New NATS centre goes live

26 January 2010

January 25: UK air traffic co-ordinator NATS has successfully moved more than 130 air traffic controllers and support staff from Manchester to its brand-new £180m Prestwick Centre in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Over the weekend of January 23/24 the last aircraft to be handled by the old centre in Manchester were handed over to Prestwick, bringing to an end 35 years of operations from Lancashire.

On February 5, Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal will formally open the new centre, which controls 42% of the annual 2.2 million flights in the UK’s controlled airspace. From Prestwick controllers manage Oceanic airspace, Scottish airspace and military airspace in the north of the UK.

This move completes a ten-year plan to merge four control centres into two – alongside Prestwick, Swanwick in Hampshire controls all UK airspace in the south.

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