Airservices Australia and the Department of Defence this week signed contracts signifying a major milestone in the $1.2 billion OneSKY air traffic management system project.
OneSKY aims to unify Australia's civil and military air traffic control systems. Developed in partnership by Airservices and Defence with Thales Australia, the new system will involve air traffic controllers use advanced technology and real-time traffic prediction tools.
According to Airservices, airlines will have more flexibility to fly the most efficient routes for their aircraft, spending less time in the air, saving fuel and reducing carbon emissions.
“It’s probably the biggest development in the safe management of Australia’s skies since aviation began in this nation,” Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield said.
“This state-of-the-art system means for the first time, civil and military air traffic controllers will share the same integrated air traffic management system, using the same information to jointly manage 11% of the world’s airspace for which Australia is responsible.
“Although executing the final contracts is a significant milestone, it’s not the beginning. We’ve been focused on implementation for a while."
Thales Australia CEO Chris Jenkins said the delivery of OneSKY was an historic event for Australian aviation.
“This is Australia leading the world and Thales, the world leader in Air Traffic Management systems, has brought together the best team and the best expertise in the world to deliver OneSKY from our ATM Centre of Excellence in Melbourne," he said.
“The development and delivery of OneSKY supports 450 highly skilled, high-tech jobs with Thales in Melbourne plus around 200 additional jobs in our Australian supply chain. It builds on the long term investment by Thales and technology transfer that has brought world-leading Air Traffic Management research and development to Melbourne since the early 1990s, creating a billion dollar export business."
Harfield said the OneSKY team had worked hard to get the project to the stage when the contracts could be signed.
"Reducing uncertainty in system requirements prior to finalising the contracts, was a critical risk reduction strategy developed to address the challenges that other major overseas air traffic control providers experienced with their own system replacements," he said.
“In reaching this milestone, our priority has and will always be, the continued safety, security and efficiency of Australia’s airspace."