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NATS, (formerly "National Air Traffic Services Ltd."), is the United Kingdom's main air navigation service provider. A full member of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation, NATS is also a shareholder in European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP), a company set up to operate the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS).

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 5,000 staff employed by NATS.

Contents 1 History 2 Operations 2.1 NERL 2.2 NSL 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Originally setup as the National Air Traffic Control Services (NATCS) in 1962 as an amalgamation of the UK's existing Air Traffic Controls, the company became National Air Traffic Services when it was merged with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in 1972 and became a government body. Privatisation was suggested in 1992 but this came to nothing, however NATS was reorganised as a subsidiary company of the CAA to separate its service provision and regulatory roles.

In 1998, a controversial public-private partnership was proposed. This was written into the Transport Act 2000 and in 2001 51% of NATS was transferred to the private sector. However due to the decline in air traffic following the September 11, 2001 attacks £130m of additional investment was required, £65m coming each from the UK government and BAA, who received 4% of the company in return. ^[1]

The current shareholders are: the UK government (49%); The Airline Group (42%) which is a consortium of British Airways, bmi, easyJet, Monarch Airlines, MyTravel Airways, Thomsonfly and Virgin Atlantic; BAA (4%); and NATS employees (5%).

Richard Everett departed as CEO of NATS in mid-2004 and was replaced by Paul Barron, former Managing Director of Alstom UK.

NATS is split into two main service provision companies: NATS En-Route Ltd (NERL) and NATS Services Ltd (NSL).

NERL holds the monopoly of civilian en-route air traffic control over the UK and is regulated by the CAA who, for example, can place price caps for the charge NATS can charge its customers.

There are four main NATS/NERL control centres across the UK:

• London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC) at Swanwick in Hampshire controls low-level traffic around London and South East England, including aircraft making approaches to the main London airports. This moved to the Swanwick site on Saturday 24th November 2007.
• London Area Control Centre (LACC) at Swanwick in Hampshire controls upper level en-route traffic across England and Wales up to the Scottish border..
• Manchester Area Control Centre (MACC) at Manchester Airport controls traffic up to FL280 from Birmingham to the Scottish Border and towards Norwich in the east and Dublin in the west.
• 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.

Various radar stations are operated around the UK including the famous installation on Great Dun Fell in Cumbria.

It is intended that by 2011 NATS will have consolidated its en-route and terminal control operations into the Swanwick Centre and a renewed Prestwick Centre. The new Prestwick Centre being due to commence handling live traffic in early 2010.

NSL competes for contracts in the free market to provide air traffic control at airports in the UK and overseas, as well as providing engineering, technical and education services in fields related to air traffic control.

It has won contracts for all of BAA's owned airports:

• London Heathrow Airport
• London Gatwick Airport
• London Stansted Airport
• Southampton Airport
• Aberdeen Airport
• Edinburgh Airport
• Glasgow International Airport

It also has contract with other non-BAA airports including:

• London City Airport
• London Luton Airport
• Cardiff International Airport
• Birmingham International Airport
• Bristol International Airport
• Gibraltar Airport
• Farnborough Airfield
• Manchester Airport
• Belfast International Airport.

NSL has also has won contracts to provide a part of the air traffic control services at certain airports including:

• London Biggin Hill Airport
• Sumburgh Airport

• Praxis High Integrity Systems, a company that has worked on developing NATS software

• Official website
• National Audit Office report into the refinancing of NATS following the financial difficulties experienced after 9/11
• Official history