With just two weeks to go until the close of our OpenAir consultation, here we answer a few of your most frequently asked questions about the proposals we believe could pave the way to an integrated UK airspace of the future.
The NATS OpenAir proposition is our response to the challenge of meeting future demand for access to our skies from a variety of users by creating a safe and efficient integrated airspace that is open to all crewed and uncrewed aircraft on a fair and equitable basis.
We envisage OpenAir as a UK-wide digital data backbone that would contribute to the realisation of the benefits of system-wide information management (SWIM) and accelerate the transition to integration in UK airspace.
Q The consultation document sets out Airspace Authorisation, Traffic Information, Geographical Awareness, and a Flight Notice Board as the four initial OpenAir services, with some of the more ‘value-added’ services scheduled for development later. Why were these four specific services selected for development ahead of, for example, a strategic deconfliction or discovery and synchronisation service?
In the early days of this project we envisaged a slightly different service mix for the launch of OpenAir. We presented our ideas to a wide variety of industry and other stakeholders through a broad programme of consultation and engagement in 2023 and early 2024 – the feedback gave us a very clear message that Airspace Authorisation, Traffic Information, Geographical Awareness, and a Flight Notice Board were the four services that would make the biggest difference in getting people flying in an integrated environment in the short term. We have not lost sight of continuing to develop the remaining services, and are constantly reviewing the way forward to ensure our OpenAir proposition meets the needs of the aviation community and industry as closely as possible. Your responses to this consultation will help us greatly in this aim.
Q Would drone hobbyists end up paying for OpenAir services and be required to use a specific OpenAir app, for example?
OpenAir is designed to support airspace service providers in an integrated airspace environment; end-users – including commercial drone operators and hobbyists – would not take a service directly from OpenAir but from their provider of choice, using the app of their choice. It would be up to individual service providers to decide whether and how much to charge their customers, including hobbyists wanting to make occasional flights, and up to individual hobbyists to decide how and from whom to receive the service that best meets their needs.
Q In practice, will OpenAir give monopoly power to one single organisation by handing total control of lower airspace to NATS En Route Ltd., effectively extending the arrangement by which controlled airspace is currently managed?
No, OpenAir as we envisage it is categorically not an attempt to increase the amount of UK controlled airspace. OpenAir would not manage a single cubic foot of airspace; it would sit behind all the entities that manage local airspace, in order to facilitate data transfer along the lines of the SWIM concepts described in the consultation document.
Your Opinion Matters
The OpenAir consultation is intended to offer you an opportunity to help shape the skies of the future; your views will contribute to the detailed NATS OpenAir proposition we are preparing to submit to the CAA in June 2025.
Please send us your views by 31 January 2025, giving as much detail as possible on the points you feel are most relevant to you.
You do not need to answer all the questions, only those that apply to you or about which you would like to share an opinion.
Thank you!
