Air Traffic Management

Thales is committed to reducing the impact of air travel on the environment and strives to design ever more efficient air traffic management systems. Innovation in this field can have a direct effect on making skies cleaner. After all, every minute gained on a flight represents a saving equivalent to 160kg of CO2 emissions and 62 litres of fuel.

Thales’s Microwave Landing Systems (MLS) reduces fuel consumption and emissions by improving the flow of air traffic and minimizing the time between departures and landings. MLS, already operational at London Heathrow in the UK, is a commercial aviation first that makes it easier and safer to land an aircraft in difficult weather conditions through the use of on-board and ground-based microwave systems.

Thales has also developed the world’s first air/ground development facility for simulating missions from departure to arrival gates. The facility, Airlab, is a collaborative environment in which key players in the transport sector can exchange information so as to develop effective cooperation between ground and air segments.

Airlab is a vital component of Thales’s forward-planning strategy and is making a valuable contribution to the two major European initiatives in the civil aviation sector: the SESAR programme and the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative (JTI).