National Air Traffic Services
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NATS redirects here. Nats is also a nickname for the Washington Nationals
NATS, (Formerly "National Air Traffic Services Ltd."), is the United Kingdom's main air navigation service provider. Controversially, NATS was partly privatised in 2001 by the Labour Government and is now a Public-Private Partnership, with the Government retaining a 49% share. The Airline Group, a consortium of Airtours, British Airways, bmi, ThomsonFly, easyJet, Virgin Atlantic, and Monarch, holds a 42% share, with the remainder owned by BAA and NATS employees. (4% & 5% respectively).
NATS is split into two main service provision companies: NATS En-Route Ltd. (NERL) and NATS Services Ltd. (NSL). NERL is a regulated business which holds the monopoly of civilian en-route air traffic control over the UK, whilst NSL competes for contracts to provide air traffic control at airports in the UK and overseas, as well as providing other services.
NERL is regulated by the UK Civil Aviation Authority who, for example, can place price caps for the charge NATS can charge its customers. NSL however operates in the free market and has won contracts for all of BAA's owned airports, (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow), and other non-BAA airports including London City, Luton, Cardiff, Birmingham, Bristol, Gibraltar, Farnborough, Manchester & Belfast International. NSL has also has won contracts to provide a part of the air traffic control services at certain airports (Biggin Hill, Sumburgh), and provides engineering, technical and education services in fields related to air traffic control.
There are four main NATS control centres across the UK.
- London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC) at West Drayton, Middlesex controls low-level traffic around London and South East England, including aircraft making approaches to the main London airports.
- London Area Control Centre (LACC) at Swanwick, Hampshire, controls en-route traffic across England and Wales.
- Manchester Area Control Centre (MACC) at Manchester International Airport controls low-level traffic around Manchester and the north of England.
- Scottish and Oceanic Area Control Centre (ScOACC) at Prestwick, Ayrshire, is home to both the Scottish Area Control Centre (ScACC), which controls traffic over Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the Prestwick Oceanic Area Control Centre (POACC) which provides a procedural control service for traffic crossing the North Atlantic via the Shanwick Oceanic Control Area.
It is intended that by 2011 NATS will have consolidated its en-route and terminal control operations into the Swanwick Centre and new Prestwick Centre. (The new Prestwick Centre being due to commence handling live traffic in early 2010).
The two main skill sets employed in NATS are Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs) and Air Traffic Control Engineers (ATCEs). Administrative and support staff, including Air Traffic Services Assistants (ATSAs) make up the remainder of the approximately 5000 staff employed by NATS.
Richard Everett departed as CEO of NATS in mid-2004 and was replaced by Paul Barron, former Managing Director of Alstom UK.
NATS is a shareholder in European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), a company set up to operate the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS).
NATS is a full member of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation
