Ranil Jayawardena visited the NATS centre in Swanwick, Hampshire. This centre started operating in January 2002, when it began handling aircraft flying over England and Wales. The operations room in Swanwick combines:
London Area Control Centre (LACC), which manages en route traffic in the London Flight Information Region. This includes en route airspace over England and Wales up to the Scottish border.
London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC), which handles traffic below 24,500 feet flying to or from London’s airports. This area, one of the busiest in Europe, extends south and east towards the coast, west towards Bristol and north to near Birmingham.
Military Air Traffic Control. Military controllers provide services to civil and military aircraft operating outside controlled airspace. They work closely with civilian controllers to ensure safe co-ordination of traffic.
Ranil said: ‘The centre was a fascinating place to visit, and I learnt a huge amount about the work that goes into ensuring our skies are kept safe. I also discussed issues relevant to North East Hampshire, particularly the possibility of flight path changes at Heathrow and Farnborough airport. I felt it was important to find out to what extent the air traffic over the constituency will change, if at all. I was reassured that the changes to flight plans will not have an adverse impact on North East Hampshire, and I am looking forward to meeting with officials from Heathrow and Farnborough to find out more.
‘It is also particularly important, in light of the fatal crash at Blackbushe, that safety is front and centre of any changes to our airspace.’
Luke Law, Parliamentary Communications Manager at NATS said: ‘It was a pleasure to welcome Ranil to Swanwick to experience first-hand the work that NATS does to ensure the safe and efficient passage of aircraft in our skies. It is great to see Members of Parliament interested in understanding more about how we manage over 2 million flights in our airspace, the UK’s invisible infrastructure. ‘