Blog
Shapingfuture
The future of supersonic and hypersonic commercial flights
Supersonic and hypersonic technologies are transforming air travel by enabling transoceanic flights in under three hours. These innovations promise faster, more efficient, and sustainable journeys, with the potential to cover up to 7,000 km in just one hour. Multiple companies are actively working to overcome technical challenges and bring this new era of high-speed travel to the commercial market.
27 May, 2025
Spain’s nationwide blackout: How air traffic continued safely despite the crisis
On April 28, 2025, Spain experienced an unprecedented nationwide blackout that disrupted power supplies across the entire country for about 12 hours. The event caused a massive interruption of ground public transport and telecommunication services. Yet, remarkably, air traffic operations continued with no major disruptions and without undermining safety in any moment, thanks to the resilience and preparedness of Spain’s airport operators and air navigation service providers.
19 May, 2025
How new generation aircraft could unleash great value in the short-haul market
As aviation moves toward more sustainable and efficient transport, next-generation aircraft emerge as a transformative force for short-haul aviation. These technologies could unlock $20-25 billion globally, representing nearly 35% of the current market. By reducing operating costs and enabling new routes, they could reshape regional mobility, enhance connectivity, and support broader climate and economic goals.
13 May, 2025
The latest trends in airport M&A activity
Airports are more than transit points—they are critical economic drivers. In 2024, global airport M&A activity totaled over USD 12.3 billion across 14 deals, a sharp drop from 2022’s peak of USD 55.6 billion. While interest in airport assets remains strong, activity has fluctuated due to COVID-19 disruptions and recovery dynamics. Key transactions reflect a sector in transformation. This analysis reviews recent M&A trends by continent, highlighting stakeholder strategies and outlooks for the year ahead.
30 Apr, 2025
Empowering and strengthening transportation authorities for a resilient future
Transportation is all about looking ahead. If we only plan for what we have now, we’ll always be playing catch-up. This statement from the ex-US Secretary of Transportation captures the fundamental shift expected from public transportation authorities. Today, public transportation authorities are no longer just regulators or compliance enforcers—they are key players in driving innovation, strategic growth, and collaboration across the entire ecosystem.
17 Mar, 2025
Diagnosis of air connectivity in Latin America and its comparison with the European market
Air connectivity drives economic development and fosters territorial integration by facilitating business, trade, tourism, and cultural exchange. Despite the development of the air transport sector in Latin America over the past decades, its air connectivity landscape still differs notably from the more mature European market. What are the main factors that explain these differences and how might they limit the region's development?
14 Jan, 2025
Harnessing LLMs to enhance safety reporting in aviation
Safety reporting is one of the foundational outputs of the Risk Management System in aviation. Traditionally, its role was primarily reactive: analyze a report, understand what happened, and take action accordingly. However, the whole system encouraged by ICAO and other responsible institutions, is shifting towards a data-driven safety culture that prioritizes prevention over response. As aviation safety management systems are evolving from reactive to proactive approaches, the value that can be extracted from reports has also matured significantly.
18 Dec, 2024
Noise around airports: regulation and mitigation
Every year, millions of travellers take to the skies, zipping across continents and time zones in hours – a marvel of modern aviation. But for those living near bustling airports, this marvel comes with a catch: the unending backdrop of noise that grows constant as air traffic increases. While passengers marvel at seamless travel, local residents feel the thrum of engines at all hours, a constant reminder that, while cities sleep, airports never do.
09 Dec, 2024
The need for integrating Space Traffic into the Air Traffic Management System
Space activity, especially in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), has rapidly increased due to cost reductions and advancements in satellite and launch technologies. This article examines the need for better coordination between Space Traffic Management (STM) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) to ensure safety and efficiency. It highlights the importance of stakeholder collaboration, strategic planning, and international cooperation to address these complexities and integrate space activities into existing air traffic operations.
04 Sep, 2024
Marouan Chida Interview: ATM transformation and European ATM Master Plan
EUROCONTROL plays a pivotal role in developing this strategy, working closely with European institutions and international partners to ensure global harmonization. To gain deeper insights into the goals, scope, and implications of the European ATM Master Plan, we interviewed Marouan Chaiad, Head of ATM Transformation at EUROCONTROL. He is responsible for maintaining the Master Plan, prioritizing modernization investments, and supporting strategic transformation in ATM.
22 Jul, 2024
Monitoring your airport's performance: a challenge and an opportunity
Airport service quality frameworks, which define and monitor service standards, are key to ensure an optimal airport’s performance and user’s level of service and satisfaction. The definition of these frameworks should be designed to reflect best international practices in the industry, focused on benefitting all stakeholders and taking into consideration the specific characteristics of the asset and its operation.
13 Jun, 2024
What are the current alternatives for the sustainable development in aviation?
All players in the air transportation sector are urgently seeking solutions for green aviation as part of a global effort to reduce climate impacts. Driven by societal concern for climate change, increasing and fluctuating fuel prices, and regulatory pressure to cut emissions, the industry, through the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has committed to halving carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. However, the transition to green aviation poses significant challenges.
29 May, 2024
Data-driven solutions: navigating the digital maze of fuel management
The latest EASA’s regulatory package on fuel policy updated in 2022 introduces different levels of performance-based variations, named fuel/energy schemes. In this blog post, we analyze and describe the most common challenges, as well as potential solutions, focusing on the steps of the fuel management process where data plays a significant role.
09 Apr, 2024
Which initiatives could help the aviation sector to approach sustainability?
Not all measures taken by European governments in recent years have effectively addressed the real environmental issues facing the aviation industry. When designing aviation policies, governments should consider ICAO's three pillars for sustainability and effective solutions: social, economic, and environmental.
05 Feb, 2024
The inmologistic agent as a new player in the air cargo environment
In 2019, Latin America accounted for approximately 2.8% of the global air cargo market (measured in Freight Ton Kilometers or FTKs). Nevertheless, it consolidated its position as one of the fastest-growing markets with promising future prospects. It recorded the third-highest growth rate at 5.3%, increasing from 4,700 KTKs in 2010 to 7,500 FTKs in 2019 (pre-pandemic period). This growth was surpassed only by the Middle East and Central Asia.
24 Jan, 2024
Shaping the future of training: shift on the approach of flight crew training programmes
EBT is designed to develop crew competencies to deal with unexpected events and operate safely. The adoption of EBT for recurrent training at European level is recent and has been driven by EASA through the definition of a recommended roadmap for its progressive implementation
16 Jan, 2024
The evolving landscape of connection fares: strategies, trends and global perspectives
The increasing interconnectivity of airports has led to the consolidation of hubs and prompted airports to assess their position within the global landscape of connection fares. As airports strive to enhance their networks, they face the crucial task of analysing the prevailing trends in connection fees and determining their competitive standing on the international stage.
04 Jan, 2024
ATFM delays in Europe in post-COVID era
As the air traffic demand is growing, the well-known issue of delays has started again to generate displeasure among passengers and thus gaining the attention of the media. In particular the ATFM delays caused by constraints on the en-route phase of flights are interesting to analyse, as they reveal the limits of Air Traffic Control (ATC) infrastructure on the ground.
27 Nov, 2023
A300: 50th Anniversary of its maiden flight
Due to the good perspectives of the 1960s and 1970s, the Governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom signed an agreement in September 1967 whereby they agreed to develop an aircraft with around 300 seats in response to the emerging need of the time. This plane would be a wide-body aircraft with double aisle for medium-range routes: the A300.
07 Nov, 2023
Fundamentals of Airport Commercial Revenues Development
Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, global demand for air transport is expected to continue doubling every 15 years which in the coming decades. This demand growth is naturally associated with the increase of commercial revenues; however, the commercial revenue per passenger has remained almost constant over the last 10 years in most of the major airports.
11 Oct, 2023
Key factors for the success of the advanced air mobility
Driven by the growing society’s concern for the environment, advancements in green technology, changing urban landscapes, and a growing need for sustainable and efficient transportation options, Advanced Air Mobility has emerged as a disruptive concept in the industry.
28 Sep, 2023
Multi-Airports Systems – Keys to Success
A multi-airport system (MAS) is defined as a set of two or more significant airports that serve commercial traffic within a metropolitan region. As a result of air traffic growth and capacity limitations in existing major infrastructures, it is becoming increasingly common to find this multi–airport systems already in operation or in planning stages all around the world.
13 Sep, 2023
Have you ever thought at how to monetise benefits from safety innovations at airports?
The SESAR Performance Framework ensures that the SESAR programme develops the operational concepts and technical enablers needed to meet the performance ambitions described in the ATM Master Plan. It comprises KPAs, KPIs, and PIs to measure and track progress.
10 Aug, 2023
How to regulate AI? Challenges and solutions in the aviation sector
How will advances in digital technology and Artificial Intelligence affect the aviation industry? Can we harness their potential to improve operational efficiency and safety in the sector? How can we facilitate this from a regulatory perspective?
31 Jul, 2023
A321LR and A321XLR: The new players for medium-long haul flights
The main aircraft manufacturers (Boeing and Airbus) are subject to the new course of action of the airline business, imposing the need to improve their aircraft models to compete within the different ranges and service segments.
25 Nov, 2022
Avianca and GOL join forces to compete in South America: how could their alliance shake up the market?
Earlier last May, the principal shareholders of the 2nd and 3rd largest South American players – Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL and Colombian full-service carrier Avianca Holdings – joined forces to create a single holding company: Abra Group.
25 Nov, 2022
Digital and Remote Towers: a new paradigm for aerodrome control service
The provision Air Traffic Services is a safety-critical business, whose basic capabilities and models are currently evolving thanks to digital technologies. Control towers are evolving into digital towers, augmenting air traffic control capabilities at an aerodrome through fully digital means, making airports safer, more flexible and efficient.
04 Apr, 2022
NLP: Beyond numeric data in aviation
Artificial Intelligence is a computer science field whose aim is to develop systems able to learn and reason as human beings. Its evolution has been made possible thanks to the improvement of the processing capabilities which have enabled to properly train and fine-tune the algorithms used to build the AI models and also to make those high-performing models available for the end users with fast reaction times.
04 Apr, 2022
The New Space era and its synergies with aviation
The space industry is undergoing a profound transformation underpinned by new digital technologies and business models often referred to “New Space”. This New Space age is populated by new aerospace companies, launching space missions at a pace never seen before with the main objective of providing commercial services at global level.
20 Dec, 2021
Civil aviation authorities as key contributors to United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs) are catalysts for developing the aviation sector by aligning all key players and setting the framework to ensure safe and sustainable operations. By doing this, CAAs are positioned at the forefront of the national efforts to achieve a more sustainable future and meet the demands of society which in turn will help to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
20 Dec, 2021
Flight efficiency optimization thanks to Advanced Flight procedures implementation
The fact that PBN (Performance Based Navigation) outperforms conventional navigation in all phases of flight is well known by the aviation industry. Among its many advantages, the more efficient use of airspace, the increase of the airspace capacity, and the reduction of the pilot’s and ATCO’s workload stand out above the rest.
20 Dec, 2021
Noise Regulation in Airports in the European Union and Differences with Local Regulations
Noise exposure in airport surroundings is an important issue whose impact is felt by local populations on a daily basis so political entities, aviation authorities and airport operators are continuously trying to fight against noise pollution. Regulation is a key part in this fight.
31 Aug, 2021
Economic Regulation
Airports around the world are currently suffering the consequences of huge reductions in traffic and revenues due to the effects of the Covid pandemic. This has stress-tested some of the potential problems in the models for economic regulation and the management of concession contracts.
31 Aug, 2021
Performance orientation in Air Traffic Management is a support to recovery of aviation sector after Covid-19 crisis
The operational solutions for ATM have considerably evolved in the last decade thanks to the technological progress in digital systems, while the business model for service provision is still mainly organised vertically, with national Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) covering the majority of air traffic control market worldwide.
31 Aug, 2021
Reduction of the aircraft noise due to the fleet evolution
Although the most popular topic when talking about the relationship between aviation and environment is the greenhouse gas emissions, it is not the only relevant one. Noise exposure in airport surroundings is, at a local level, a very real issue that political entities, aviation authorities and airport operators have to deal with.
28 Apr, 2021
SBAS, the opportunity for Africa to leverage satellites for the development of its strategic economic sectors
The Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) consists of a small set of geosynchronous satellites that broadcast positioning corrections calculated using a network of geographically distributed reference stations.
28 Apr, 2021
UTM, the key enabler of the drone economy
The use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS, commonly referred to as drones) is rapidly spreading worldwide. Their cross-sectoral applications lead the transition of legacy industries towards a sustainable economy, contributing to the decarbonisation, automation, and digitalisation of their operations.
28 Apr, 2021
Can Air Transport recover whilst maintaining COVID-19 Travel Controls?
The air transport sector is facing a major crisis as air travel demand has been heavily impacted by a number of factors which affect passenger confidence, combined with government restrictions which directly affect air travel.
19 Nov, 2020
Fresh views on the Air Cargo market
In light of 2019’s year closure data for global air freight markets, it is evident that it has been one of the worst years for the sub-sector since the 2009. This unbalance between offering and demand has certainly been sharpened by the weak growth of global trade during the year and trade tensions between key players, among several other factors.
19 Nov, 2020
Are we going to fly smaller? – Covid-19 crisis may accelerate the boost of narrowbody in long-haul flights
Long-haul flights have been historically associated with widebody aircraft. Old narrowbody aircraft generations were not competitive enough regarding costs neither had enough range. However, new generations could be a game-changer in the industry as the updates in technology have increased their efficiency and range.
10 Jul, 2020
Air transport in post-armed conflict environments. Exponential growth or stagnation?
Air transport is a sensitive sector easily affected by socioeconomic and political factors. While traffic can plummet during periods of social turmoil and armed conflicts, it can also recover with relative ease during stability periods following those events.
02 Jul, 2020
Performance Monitoring: the first step towards improving efficiency in airport operations in LatAm
In the last 20 years, according to official aeronautical agencies in Latin America, passenger traffic and aircraft operations has doubled. But this growth comes with a downgrading in the service level due to serious affectation in the overall performance of airport operations, mainly due to the increase in both airside and landside congestion.
02 Jul, 2020
Outlook of the impact of COVID-19 on the Middle East air transport sector
The rapid spreading of the novel coronavirus has had a tremendous impact on the air transport sector worldwide, with airlines rapidly reacting in an effort to contain the spread, cutting down frequencies and cancelling flights.
09 Apr, 2020
Strengthening airports’ integration in the network through target times concept
EUROCONTROL (ECTRL) has been mandated by the European Commission as the Network Manager (NM) since July 2011 to continuously improve operations and mitigate capacity issues at pan-European level. This appointment has been recently extended until the end of the Performance Scheme’s third Reference Period (31/12/2029) by Reg. (EU) No 2019/123, based on the positive assessment of ECTRL performance during the previous RP2.
07 Nov, 2019
Digitalisation in ATM
Digital technologies are fundamental enablers to support an increasing set of ATM operational processes and supporting systems. This digitalisation process is expected to unlock the performance expectations envisaged in the SESAR Concept of Operations (CONOPS), thus creating the Digital European Sky.
06 Jun, 2019
Boosting African airlines sustainability
African carriers operate in a challenging market with a highly constrained demand. Air transport is currently unaffordable for the African population, as there is a massive gap between the average income of the population and the average intra-African flight ticket price, which is higher than other regions, such as Europe or Latin America.
07 Feb, 2019
ALG selected Data Analytics Provider by EASA for the Data4Safety Programme
ALG and Minsait by Indra have been declared the winning bidder of the tendering process held by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), aimed at appointing the Data Analytics Provider (DAP) for the Proof of Concept phase of the Data4Safety Programme.
07 Feb, 2019
ALG is leading the implementation of EGNOS-based navigation in maritime and inland waterways
The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is the first pan-European navigation system that augments global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and enable safety critical applications. EGNOS is widely recognised as a key enabler and a game changer for multiple sector applications.
07 Feb, 2019
ALG supports EASA in the implementation of a CNS training course within the EU-China APP programme
ALG continues to support the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in the implementation of its international cooperation activities, as part of the framework of the awarded Consortium (comprised of ALG, NTU, IATA Consulting, Bureau Veritas and Sofreco).
02 Jul, 2018
Civil drones, the new inhabitants of our skies: what are the main challenges and opportunities for the European aviation players?
Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), more popularly known as drones, are increasingly flying in our skies due to the rapid development of enabling technologies and the increasing number of services they can deliver. Leisure drones alone are estimated to be around 1.5M units in Europe with a yearly growth rate close to 100% as observed in the past few years. This means that by 2020 more than 5M leisure drones are expected if the trend continues.
27 Nov, 2017
European defragmentation through a single, harmonised and interoperable surveillance framework
Europe benefits from a high-diversified pool of countries with different cultures, necessities and strengths, which overall constitutes a solid environment for development and research. These factors lead Europe to a unique position from an Air Traffic Management/Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (ATM/CNS), with a highly developed and busy air transport sector but also a fragmented system.
27 Nov, 2017
The long-haul European flight through its Single Sky: accomplishments and turbulences
Twenty years after the effective liberalization of air transport in the European Union through the introduction of cabotage rights in 1997, Airlines have fully experienced the disrupting power of competition in the single market and passengers have benefitted from a choice of routes, operators and fares never seen before.
18 Jul, 2017
Managing innovation in European defence - A key enabler to success
Since its inception, the EU’s mission has focused on guaranteeing the free movement of people, goods, services and capital among member states, as well as fostering common policies and funding agriculture, development and trade among others.
18 Jul, 2017
Safety Intelligence Initiative - One Step Forward into Advanced IT Safety Management Solutions
Safety Intelligence – this is a real trend, involving several international initiatives, which will cause an evolution from the traditional safety approach to the next generation of methods: safety information sharing and analysis with the involvement of all aviation stakeholders.
18 Jul, 2017
Why the last frontier of aviation is becoming its new doorway
What makes satellite technologies especially well-suited for transportation applications is their unique ability to provide service with little or no need for on-site ground infrastructure. This makes them especially appealing thanks to the lower cost involved in deploying them compared to equivalent terrestrial technologies.
27 Apr, 2017
Reforming Civil Aviation Authorities: the why and how of effective de-linking
Regulatory reforms of the air transportation industry are challenging governments in their goal of effectively and efficiently providing air services within their territories. Prior to reforms of the airline industry, established practice concentrated in one body – the Civil Aviation Authority – the regulatory and services provision roles, supported by a structure of compensations that differed from country to country.
27 Apr, 2017
Big Data, how to bring value from data in the aviation industry
In recent years, the Big Data and Data Science boom has begun to reach the air transportation industry and we are now encountering the presence of these methodologies in different research projects and programmes, aiming to bring the same benefits to the aviation field that they have provided to other industries.
23 Jan, 2017
Analysing the potential of shared ATM Data Processing
Flight data processing is a complex, safety and time-critical function, right at the heart of ATM service provision. It is the main engine converting raw input from flight plans, real-time surveillance hits and live weather, into an integrated picture that controllers can fully rely on for total awareness.
23 Jan, 2017
Enhancing Oil & Gas personnel transportation. Challenges and opportunities in a fast-evolving environment
Oil and Gas (O&G) personnel transportation to on & offshore facilities serves as the vascular system for the beating heart of the Middle East economy. As such, onshore and offshore transport networks were designed to support a robust and continuous transfer of labour force to remote locations.
23 Jan, 2017
ALG, part of the contract-winning consortium for EASA’s latest framework programme
The consortium formed by ALG, IATA CONSULTING (International), NTU (Denmark), BUREAU VERITAS (France) and SOFRECO (France), has been declared the winning bidder of the first lot of the international tendering process held by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), aimed at providing support services to international cooperation activities.
04 Oct, 2016
Remote towers: Finding the balance between benefits and costs
The remote tower concept continues to generate considerable enthusiasm in the sector, as was seen at the World ATM Congress that took place in Madrid earlier this year, where solutions offered by several manufacturers were on display.
04 Oct, 2016
CAF awards ALG a project to analyse priority investments in the Latin American port and airport sectors
ALG has been designated by CAF, the Development Bank of Latin America, to prepare a study of the "Investment portfolio up to 2040 in the port and airport sector for Latin America and the Caribbean".
04 Oct, 2016
