Spotlight on

In 1995, the government of the Czech Republic became one of the earliest administrations in the world to transfer the responsibilities of its air traffic services to a self-governing commercial enterprise corporation. This entity went on to become the nation’s air navigation service provider (ANSP), known as the Czech Air Navigation Service (ANS).

Today, the Czech ANS operates one of the world’s most modern air traffic management centers, where controllers employ leading-edge technologies to handle aircraft movements in some of the busiest airspace in the world. The advanced systems employed at its new Integrated ATC Center (IATCC) in Jenec, just 11 miles (18 km) from Prague, are complemented by the center’s stunningly modern, yet totally functional, architecture.

The Czech ANS prides itself on being forward thinking. They were the first ANSP to commission a multilateration system for surface surveillance in 1999. In 2001, the Czech ANS management decided to leapfrog conventional air traffic surveillance solutions and move forward into the future use of multilateration technology. This was a pioneering step, since at that time, no civil aviation authority had deployed multilateration for anything other than the support of Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (A-SMGCS) in monitoring aircraft and vehicle movements on the airport itself.

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Integrated ATC Center (IATCC) in Jenec