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The results of the most recent technological developments are being tested in simulations and actual flights in the framework of the Budapest 2.0 project, organised by a large international collaboration. The programme, scheduled to last for two years, will demonstrate the arrival and departure procedures of the Budapest terminal approach airspace, the remote tower control solution and the extension of the solution that supports continuous descent approach in the Hungarian airspace. The project budget is nearly EUR 2.5 million, 50 percent of which is provided by the European Union’s Single European Sky (SES) programme through its SESAR Joint Undertaking tender.

In HungaroControl’s CRDS (Centre of Research, Development and Simulation), the various procedures of implementing the CPDLC technology in the Romanian and Bulgarian airspace were put to the test. In the course of the nearly two-week long series of simulations, the effect of the new data link system on air traffic controllers’ workload and on capacity in the Bulgarian and Romanian airspace was analysed. The findings of the real-time simulation prove that the CPDLC technology will reduce the frequency load used by ATCO’s.

A professional forum was held in Budapest with the participation of pilots from four international airlines – Austrian Airlines, Emirates, Ryanair and WizzAir –, air navigation and technological experts, as well as flight safety and navigation specialists. Upon HungaroControl’s initiative, key stakeholders of the air transport sector met for the second time to jointly analyse issues related to increasing flight safety, the improvement of air navigation services, work processes, and aviation procedures. The findings of this year’s two-day forum facilitate both the intensification of communication between pilots and air traffic controllers, and efficient and cost-saving route design, and thus make aviation more economical and environmentally friendly in the airspace controlled by Hungarian air traffic controllers.

Air navigation service providers of Functional Airspace Block Central Europe (FAB CE) and representatives of trade unions from the FAB CE region held their meeting on November 27, 2014 in Budapest, at the headquarters of HungaroControl Hungarian Air Navigation Services Pte. The participants of the FAB CE Social Dialogue forum had a consultation about their views regarding SES II+, the common strategy of FAB CE, the tasks of the new FAB CE legal entity, the impact of the restriction in Ukrainian airspace, the opportunities to further improve the cooperation between European FABs as well as HR&TRN activities. The conference was co-chaired by Kornél Szepessy, current Chairman of FAB CE CEO Committee and CEO of HungaroControl, and by Alexander Rovina, air traffic controller of Austro Control representing the FAB CE Union Alliance.

Recently the SESAR JU selected a consortium consisting of the partners HungaroControl, Steria, Bull and FREQUENTIS, as candidate member for the SESAR 2020 programme. Now the consortium, led by FREQUENTIS, has been invited to participate in the dialogue phase.

Executives of the air navigation service providers of the Functional Airspace Block of Central Europe (FAB CE) signed the foundation deed of a joint venture on October 17th, 2014, at Brnik, Slovenia.

Cooperation between the air navigation service providers of two functional air space blocks aims towards the optimisation of air traffic management in the region.

HungaroControl launched its large-scale CPDLC (Controller Pilot Data Link Communications) project with the aim of developing the Hungarian air traffic infrastructure with the most modern technology in accordance with European integration requirements (Single European Sky, SES).

Hungarian Air Navigation Services provide air navigation services in the upper airspace over Kosovo Air traffic in the re-opened airspace over Kosovo after 15 years has significantly changed the traffic flow in the European airspace. Supported by HungaroControl’s multiple cross border, remote operations on NATO mandate, the airspace has reached its full capacity. Hungarian and international participants of the re-opening project celebrated the success of the project with a gala event at the Budapest headquarters of the Hungarian air navigation services provider, technical implementer of the project and inaugurated the Kosovo Park.

HungaroControl presented new products and services of its Centre of Research, Development and Simulation (CRDS) at the air traffic management sector’s prestigious professional exhibition organised between 4 and 6 March, 2014. The products and services offered by the Centre to air navigation service providers improve safety, cost-efficiency and environment-friendliness in air traffic.

A survey launched within the framework of HungaroControl (HC)’s new service quality and customer satisfaction programme focused on flight safety issues, the Hungarian route network and airspace structure, as well as flexible and cost-efficient aviation. The online questionnaires were completed by more than five hundred pilots from sixteen airlines. Building on the findings of the survey, HC will continue its service improvement programme.

With the co-operation of the key participants of air navigation industry, HungaroControl’s new customer satisfaction and service improvement programme has been launched with the fundamental purpose of improving the services on the basis of feedback from various airlines. In addition to HungaroControl’s experts, pilots from four large international airlines, including Lufthansa, Ryanair, Turkish Airlines and Wizzair, also participated in the inaugural event of the programme, the first Airline Workshop. At the professional workshops of the two-day conference held in late November 2013, the participants discussed technological innovations, workflow processes and procedures that serve the purposes of increasing aviation security and air navigation services.