. nats holdings limited type public private partnership industry air travel and airports genre information services predecessor natcs founded 1962 headquarters whiteley england united kingdom number of locations london area control centre and london terminal control centre at swanwick area control at prestwick and air traffic control services at uk airports as well as offices in dubai and singapore area served uk airspace key people martin rolfe chief executive officer services international air traffic services and consultancy subsidiaries nats en route plc nats services ltd website nats nats holdings formerly national air traffic services and commonly referred to as nats is the main air navigation service provider in the united kingdom . it inherited the traditions of uk air traffic control which founded over croydon airport was the world s first air traffic control regime . it provides en route air traffic control services to flights within the uk flight information regions and the shanwick oceanic control area 1 and provides air traffic control services to fourteen uk airports . the workforce of nats is mainly made up of air traffic controllers atcos air traffic control engineers atces air traffic services assistants atsas and science technical analytical and research staff stars . administrative and support staff make up the remainder of the 4 500 or so staff employed by nats . nats is split into two main service provision companies nats en route plc nerl and nats services ltd nsl . nerl is the sole provider of civilian en route air traffic control over the uk and is regulated by the caa who for example determine the charges nerl can make . nerl is funded by charging airlines for the provision of air traffic services . nsl competes for contracts in the free market to provide air traffic control at airports in the uk and overseas as well as providing related services including engineering consultancy information services and training . nats en route business is regulated and operated under licence from the civil aviation authority caa . the terms of the licence require nats to be capable of meeting on a continuous basis any reasonable level of overall demand . they are charged with permitting access to airspace on the part of all users whilst making the most efficient overall use of airspace . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 natcs 1.2 nats 1.3 management 1.4 west drayton 1.5 restructuring 1.6 public private partnership 2 structure 2.1 ownership 2.2 management 2.3 uk air traffic 3 operations 3.1 airspace 3.2 airports 3.2.1 ferronats 3.3 defence 3.3.1 aquila 3.4 engineering 3.5 consultancy 3.6 information services 4 associations and alliances with other organisations 5 notable incidents 6 references 7 external links 7.1 video clips history edit natcs edit the organisation was originally set up as the national air traffic control services natcs in 1962 bringing together responsibility for the uk s existing military and civil air traffic control services . nats edit the organisation became national air traffic services when responsibility for sponsoring the civil air traffic service component was transferred to the newly formed civil aviation authority caa in 1972 . prior to this it had no legal existence all contracts were with the caa or mod . management edit until its establishment as a separate company leadership of nats the controller alternated between civil and military the latter normally a serving air marshal . the first controller was sir laurence sinclair exceptionally an air vice marshal . nats staff were drawn from and paid by the caa and the mod . west drayton edit the london air traffic control centre at raf west drayton opened in 1966 and provided atc services until it closed in 2007 with the move to swanwick . scottish air traffic control has been carried out from atlantic house in prestwick since 1978 . this situation changed with the opening of the prestwick centre in 2010 to which all operational services were transferred from the old atlantic house . the prestwick centre houses the domestic and oceanic services and allows for state of the art technology to be introduced in future . restructuring edit in 1992 it was recognised that as a service provider nats should be operated at some distance from its regulator the caa . although debated it was decided that nats should not be privatised at that time . nats was re organised into a limited company on 1 april 1996 3 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the caa . 4 the direct involvement of military officers in the management of nats ended at this time although the last military controller air marshal sir thomas stonor kcb had retired in 1991 . public private partnership edit in 1998 a 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 . structure edit ownership edit gatwick airport atc tower as a public private partnership the uk government holds 49 % and a golden share with 42 % held by the airline group 5 % by nats staff and 4 % by uk airport operator lhr airports limited . 5 management edit martin rolfe has been ceo of nats since may 2015 . other board members are listed here http www.nats.aero about us board executive uk air traffic edit in 2015 nats handled 2 256 152 flights an increase of 2.5 % over 2014 . 6 operations edit over the years nats has grown from a uk focused business to a global business with contracts in more than 30 countries . it offers aerodrome data and consultancy solutions to worldwide customers which include airports air traffic service providers ansp and governments . the company works through six service lines airspace edit there are two control locations in the uk operated by nerl london area control centre and london terminal control centre at swanwick in hampshire control both upper level en route traffic across england and wales up to the scottish border and low level traffic around london and south east england including aircraft making approaches to the main london airports . the prestwick centre ayrshire is home to the scottish area control centre including since january 2010 the former manchester area control centre which controls traffic over scotland northern ireland and up to fl285 over the northern half of england and the prestwick oceanic area control centre 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 one such being that on great dun fell in cumbria . airports edit the airports service line provides air traffic services at 14 uk airports heathrow airport atc tower london heathrow airport southampton airport aberdeen airport edinburgh airport atc tower london city airport london luton airport london stansted airport cardiff airport bristol airport farnborough airfield manchester airport belfast international airport belfast city airport edinburgh airport glasgow airport nats has also won contracts to provide a part of the air traffic control services at certain airports including london biggin hill airport sumburgh airport raf st athan nats also provides services to the ministry of defence mod via qinetiq for air traffic and range air control services at a number of uk ranges including aberporth hebrides larkhill west freugh nats also provides services to the mod s military aviation authority . nats also provide an atc engineering service at belfast city airport aberdeen nsl provides air traffic services on behalf of nerl to offshore helicopters operating primarily from aberdeen shetland sumburgh & scatsta humberside norwich and north denes . ferronats edit nats through its airports service line established an alliance with spanish partner ferrovial in 2011 forming ferronats 7 which provides air traffic control atc services at nine airports across spain alicante valencia ibiza sabadell sevilla jerez melilla madrid cuatro vientos vigo and a coru a airports in spain . ferronats was awarded the contract to provide services at these airports through a competitive tender process run by the spanish aviation authority aena . all nine operational handovers were completed between november 2012 and january 2014 . defence edit nats helps the military around the world share airspace with civil aviation for commercial political and environmental reasons . services nats provides include aeronautical data defence consulting en route military terminal atc provision surveillance aquila edit aquila is a joint venture between nats and thales responsible for delivering the uk s marshall programme to transform terminal air traffic management at military airfields . marshall seeks to ensure a safe efficient and sustainable air traffic management atm service for the uk armed forces . it will modernise atm at over 100 mod locations in the uk and overseas including more than 60 airfields and ranges . aquila will deliver a system wide modernisation and rationalisation of the current fragmented system and establish a flexible atm service which is future proofed to meet potential changes in the regulatory and technological landscape . as part of the contract aquila provides air traffic control services at gibraltar and wattisham airfields . engineering edit nats ensures that engineering customers technology and infrastructure projects are transitioned with the operational context in mind . engineering services nats provides include control centre systems airport technology maintenance consultancy edit nats enables the atc community to find innovative ways to solve specific operational and technical challenges as well as providing air traffic control services . these include airspace design capacity planning environmental reporting occupational health runway capacity studies strategy and business planning safety management and human factors technology and projects information services edit nats provides the necessary information services to enable customers to keep pace with technology and legislation . this is especially important as society especially aviation moves to a more automated predictable and cost effective way of operating . services provided by nats include aeronautical charting aeronautical information management aim procedure design surveillance data target start up arrival time tsat wind farms associations and alliances with other organisations edit nats is a full member of the sesar the single european sky atm research programme joint undertaking and a member of the sesar deployment alliance a cross industry partnership made up of four airline groups operators of 25 airports and 11 air traffic control providers . the sesar deployment alliance was appointed to the role of sesar deployment manager by the european commission in december 2014 and will help to coordinate and synchronise the modernisation of europe s air traffic management system . 8 nats is a founding member of two of europe s leading ansp alliances the a6 alliance and the borealis alliance . 9 10 the a6 is an alliance of some of the main european air navigation service providers ansps . its aim is to help drive modernisation of the european atm network within the sesar programme for the benefit of customers . the a6 members are full members of the sesar joint undertaking and are part of the sesar deployment alliance which was recently appointed sesar deployment manager by the european commission . the borealis alliance is a leading alliance of air navigation service providers ansps that enables its members to drive better performance for stakeholders through business collaboration . the alliance includes the ansps of denmark estonia finland iceland ireland latvia norway sweden and the uk . the borealis alliance is currently working on a major programme to deliver free route airspace across the whole of northern europe by 2020 . since the 1940s the irish and uk air traffic control service providers have worked effectively together . this was further strengthened in july 2008 when the uk and ireland launched the first operational functional airspace block often referred to in the