NEW ERA of aviation
A state-owned business entity attached to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility, and the Urban Agenda, ENAIRE oversees air navigation in Spain.
How is ENAIRE managing the COVID-19 crisis in line with its mission and values?
Since the beginning of the pandemic and crisis, our main concern was, and continues to be, the health of our professionals and their families, while ensuring, as a critical operator of essential infrastructure and services, the continued operation of air navigation services in our country at all times. One year after the start of this pandemic, we are satisfied because we have been able to adapt to this new scenario, demonstrating our organization’s capacity for flexibility and resilience. Thanks to all our professionals, we have provided, and continue to provide uninterrupted service to national and international flights and overflights in the airspace under our responsibility and at the airports where we provide services. This situation has had a major impact on the entire aviation sector, both in terms of operation due to the need to adapt to the consequences of the pandemic, and in terms of ENAIRE’s revenues, due to the fall in air traffic. ENAIRE’s actions at all times have been consistent with the company’s values of prioritizing safety, while continuing to provide quality service, and commitment to customers and society. For example, despite the radical reduction in revenues, we postponed the collection of fees from airlines for several months, in addition to lowering our 2021 rates more than any other European country, so as to facilitate the recovery of the sector and support airlines, which have been hard hit.
ENAIRE is participating is the development of U-Space, which aims to develop drones and air taxis in Spain. Could you tell us more about this initiative?
The DOMUS project was the first U-Space demonstration project in Spain in 2018-2019. It was led by ENAIRE, which coordinated and brought together 17 private companies and public entities with a budget of EUR4 million. ENAIRE will support U-Space service providers by ensuring the integrity of the data used to interface with the current air traffic management services, which has materialized in the common information service provider (CISP), as envisioned by the new European U-Space regulation. ENAIRE is making progress in U-Space and is currently participating in three projects (CORUS-XUAM, AMU-LED, and USPACE4UAM) on how U-Space services make urban air mobility (air taxis and drone delivery of parcels) a reality, which will include aero taxi demonstrations in 2022 throughout Europe, including the Spanish cities of Casteldefels, Santiago de Compostela, and Villacarrillo.
What are the main objectives for 2021?
In its new 2025 Flight Plan, ENAIRE will follow a strategy in coming years that focuses on the company’s innovation, digitalization, resilience, internationalization, and transformation, all structured under the premise of sustainability, in order to continue providing our air navigation services to society in a safe, efficient, and sustainable way. Additionally, after COVID-19 and the strong impact of the pandemic on our sector, the contribution of our company, and especially of our professionals, to social, safety, and health issues has grown. The search for alliances has become one of ENAIRE’s top priorities as it seeks to support the future recovery of the sector and air navigation, the main objective being to do so on a solid foundation that is respectful of our environment. ENAIRE’s main objective in 2021 is to continue managing all the operational and financial aspects of the crisis. Despite the high level of uncertainty, thanks to accelerated vaccination rates, air traffic is expected to recover gradually in 2021, which would mark a turning point. In addition to continuing to manage the crisis, another strategic priority for 2021 will be to maintain the level of service provided to airspace users in terms of safety, capacity, and sustainability. ENAIRE must be prepared for when air traffic recovers to pre-crisis levels, from which we must emerge stronger to adapt competitively to the new aviation scenario, with a modern system and an internationalization strategy that positions us in the new globalization scenario for air navigation services.
Remote work, necessitated by COVID-19, has resulted in a great need for cybersecurity measures