iscover
Airservices is rolling out a new system for aviation companies to enter their flight data that is quicker and more user-friendly.
The new online portal will be used by up to 600 organisations, including airports, air traffic control and those involved in flight planning.
Queensland cloud hosting company ATech, which also works with Virgin Australia, created the new system from scratch.
“We threw a big challenge at the ATech team to help us design and build a user-friendly aeronautical data collection portal from scratch,” said David Foster, Airservices’ AIS data integrity manager.
“The collaborative design work and agile development approach adopted by ATech was one of the key factors contributing to the successful build and deployment of the Airservices ADO Portal.
“With over 1,000 users currently registered and using the ADO Portal, we’re incredibly proud to offer this new service milestone.
“The portal improves our service offering and creates better outcomes for the aviation industry.”
Airservices, which is best known for overseeing air traffic control in Australia, was formed in 1995 after splitting from the old Civil Aviation Authority along with what became CASA.
It comes after Airservices announced plans to increase fees to airlines for navigation and aviation rescue and fire-fighting (ARFF) services for the first time in eight years.
The organisation, which decreased its prices in 2019, is looking to raise them to cover increased costs. The ATC body is planning four price increases between April 2024 and January 2026, which would raise the weighted average prices for these services by 19 per cent in nominal terms.
Under the first proposed price rise, the cost per passenger for ATC services would go from $13 to $14 on a 737-800 from Melbourne to Brisbane, and from $35 to $37 on an A380 from Singapore to Sydney.
The ACCC is seeking feedback on the move.
“As Airservices Australia is the only declared provider of air traffic control and aviation fire-fighting services, the ACCC is required to assess any price increase against statutory criteria,” its commissioner, Liza Carver, said.
An Airservices spokesperson told Australian Aviation that, on a weighted average basis, its current prices are at 2012 levels following a two per cent reduction in 2019 and that it last increased its prices by 0.4 per cent in 2015.
More details on the price increases are available on the ACCC’s website, with submissions due by 19 January 2024.
