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Founded almost thirty years ago, Metron Aviation pioneered the advancement of Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) research and is recognized for its proven track record in deploying and supporting high quality air traffic flow management (ATFM) systems onsite and via cloud solutions.
To give readers a more in-depth look at our partnership we sat down with Metron Aviation executives to talk about how they are utilizing FlightAware data to improve accuracy and better inform enroute trajectory predictions from take-off all the way through landing.
What is Metron Aviation’s position in the aviation industry?
Metron Aviation is a global leader in air traffic flow management (ATFM) and aviation software for Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP), airlines, airports, and the U.S. Federal government. Its technical software is implemented via onsite deployment or cloud solutions in support of our primary focus — to be the global brand that delivers excellent services in the aviation industry and inspires customers through an exceptional experience.
How does Metron Aviation and its clients utilize FlightAware data?
A primary component of ATFM is predicting airspace and airport demand. Predicting these operations accurately requires a large amount of data from various sources, including surveillance data once flights get airborne. Partnering with FlightAware and leveraging their AeroAPI and Firehose products allows Metron Aviation to integrate a global surveillance picture to inform all our en route trajectory predictions from take-off all the way through landing.Is the insight you get with FlightAware data different from what you had before?
Absolutely, prior to working with FlightAware, our primary source of surveillance data was typically from our ANSP customers. While this was helpful, often their coverage is limited to their respective areas of responsibility. Integrating FlightAware data has allowed us to broaden our horizons from a coverage perspective.
Do you have any success stories so far? If so, can you provide more details?
As part of our business case to integrate the FlightAware data with one of our customers in the Asia Pacific region, we performed an independent analysis with and without the FlightAware data. This customer services flights from all over the world from Europe to North America, and on average our trajectory predictions using the FlightAware data for the long-haul traffic generated estimated landing times that were accurate to within +/- 4 minutes with 8 hours of flying time remaining. This was a significant increase in accuracy over using only the local surveillance, which only provided position reports for the last 10-15% of the long-haul trajectories.
How do you see this growing in the future?
As Metron Aviation continues to provide more ATM solutions to more ANSPs and airlines around the world, we will continue to use the FlightAware data products to improve our commercial offerings including leveraging more than just en route surveillance data.
FlightAware Firehose is an enterprise-grade, real-time, and predictive data feed of global aircraft ADS-B positions and flight statuses.
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