EUROCONTROL and IATA have formed an air traffic management (ATM) safety and navigation partnership. Safety-wise, the collaboration will concentrate on voluntary ATM incident reporting, with data collection, analysis and identification of main concerns taking place, and experts delivering solutions. The two organisations have pledged to make better use of safety data available on the European level, sharing databases, data related to the aircraft equipment as well as networks and projects. In the field of navigation, the partnership aims to speed up the Performance Based Navigation (PBN) programme and ensure that “the right priorities are set”. IATA and EUROCONTROL intend to design more direct routes and utilise continuous descent approaches (CDA), resulting in increased flight efficiency and a reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Gulf Air has selected TRAX USA to manage its MRO operations. The Bahrain flag carrier will implement e3, the latest version of the TRAX Maintenance MRO software. Jose Almeida, president and CEO of TRAX USA, said: “The signing of this contract reiterates our growing presence in the Middle East, a region that continues to provide us with new customers and endless opportunities.”

Low-cost airline bmibaby has selected Dunlop Aircraft Tyres to provide nose wheel and main wheel tyres for its fleet of 737-300s and 737-500s. The three-year contract is estimated to be worth more than £1m. bmibaby is a long-standing Dunlop customer and under this new agreement the airline will receive new and retreaded tyres. ($1 = £0.66)

SITA is to partner with the Spanish and Portuguese air navigation service providers (ANSP) to deliver data link infrastructure for pre-operational testing in preparation for the introduction of Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) across the Iberian Peninsula by 2013. CPDLC is a service which enables pilots en-route and air traffic controllers to exchange certain routine ATC messages via data link and will replace the traditional means of communication over radio telephone that have been used in the industry for more than 50 years. Meanwhile, Spain’s AENA (Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea) and NAV Portugal are continuing talks about the formation of a single Functional Airspace Block in the context of the Single European Sky initiative.

SITA has announced that fourteen PENS (Pan European Network Service) users - 13 Air Navigation Service Providers and EUROCONTROL - met the initial end-February deadline for the first PENS implementation phase. PENS, a managed Internet Protocol based regional communications backbone service, will enable the 38 ANSPs of the EUROCONTROL Member States to exchange operational ATC voice and data communications in a seamless and integrated manner.