ENAV becomes first ANSP to use EAD’s Static and Dynamic Data Service for the exchange of aeronautical information

This major achievement for both ENAV and EUROCONTROL-EAD was completed mid-May of this year and is the outcome of a very successful project, started in April 2021. ENAV has been a ‘business-to-business (B2B) data provider of EAD since September 2009 and used to exchange data in the former AIXM 4.5 format.

AIXM 5.1 offers a more refined and structured manner of encoding data and as such offers many more perspectives for the exchange of aeronautical information in a digitalised manner. The exchange of static and dynamic data in AIXM 5.1 is a key enabler for digital NOTAM, (ICAO) Digital Data Sets and for other enhancements, facilitating at the same time the optimisation of Network operations in full compliance with regulatory requirements.

The transition of EAD Data Providers to AIXM 5.1 is in line with the digital transformation journey initiated by EUROCONTROL through the integrated Network Management programme (iNM). The new system delivered by iNM, the enhanced EAD (eEAD), will operate in AIXM 5.1. ENAV, as the first B2B data provider using the SDD Service, contributed significantly to the improvement of the process, paving the road for the subsequent transitions of other EAD B2B data providers to AIXM 5.1.

ENAV S.p.A. is the air navigation service provider (ANSP) responsible for the provision of air traffic services (ATS) in Italy, such as air traffic control service (ATCS), flight information service (FIS), aeronautical information service (AIS), and the issuing of weather forecasts for airports and the airspace under its responsibility. The company was created in 2001, from the former public agency "Ente Nazionale Assistenza al Volo" (ENAV). The Aeronautical Information Exchange Model (AIXM) is designed to enable the management and distribution of Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) data in digital format. AIXM 5.1 is based on Geography Markup Language (GML) and is one of the GML Application Schemas which is applicable for the Aeronautical domain. It was developed by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and EUROCONTROL.

EAD is the world’s largest AIS system and a fully integrated solution, used worldwide by Air Navigation Service Providers from 54 States as data providers, including 43 ECAC States, and providing services to some 200 data users. Managed by EUROCONTROL on behalf of its Member States, EAD provides a common reference of harmonised quality-assured aeronautical information for its stakeholders and for the network. Further, EAD, as a common network service provided by the EUROCONTROL Network Manager (NM), supports States in meeting their regulatory obligations on the provision of harmonised aeronautical information. It offers instant access, irrespective of location, to the most up-to-date digital aeronautical information, NOTAM (Notices to Airmen), Pre-flight Information Bulletins (PIBs) from around the world, thereby acting as a single source for its users’ aeronautical data needs.