New system for Canary Islands airspace increases traffic management capacity at Lanzarote and Fuerteventura airports by 30%

ACC Canary Islands - a major nerve centre for Spanish airspace due to its position as a gateway for traffic from South America and air traffic from central and northern Europe - is pioneering the implementation of a new concept in air traffic management based on a satellite navigation technique called 'Point Merge'. Canary Islands airspace is the first in Spain where this technique is being applied.

The new system, which was installed in September, streamlines traffic management during their approach to the airports in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. To do so, all inbound and outbound routes have been redesigned to optimise operations.

Implementation of this system has increased traffic management capacity at these airports by 30% and the number of delays caused by air traffic congestion has been reduced to zero. None of this has had any effect on safety levels.

Furthermore, it should be noted that delays in Canary Islands airspace have been reduced by 15% while traffic has increased by 7%, thus improving punctuality at airports in the Canary Islands.

Other technological improvements

The Canary Islands Control Centre also has the most advanced system in Europe for communication between pilots and controllers, and between controllers themselves.

Furthermore, two new next-generation radars ("Mode S" radars) are due to enter service during the course of 2015 in order to serve traffic at the airports of La Palma and Fuerteventura.

Data on traffic at airports in the Canary Islands

In her speech, the Spanish minister referred to the data on traffic at the eight airports in the Canary Islands. She stressed that these airports have been used by a total of 34.8 million passengers, an increase of 6.9% compared with 2013. 23.1 million of those were international passengers (66% of the total), with an increase of 8.8% on last year.