Indra Strengthens its Position in Asia's Air Space

With Contracts in China and India for EUR 41 M

-- 60% of China's air space will be controlled with Indra's surveillance systems, already the country's first supplier of this type of technology
-- In India, the company has won the biggest contract in the last years worldwide in terms of amount of air traffic management systems
-- Indra's world leadership in air traffic management is reinforced

Indra reinforces its position in the Asian market after two significant contracts in air traffic management. The Civil Aviation Administration of China awarded the company the deployment of a surveillance network to cover 60% of the country's air space. In India it will implement nine radar stations and will equip 38 airports with its air traffic management systems, thus winning the biggest contract worldwide in the last years in terms of amount of systems. Both contracts amount to nearly a total of EUR 41 M.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China, through Beijing's Air Traffic Management Bureau, commissioned Indra the deployment of several surveillance stations in Guangzhou, Xian, Shanghai, Chengdu and Beijing.
The surveillance stations will cover the country's 50 most important airports and will manage more than 80 % of air traffic. This way, the company plays a leading role in the modernisation of China's air space surveillance systems.

The stations will be equipped with more than 20 monopulse secondary radars with mode S, the most advanced existing systems. They will allow identification of aircraft in a selective way, besides obtaining flight-related information, among others.

With this information air traffic controllers will be able to manage more flights without detriment to security of operations. In this way, Indra supports modernisation of China's air traffic management infrastructures. The country's air traffic has increased by 15% in the last ten years.

Proven technology

Indra's role in the most ambitious and important project carried out by China in the last 5 years in surveillance of its air space gained importance after the Civil aviation authorities verified themselves the performance of the company's equipment.

On occasion of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the company reinforced the air space surveillance of the city with four portable secondary radars which also supported helicopter traffic during the earthquakes in 2008. Afterwards, the authorities decided to acquire two more systems of this type.

In addition to this, the company started up a control centre for Urumqi airport, in Xin Jiang, implemented a radar surveillance station and supplied a radar system for Xi'an Xianyang international airport. The project also included the dismantling, transport and reinstallation of the current primary radar.

The company has been active in China since 1997 and set up a subsidiary in 2002 in Beijing which manages expansion in Asia-Pacific. Throughout all these years, Indra has been awarded remarkable contracts in aeronautics simulation, tunnels and motorways traffic control systems and ticketing systems for metro and railways.

Modernisation of India's sky

Indra was awarded the biggest contract across the world in terms of amount of air traffic management systems in the last years. 38 airports in India will be equipped with the company's systems to supervise and manage the country's air space traffic. Besides this, Indra will implement 9 radar surveillance stations with Mode S in order to reinforce flight control and security.

The systems will provide air traffic controllers with a global vision of air space activity. The system combines data collected by radars with the aircraft flight plans and weather information, and is equipped with land-to-air communication. The system automates many repetitive air traffic control tasks, thus allowing to manage more flights and to increase security levels.

Regarding surveillance, 9 stations will be deployed across the country (Bellary, Bhopal, Vizag, Chennai, Jodhpur, Porbandar, Katihar, Jharsuguda and Kolkata) with cutting edge monopulse secondary radars with mode S.

ATM world leader

With these contracts Indra reinforces its position as a world leader in air traffic management systems (ATM). More than 80 countries have trusted in the company's technology which facilitates flow of millions of passengers on a daily basis.

In Asia, the company developed projects in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia and worked on the modernisation of ATM systems in Mongolia.

In the Middle East, Indra has become the strategic supplier of the Sultanate of Oman and has an important presence in Maghreb- especially in Morocco and Tunisia, Africa.

In Turkey, it is implementing the country's new air space surveillance network which will be equipped with nearly twenty monopulse secondary radars.

In Europe, Indra is one of the most active companies in the European Single Sky ATM Research programme (SESAR) which aims at the creation of the European single sky. It is also technology partner of Germany's air navigation services supplier (DFS), UK's NATS and Spain's AENA.

The company has implemented the flight plan control management system at Eurocontrol's centre in Maastricht, which covers Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and the South of Germany. With the centre's start-up last year, Indra became the only company with an operative and proven system that complies with SESAR standards.

In Latin America, the Central American Corporation for Air Navigation Services (COCESNA) employs Indra's systems to manage the air space of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Belize. The company's systems are also present in Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina.

Source : Indra