Seamless Skies Awards shortlist results are here!

Thanks to the esteemed judging panel, the votes are in and the shortlist is now ready to be made public. Once again, we’d like to thank the judges as these programmes are not possible without their support. The panel of judges comprises: Boeing: Mildred Troegeler, Executive Liaison to ICAO, CANSO: Simon Hocquard, President & CEO, CANSO: Tim Arel, Chair CANSO Board of Directors, Global Airspace Radar: Claudia Bacco, Editor-in-Chief, Graham Aerospace International: Nancy Graham, President, International Centre for Aviation Innovation (ICAI): Patrick Ky, CEO, NAV CANADA: Dave Sheppard, Vice President and Chief Technology and Information Officer, Thales: Youzec Kurp, Vice President and General Manager, Airspace Mobility Solutions, and Unmanned Publications: Philip Butterworth-Hayes, Editorial Director.

Entries came from near and far with representation from North America, South America, 23 countries in Europe, Hong Kong, China, Australia, and New Zealand. Companies included air navigation service providers, airports, airlines, industry vendors, drone operators, drone delivery companies, UTM providers, research organisations, universities, aviation bodies, startups and more. Topics crossed air traffic management, drones, upper airspace, artificial intelligence, civil-military integration and more.

So now it’s time for the first unveiling of the results, the shortlist. The entries were truly high calibre and it’s unfortunate that everyone can’t be selected to move to the next round. If you’re mentioned below, please plan to join us in person on the 26th of May at Airspace World for the announcement of the category winners, category runners-up, overall winner and the CANSO person of the year award. Stay tuned for more details about the awards ceremony in the very near future.

Building the lower airspace economy

With drones, eVTOLs, and personal flying vehicles about to take to the skies in increasing numbers, this award acknowledges the work that has been done to prepare lower airspace for safe and efficient new entrant operations, including integration with current ATM systems and procedures.

1. NASA Air Traffic Management and Safety Project – Safe, Increasingly Autonomous Surface Operations: NASA Digital Taxi Clearance and Autonomous Airport Surface Operations
2. NAV CANADA, Unifly, Transport Canada – Open Skies, Safe Skies: Canada’s dual approach to lower airspace
3. Wing Aviation – Wing Builds the Lower Airspace Economy With Scale
4. Unifly, Skeydrone, Port of Antwerp-Bruges – From UTM to U-space Readiness: Operationalising Structured Lower Airspace at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges
5. EUROCONTROL (project leader) and consortium (50 partners, including as work package leaders ENAV, ENAIRE, INECO, THALES) – U-ELCOME Project

Collaborative operations for sustainable skies

This award recognises successful partnerships between ANSPs, industry, aircraft operators, research organisations, and others to deliver new levels of airspace management performance – improving safety, reducing delays and environmental impact while delivering a more cost-effective operational outcome.

1. EUROCONTROL MUAC, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS), Luchtverkeersleiding Nederland (LVNL), the German Air Force, the Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force, the Danish Air Force, the German Navy and Naviair – Optimising airspace above the Netherlands and north-west Germany: a cross-border civil–military airspace redesign project in the core of Europe
2. Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department – Collaborative Air Traffic Management for Resilient and Sustainable Operations under Adverse Weather
3. DLR, ENAIRE, Deep Blue, ENAV, Indra, LFV, Universidad Politecnica De Madrid (UPM), Linkopings Universitet (LiU), NLR, NATS – IFAV3 – Increased Flexibility of ATCO Validations
4. ANRA Technologies – Shared Airspace: Moving Multi-Operator Drone Operations from Demonstration to UK-wide Integration
5. Airways New Zealand and Airservices Australia (joint submission) – Airways New Zealand and Airservices Australia: A Cross-Border Partnership Transforming Regional Aviation
6. skeyes, Brussels Airport Company, Brussels Airlines, TUI, DHL, Vueling, Air France, EUROCONTROL, EGIS – From demonstration to operations : collaborative ISGS operations at Brussels Airport for quieter and more sustainable approaches

 Innovation to enable safer, more efficient operations

Driving advancements in technology, automation, and operations to shape the skies of tomorrow. This award celebrates projects that explore the latest innovations demonstrating how cutting-edge technologies such as digitisation, virtualisation, and artificial intelligence can enhance performance, efficiency, safety, sustainability, and capacity in airspace operations.

1. ResilienX, Inc. – OptiX and SAFE-T: A Resilient Digital Infrastructure Layer for Integrated Airspace Operations
2. AMPLE3 SESAR 3 project: EUROCONTROL (Coordinator), ACI Europe, Airbus, Boeing Aerospace Spain, Brussels Airport Company, CIRA, DSNA, DTU Technical University of Denmark, ENAIRE, CRIDA, ENAV, INDRA, ALG, ISA Software, LEONARDO, NATS, NAV Portugal, NOM – AMPLE3: Transforming European Aviation Through Digital Innovation
3. ROMATSA RA & Indra – World’s first ANSP FF-ICE/R1 deployment by ROMATSA and Indra
4. DLR, NLR, Swiss SkyLab, Thales, Eurocontrol, NATS, Empa, Swiss International Air Lines – DYN-MARS – FMS enhancements for more sustainable and quieter flights in the TMA
5. ASTRA Consortium ( L-Universita Ta Malta, Innovacion Y Gestion En Navegacion Aerea (INGENAV), Deep Blue, Skysoft-Atm, Skyguide) – ASTRA: An AI-based solution for tactical air traffic complexity prediction and resolution
6. Avinor Air Navigation Services – Avinor ANS first in the world with multiple airport operations from one digital tower centre

Remarkable people & workforce

This award celebrates the contribution that individuals, teams or company programmes have made to the airspace management industry – which could be ensuring the continuance of operations during crises or delivering an improved performance to customers.

1. NASA Airspace Operations & Safety Program – NASA’s Airspace Operations and Safety Program — A Multi-Center Team Shaping the Future of Flight
2. Greenland Airports – The resilience and teamwork behind Greenland’s digital airspace
3. FAA – Excellence In All Ways
4. Austro Control – #542morrow – Innovation at Austro Control
5. ATM Azeraeronavigation – ATM Azeraeronavigation

 Safety, security & resilience

This award acknowledges projects which support resilience to disruptions and unforeseen events and maximise operational performance ensuring that both safety and service continuity in extreme circumstances is possible.

1. Frequentis AG – German Armed Forces Low-Altitude Air Picture and Military UTM Capability — Building Resilient, Secure Airspace Operations
2. Polish Air Navigation Services Agency – Skyward Synergy: Building Europe’s Most Resilient and Adaptive Airspace Through Civil–Military Collaboration
3. EUROCONTROL and EASA – EASA-EUROCONTROL Joint Action Plan on GNSS RFI
4. ENAIRE – AI-driven system to enhance operational safety incident investigation process

Seamless Skies for All

A project or organisation which has delivered a measurable improvement to the optimisation of airspace management performance, supporting airspace users to meet their business and operational goals.

1. NASA Air Traffic Management eXploration Project – Opening Upper Class E: NASA’s High-Altitude Traffic Management Collaborative Evaluation
2. DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH – From Concept to Console: Germany’s ATCO Operational Model for Drone Integration in CTRs
3. EUROCONTROL – Managing Europe’s Busiest Summer – Network Manager and Operational Partners Deliver for Airspace Users
4. ENAIRE – ENAIRE’s integrated digital ecosystem for airspace coordination
5. Straten Consulting Services Limited – Airline Flight Optimisation System