by Elsie Clark | Oct 1, 2025 | Innovation
The Saudi Arabian General Authority of Civil Aviation has approve the kingdom’s first virtual air traffic control (ATC) tower at AlUla airport.
Traffic at the airport will now be monitored remotely by a centre at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport, more than 600 kilometres away. The virtual tower was developed by the Saudi Air Navigation Service (SANS) in partnership with Spanish ATC specialist Indra.
Not only is the tower the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, it is also the only one in operation across the Middle East. Equipped with 360-degree cameras, specialist sensors, and artificial intelligence (AI), the new system offers improved efficiency while reducing burden on airport staff.
An ancient oasis city in the heart of the desert, the Saudi Arabian government has launched plans to boost AlUla’s tourism credentials. A new strategy hopes to attract 2 million tourists to the town by 2030, contributing SAR120 billion to the national economy. The virtual ATC tower improves safety and traffic flow to optimise management of visitors arriving by air. AlUla Airport currently handles around 400,000 passengers a year, with plans to increase that number to 6 million.
The approval of the virtual ATC tower also aligns with Saudi Arabia’s aviation modernisation strategy. The Vision 2030 plan targets 300 million air passengers by 2030, numbers that analysts at OAG have warned will be difficult to achieve due to the limited availability of qualified staff. The virtual ATC tower allows for operations at AlUla to expand without requiring further recruitment.
Initially designed with small- to medium-sized airports in mind, virtual ATC towers have been introduced at several key airports in recent years, notably London City Airport in 2021. The SESAR Joint Undertaking is also considering remote and virtual tower (RVT) concepts as part of its plans to consolidate European aerospace operations.
Join us at Aerospace Tech Week 2026 to discuss the future of ATC and SESAR.
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by Elsie Clark | Oct 1, 2025 | Innovation, MRO IT
Predictive maintenance using artificial intelligence (AI) and big data is a hot topic in aerospace, as airlines, airports, and engineers all strive to reduce downtime and optimise infrastructure efficiency.
For many, however, implementing predictive maintenance technology remains stuck in the development stages. In an exclusive interview, Kaire Kalve, Head of Supply Chain at Magnetic Group, told Aerospace Tech Review what needs to change for successful predictive MRO adoption.
Different parties and operators all have their own data, so the key challenge here is actually trust.
Kalve discusses why mutual incentives are critical to breaking down barriers across the industry and eliminating data silos. If this isn’t done, predictive maintenance is slow to implement and less effective: the more data you can feed a model, the more accurate it will be.
The key here is operators. They should take the initiative as they have the most valuable data.
Industrywide collaboration will be essential to realising the benefits of predictive maintenance, and events such as Aerospace Tech Week play an important role in developing new partnerships.
The future of maintenance is truly collaborative and based on transparent agreements for data sharing.
🎥Watch the video below to hear Kaire’s full insights on collaboration in predictive maintenance.
Questions asked include:
- Predictive maintenance is widely discussed, but we’re yet to see its widespread implementation. What’s holding the industry back?
- Predictive maintenance relies heavily on data. Who in the industry has the most important data, so to speak?
- Why are events such as Aerospace Tech Week so important?
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by Elsie Clark | Sep 24, 2025 | Flight Ops IT, Innovation
Optimising flight operations is an increasingly popular topic as the aviation industry tries to reduce emissions and make processes as efficient as possible. But how can data be used to effect meaningful change?
With disruption costing the industry as much as 8% of its revenue, effective flight planning is key to remaining competitive. At Aerospace Tech Week 2025, we sat down with Murray Skelton, Vice President of Business Development at FLYHT Aerospace Solutions, an FTG company, to discuss the future of flight ops.
Most aircraft receive weather updates that are 15 minutes out of date, which can result in delays when flying in unexpected conditions. Skelton discusses how real-time weather updates onboard are essential for ensuring flights operate in the best possible conditions at all times.
We should have, as a community, almost a mandate that says all aircraft that are flying should effectively be flying weather stations.
Weather stations such as the UK Met Office are investing in powerful supercomputers to make forecasts as accurate as possible. But Skelton argues that these computers are only as powerful as the data they provide.
They need more data, and the best place and actually the cheapest place to get the data is to turn aircraft into weather stations.
The conversation also covers the urgent need for aviation to modernise its connectivity infrastructure. With volumes of aircraft expected to double by 2042, leveraging data will be key reducing operational strain.
Right now, ACARS is still the number one communications tool of an airplane. It’s something from 1958, equivalent to very early texting with cellular phones. IP systems are out there, but uptake is quite slow.
Skelton nevertheless remains optimistic about the future, anticipating different ways in which superior data and transmission will enhance flight ops.
The data is getting cheaper. The transmission of data is getting cheaper. And that’s all going to help – but we’re not there yet.
🎥 Watch the full interview to hear Murray Skelton’s full interview on data in aerospace.
Questions asked include:
- How can effective flight planning minimise disruption?
- The number of aircraft in operation is set to double by 2042. How important is it for airlines to leverage data to navigate this transition successfully?
- How do you maintain data quality and ensure all information is reliable and accurate?
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by Elsie Clark | Sep 17, 2025 | Innovation, Sustainability
According to the IEA, aviation is responsible for around 2.5% of the world’s carbon emissions. To make the industry more sustainable and accelerate a net-zero future, airlines need to plot a realistic roadmap for emissions reduction.
In this exclusive interview, Aerospace Tech Review talks to Jolanda Stevens, Program Manager, Zero Emission Aviation, from KLM. The Dutch national carrier published its first Climate Action Plan in 2022, and has now developed a range of short- and long-term strategies to mitigate emissions.
In the long term, of course we have new technologies like hydrogen, batteries, electric, and underlying all of these is alternative aviation fuel.
To take immediate action on waste reduction, KLM uses an artificial intelligence (AI) system to determine which foods should be packed onboard. This has reduced the airline’s food waste by 63%.
Looking at the bigger picture, the airline has a robust fleet renewal plan and aims for 80% of its aircraft to be energy-efficient models by 2030. As the momentum behind sustainable fuel ramps up, Stevens discusses KLM’s ongoing plans to fly their first zero-carbon emissions flight before the end of the decade. In partnership with ZeroAvia, a flight demonstration with a hydrogen-powered engine is also expected for 2026.
If you’re looking at new technologies then the infrastructure has to be there, and for hydrogen that is totally different to what we have today. On the other hand, once the infrastructure is there, you can scale that up in different steps.
Driving sustainability across organisations with as many moving parts as airlines is a technologically complex and lengthy process. As Stevens highlights, if easy wins were possible, they would have been achieved already. Nevertheless, her outlook for the future remains positive.
Investing in new technologies and helping new startups, new parties in the field who have disruptive ideas, is very necessary for the future. I think we should all step in and help them.
🎥 Watch the full interview below to hear more from Jolanda on KLM’s sustainable operations journey.
Questions asked include:
- Could you give us an overview of the zero-emission programme at KLM?
- Can you talk us through some of the sustainable technologies and innovations you’ve adopted over the years?
- How confident are you that infrastructural challenges can be overcome?
- Are there any ‘quick wins’ for sustainability in aviation?
Join us at Aerospace Tech Week 2026 to discuss the future of sustainable aviation, including operational efficiency, sustainable fuels, and hybrid engines.
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by Elsie Clark | Sep 16, 2025 | Avionics, Innovation
Honeywell has confirmed that their new Surface Alerts (SURF-A) cockpit technology was trialled in Kansas City, US, in late August,
SURF-A was showcased alongside Honeywell’s already-certified SmartRunway/SmartLanding (SmartX) product, in two demonstrations that recreated real-life near-collisions.
SmartX provides audio and visual clues to pilots during high-stress phases of flights, alerting them to configuration errors and wrong-surface alignments in real-time. SURF-A, meanwhile, has been specifically designed to alert pilots when traffic is on the runway. Callouts are given, and text appears on the display screen if another aircraft in the runway engagement zone presents a collision risk.
As global air traffic increases, cockpit alerts are needed to prevent accidents and close margins of error. Honeywell’s tests of SURF-A at Kansas City recreated two notable incidents from recent years: a February 2023 near-collision at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport during fog, and a January 2023 event at New York JFK where an aircraft taxied onto an active runway.
In the recreations of both scenarios, cockpit alerts warned of the traffic ahead, giving the pilots ample time to react and divert the aircraft’s movements.
Honeywell expects SURF-A certification for commercial aircraft in 2026. Southwest Airlines is currently deploying SmartX across its fleet of Boeing 737s, with more than 700 aircraft activated to date.
Join us at Aerospace Tech Week 2026 to learn more about next-generation avionics.
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