Pioneering the move to digital ATM technology: the iNM programme gathers pace

May 2025 marks the next major planned milestone in the implementation of Network Manager’s (NM) integrated network management (iNM) programme, a 10-year project which will see the evolution of NM’s core technology to a new digital platform with a single flight manager system that seamlessly manages both flight and flow domains and a single API for internal and external human machine interfaces.

The project is one of the most ambitious and wide-ranging programmes ever undertaken by EUROCONTROL, and alongside the many benefits which airspace users and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) will derive from the new system (see iNM – a catalogue of benefits) it is giving the Agency a detailed, first-hand understanding of the challenges and benefits of moving safety-critical air traffic management technologies into the digital age.

The May 2025 milestone will see the start of operations of the first set of enhanced European AIS Database (eEAD) functionalities, including the core Aeronautical Data Management (ADM) system and daily management of both conventional and digital NOTAM modules. “At the end of November last year, we went into shadow mode with the eEAD applications – and in May we plan to go fully live with the minimum viable product, which will provide a new way of collecting information in a centralised manner,” said Tony Licu, Head of EUROCONTROL’s Digital Transformation Office and Acting Head of the Agency’s Technology Division.

In November 2025, another major milestone is planned (see The timeline for iNM deployment), with the first step towards trajectory management with an integrated Flight and Flow Management System (SFDB) and a modernised one-stop shop NM User Interface. Developing “a single source of truth” for precise trajectory management derived from different data sources has been a major technical challenge for the system developers.

"The challenge has been to merge the old initial flight plan data processing with the flow management system; we have different trajectories in the two applications which we need to integrate towards a single trajectory", said Tony Licu.

iNM has been technically challenging for both EUROCONTROL and for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the body responsible for certifying the new digital technology.

"We had to make sure it's safe and the quality of the system performance is good, with low latency," said Tony Licu. “This has been the first approval by EASA of a mission-critical cloud operating system. We have worked closely with EASA to ensure not just the cloud itself is secure but the way our stakeholders access the digital products in the cloud using multi-factor authentication.”

The last few months have seen EUROCONTROL embark on a wide-ranging training programme to ensure all external stakeholders can integrate their operations within the new platform. Initially, this programme will impact around 400 stakeholders, but following the May 2025 Wave 2.0 technical release (see The timeline for iNM deployment) a further 3,500 stakeholders will be onboarded with another tranche scheduled in the November wave 2.1 technical release. By the time the system is fully operational around +40,000 different stakeholders will be connected one way or the other with the new system.

The onboarding process began with the system operating in shadow mode so eEAD early adopter airlines, ANSPs and aeronautical information providers could give feedback on the system performers to more than 500 software developers, architects, engineers, testers and project managers in all iNM Eco-systems working on the project.

“It took a long time to recruit the cloud architects but we have developed a more generic IT landscape, with relatively few items of customised software,” said Tony Licu. “Our customers have been patient; they have recognised the need for change and the new applications are now starting to arrive. In general, airlines have been more prepared for the digital infrastructure interfaces as ANSPs are, in the main, more conservative in their approach to technology evolution. But there are now instances of ANSPs embracing this new technology era.”

To smooth the transition Human Machine Interfaces have been designed in a similar way for all new Digital Products front-ends e.g. maps, tables, etc."

The benefits of the transformation process are about to start to flow.

The current system can take up to three days to access data from the data warehouse to undertake a post-operational analysis of trajectory efficiencies; with the new system that data will be available in real-time, ensuring the most environmentally sustainable and cost-efficient routes will be offered to all airspace users.

iNM will also allow EUROCONTROL to better accommodate a fast-changing, more complex aviation sector, with new entrants like drones in lower airspace, and fast- and slow-moving vehicles in upper airspace – all of which need to be safely managed within a fully integrated airspace. It will also play an important role in supporting European aviation industry stakeholders to become fully net zero by 2050.

There are other benefits which European aviation will accrue, improving the resiliency and robustness of Europe’s critical aviation demand-capacity balancing service. The cost to Europe’s economy of a single day of NM system outage has been estimated at EUR1 billion.

Unexpected challenges at operational level or crises require instant responses. The legacy system was less flexible to manage sudden peaks and troughs of demand and very difficult to secure against cyber-attacks, given the need to share huge amounts of data with multiple stakeholders.

“Since the financial crisis of 2008 EUROCONTROL, like many other public bodies, had to scale back its investments in new technology,” said Tony Licu. “So, with the former system we had millions of lines of code in old applications and our two data warehouses consumed large amounts of energy. By moving to the cloud, we can scale our infrastructure with the press of a button.”