ENAV, IATA to foster modernization of airspace strategy for Italy

January 27, 2018: International Air Transport Association (IATA) and ENAV, the Italian air navigation service provider have jointly agreed to develop and implement an Italian national airspace strategy.

ENAV and IATA are expected to bolster their existing cooperation for the initiative, which is aimed at delivering benefits to travellers and the aviation community, besides shoring up economic growth and competitiveness of the Italian aviation sector.

The strategy builds on the success of recent airspace and wider air traffic management (ATM) developments set up by ENAV and Italian stakeholders to respond to the single European sky objectives, and also support modernisation and improvements in safety, environmental performance, operational effectiveness, cost efficiency and business continuity.

The demand for aviation in Italy is expected to grow to 173 million passenger year-on-year by 2036.

Servicing this demand, while ensuring safety, reducing costs, CO2 emissions and delays needs modernization of require Italy's airspace and ATM network.

Currently, air transport contributes %u20AC42.4 billion to the Italian GDP, and supports almost 600,000 jobs. Modernisation of airspace is expected to additionally contribute %u20AC27 billion to its GDP and generate 95,000 jobs.

With the aim to reinforce a well-established collaborative and a customer-oriented approach, ENAV and IATA have joined force with Italian authorities and all aviation stakeholders to deliver and implement a national airspace strategy. Its key objective is to adopt leadership and collaborative stakeholder approach, airspace management and technical modernisation of the ATM systems.

Roberta Neri, CEO of ENAV said: "The initiative is fully in line with ENAV's focus on customers and partners. We are developing an airspace strategy with full cooperation of stakeholders to support the ongoing modernisation of our technology and operations. The implementation of the free route project in December 2016, is one the pillars of ENAV's ambitious targets and mission, which is safety and punctuality for the millions of passengers who fly within he Italian airspace. Our commitment is to contribute to the growth of national and European air transport by way of efficiency and innovation."

Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO of IATA said: "By choosing to bring IATA on board to develop a national airspace strategy for Italy, ENAV is demonstrating vision and leadership for a world-class air navigation services. Air travelers to Italy will soon reap benefits of our collaborative approach. And the wider benefits to Italy's economy and its citizens will follow. We look forward to working with ENAV to make the airspace strategy a success for Italy, and advance goals of the European ATM and accelerate delivery of the single European sky."