Dublin, IrelandAustro Control, Croatia Control, Naviair, Irish Aviation Authority, LFV
The COOPANS Alliance is an international partnership between the air navigation service providers of Austria (Austro Control), Croatia (Croatia Control), Denmark (Naviair), Ireland (Irish Aviation Authority) and Sweden (LFV), with Thales as the chosen industry supplier.
COOPANS was established in April 2006 between the IAA, LFV and Naviair, with Austro Control joining in 2010, followed by Croatia Control in 2011.
COOPANS is the leading example of industrial partnership in Europe. The COOPANS partners operate a fully harmonised, world class, safe and cost-effective ATM system.
The COOPANS Alliance capitalises on joint, innovative and harmonised system development between the COOPANS Alliance ANSP members. COOPANS has adopted a common managerial approach, whereby the five ANSPs act as one organisation with the same COOPANS ATM System from the supplier, Thales, with a focus on common success. This approach delivers a saving of approximately 30% of (large) capital expenditure for each member, which ultimately delivers lower costs for our airspace customers. At the same time, COOPANS has also increased airspace capacity in the region of 30% for each ANSP member.
On three separate occasions in 2015, the same COOPANS software upgrade was successfully deployed across all 7 Area Control Centres (ACCs), from the 5 ANSPs within an extremely short timescale. On each occasion this deployment was achieved with no negative impact on operations (no capacity restrictions / no delays).
We believe that no other ANSP partnership or alliance in Europe is close to achieving the level of cooperation, cost-efficiency and system reliability that is demonstrated by COOPANS.
COOPANS is therefore a worthy winner in the Single European Sky Award.
Award criteria
- Contribution to increasing capacity of ATM systems
- Contribution to increasing safety of ATM systems
- Contribution to reducing ATM costs
- Contribution to reducing the impact of air transport on the environment
- Early implementation
Explanation
Contribution to increasing capacity of ATM system
As a result of advanced ATM functionalities (including Dynamic Sectorisation and Free Route Airspace) COOPANS has provided significant airspace capacity increases for each ANSP in the region of 30%. As a result of COOPANS;
- The capacity in Danish airspace has been improved by between 12% and 30% depending of the various sectors.
- Likewise, the capacity in Irish airspace has increased by 30%.
- Austro Control experienced an increase of performance by 25% when introducing the COOPANS system (When the Ukraine crisis started in July 2014, Austrocontrol faced an increase of traffic by 10-15% overnight, which they could handle without any delays thanks to the COOPANS system).
Contribution to increasing safety of ATM systems
The COOPANS ATM system includes a number of advanced safety functionalities, including;
- Controller–pilot data link communications (CPDLC)
- Medium-Term Conflict Detection (MTCD)
- Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA)
- Monitoring Tools: o Route Adherence (RAM) o Cleared Level (CLAM) o Segregated Airspace Probe (SAP)
Contribution to reducing ATM costs
ATM systems are one of the largest capital costs required by an ANSP. Through the COOPANS harmonised approach the partners have managed to significantly reduce this overhead to the benefit of customers. The capital saving has been independently verified in a Value for Money report (2012) to achieve a saving of approximately 30% of (large) capital expenditure for each member. This in turn ultimately delivers the service at a lower cost for our airspace customers.
Contribution to reducing the impact of air transport on the environment
The COOPANS ATM system has also facilitated improvements in ANSP safety and environmental performance, e.g. as an enabler for Performance Based Navigation which allows more precise departure and arrival routes.
Early implementation ("First mover")
COOPANS is the first ANSP partnership in Europe to have successfully deployed a fully harmonised system across 7 Areas Control Centres within the 5 ANSPs.
Potential to be replicated over the ATM network
This is self-evident on the basis that the same system can be replicated by any ANSP anywhere.
Innovative aspects
As well as leading edge technology, the joint management approach is highly innovative which has established a single unified ATM system that uses common software and harmonised maintenance processes and operational concepts.
Promoting partnerships
The COOPANS Alliance is an international partnership between the air navigation service providers of Austria (Austro Control), Croatia (Croatia Control), Denmark (Naviair), Ireland (Irish Aviation Authority) and Sweden (LFV), with Thales as the chosen industry supplier. COOPANS is also closely working with other Thales users such as DSNA.
Contribution to change management
COOPANS has structured the development and deployment process around joint activities such such as common specification, operational harmonisation, common validation, operational documentation, training materials and generic safety cases.
Promoting SES and SESAR beyond the Union’s boundaries
COOPANS meets the EU's ambition to deliver major harmonisation of ATM systems in Europe. The member ANSPs of the COOPANS Alliance, working with the ATM and CNS industry, has established a transversal deployment team to efficiently roll out the SESAR ATM Master Plan, PCP Implementing Rule and SESAR Deployment Programme (COOPANS is a member of the SESAR Deployment Management Board). The system could be replicated anywhere in the world.