

air traffic management file:ATMANS.png, 334x334px, Air traffic management (ATM) aims at ensuring the safe and efficient flow of air traffic. It encompasses three types of services: * air traffic services (ATS) including air traffic control (ATC), air traffic advisory s ...

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

s (ANSP), aircraft operators, airport authorities 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, a subsidiary of Stratify Aerospace based in Ashburn, Virginia, operates within the air traffic management and air traffic flow management sectors. The company develops software for traffic flow management, surface operations mana ...

, 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 functionalit ...

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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, 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 ''IHS Jane's Airport Review'' (part of Jane's Information Group) is an apparently defunct magazine. It was recognised by the airport and air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic control ...

''. 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 (physics), work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chem ...

savings of US$6.5 million in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

-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, Area navigation (RNAV) and RNP s ...

(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 is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, 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 approaches.

Airport Solutions

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