Fintraffic’s Air Navigation Services’ Flight Planning Centre (FPC) was established 15 years ago. Its purpose was to centralise support for air navigation services nationally at a single location. The Flan Planning Centre is a unique entity in Finland, and there is no equivalent anywhere in Europe. To celebrate the FPC’s anniversary, we are taking a look at how centralised flight planning services have been built over the years up to today.
Flight planning personnel play a key role in ensuring the safety of flights: the work is supportive in nature, but without it, both flying and air traffic control would be impossible. In the past, flight planning services were provided at each airport separately until work began on their centralisation to one location at the end of 2007. Today, the Flight Planning Centre is located at Helsinki International Airport, from where flight planning services are provided for the entire country.
“As the centralised flight planning service is available in one place 24 hours a day, it simplifies the daily life of our clients. Since the centralisation decision was made, we have organised and developed our services to ensure that the unit is actually prepared to act as a national centralised flight planning service,” says Marianne Remes, Head of FPC Operations at Fintraffic ANS.
The FPC processes approximately 50,000 ATS messages (flight plans and related messages) each year. In addition, the personnel ensure that the data in the air traffic control system is up to date, monitor the operation of air traffic communications and, if necessary, initiate corrective measures.
The FPC houses an international NOTAM office, which is responsible for communications related to flight safety and plays a role in the airspace management process.
FPC built together with our dedicated personnel
The FPC staff comprises 19 persons engaged in operational work and five persons working in expert and managerial positions. About half of the staff have been at the unit since it was established. In spring 2024, a new chief was appointed to the FPC, who brought new spark to the development of operations and to the involvement of personnel in the achievement of common goals.
“It will be exceedingly important to have a command of multiple skills in the future. We have a good and committed group that includes both seasoned experts who experienced all the changes flight planning has seen and new experts, with new and innovation views. Strong expertise combined with enthusiasm for development creates a positive flow, which is an important resource for our unit. We will celebrate our 15-year history together and continue work to develop even better flight planning services,” says Sanna Pettersson, Chief of the Flight Planning Center.
“Today, the FPC is flourishing. I am genuinely pleased with our current situation and have strong faith that our future will be a positive one. Even so, without our excellent staff we would not have been able to achieve the objectives set for us. As someone who has worked at the FPC for quite some time and seen the changes take place, I would like to thank our staff for their dedication, enthusiasm for development and determination for the good of our unit,” Remes praises.
Digitalisation creating new opportunities for flight planning services
Digitalisation has thrust the transport sector into a revolution in recent years. Information passed through electronic channels is nothing new in flight planning, as the electrification of services was one of the preconditions for establishing centralised air traffic services 15 years ago. Nonetheless, digital solutions will provide the FPC new opportunities for more efficient operations in the future.
“Fintraffic Sky, the service we’ve launched most recently, already mimics a digital service platform. Even so, our older flight plan communication service, in which we carry out manual work to transfer messages to our main system is still in place alongside the new service. If services were not developed, we would be unable to process the entire nation’s flight plans and other messages,” says Remes.
The operation of centralised flight planning services has always been based on competent, skilled people and good management. And we will continue in this manner in the future. Cooperation within the FPC and with other units strengthens and develops the FPC’s position as Finland’s centralised flight planning service unit.
The FPC’s journey from the centralisation decision to today:
- 2007: Development of the centralisation of flight planning begins in accordance with Finavia’s strategy.
- 2008–2009: The NOTAM office is merged with Flight Planning Services. This is the first major transfer related to the centralisation of services.
- 2010: Finavia’s airport-specific flight planning services are gradually transferred from eight airports and area control centres to the FPC between 1 September and 13 September 2010. Provision of around-the-clock flight planning services from a single service point at Helsinki International Airport begins.
- 2014–2015: Area air traffic control operator tasks gradually get transferred to Air Navigation Services in 2014–2015 and Helsinki International Airport’s air traffic control operator tasks in 2015. Multi-skill training for personnel continues in 2016.
- 2025: The Fintraffic Sky service is published alongside the existing flight plan communication service.
