I am pleased that you recognise the importance of the UK National Air Services' (NATS) new-era traffic management systems (Flight International, January 27-3 February), but no decision on NATS's future air traffic management system has been taken. Indeed, it is still some way off.
Flight International is right to say that NATS is gathering information on a number of ATM systems to inform its decision; a team has recently visited service providers in France, Germany and Italy and we have a team at AENA, the Spanish air-traffic services provider. However, there is no agreement to work with a wider Spanish consortium, and NATS is still evaluating the information it requested from industry.
I realise that commercial processes always attract speculation, but I am keen to avoid any confusion over what we might do or what we will do.
Our aim remains to make a decision in the course of this year, so any suggestion that decisions have already been made is, to say the least, premature.
Richard Everitt Chief Executive National Air Traffic Services London, UK
Source: Flight International
