By Emma Kelly in Perth
Airservices Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force have launched the first phase of Project Genesis, which involves the integration of civil and defence air traffic management (ATM) in the country.
The first implementation of the project, which has been under discussion for many years, saw the opening in June of a Joint Services/RAAF Terminal Control Unit at Perth International airport, combining air traffic control services for Pearce air base and Perth and Jandakot airports. Transferred to Airservices’ facility at Perth were 18 RAAF staff, joining 23 Airservices personnel.
The next phase of the programme, planned by the middle of next year, will involve the transfer of RAAF Tindal and Darwin air base approach services to Airservices’ Brisbane air traffic control centre. Over the next three or four years the partners will build a business case to bring the RAAF’s Townsville, Oakey and southern bases into the programme, says deputy chief of the RAAF, Air Vice Marshal John Blackburn. “We will be looking to migrate the services at a rate we can both do,” he says. In addition to integrating services, the partners see the programme as a way to implement a single national ATM platform, incorporating training, licensing and maintenance and including joint capital equipment purchases.
There are obvious advantages to working together, says Airservices chief executive Greg Russell. The programme is designed to lead to efficiencies and cost savings, including improvements in the management of airspace, which will deliver to operators savings in fuel and flight times.
The project is expected to deliver “substantial savings over time”, says Blackburn. The integration is also expected to allow the RAAF to overcome its problem of retaining air traffic controllers as it will require fewer controllers in the future.
Source: Flight International