At its meeting on Tuesday 20 December, the Spanish Council of Ministers authorised the tendering of a works contract for the extension of the ENAIRE air traffic control centre in Madrid.
The works are scheduled to take 24 months to complete. The new facilities would then be available in 2025. According to the public business entity in charge of managing air navigation in the country and Western Sahara, the national administration will allocate an estimated budget of 23.12 million euros.
Strategic innovation plan
The measure is part of ENAIRE’s strategic innovation plan, the “Plan de Vuelo 2025” (Flight Plan 2025). It is a comprehensive project that aims to advance in the modernisation of the air traffic control system in Spain. In total, it will involve an investment of around 100 million euros in works and state-of-the-art technological equipment.
The plan envisages the construction of a new building at the Madrid control centre, which will be located next to the current one, in the Torrejón de Ardoz complex. The facility will house a 1.500 square metre air traffic control room. This will increase the available surface area by 50%.
The new space will optimise the layout of the controllers’ working positions in accordance with future traffic forecasts. It will also facilitate the installation of iFOCUCS control positions and the joint work between engineers, air navigation technicians and operational management.
Currently, more than a thousand ENAIRE professionals work at the Madrid control centre, in addition to personnel from the Spanish Air Force, the European ESSP and other service companies. However, the number of workers is expected to increase in the coming years.
Madrid, headquarters of ENAIRE’s Central-North Region
The Madrid control centre also serves as the headquarters of ENAIRE’s Central-North Region Management. From there, 435.000 square kilometres of airspace in the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula are managed.
The facilities located in the Spanish capital provide en-route and approach air traffic control services, as well as aerodrome control, at nine airports: Madrid-Barajas (MAD), Santiago de Compostela (SCQ), Asturias (OVD), Santander (SDR), Bilbao (BIO), Vitoria (VIT), San Sebastián (EAS), Logroño (RJL) and Pamplona (PNA).
See also: ENAIRE is the European leader in continuous descent approaches
