NATS Reports Strong Performance and Pursues Growth

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• Publié par: nats8235
• Nombre de lectures: 13
• Langue: English

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NATS Reports Strong Performance and

Pursues Growth

PR Newswire

FAREHAM, England, June 29, 2012

FAREHAM,

England

,

June 29, 2012

/PRNewswire/ --

Overview:

• Financial results improved in 2011/12, following the price control review for

2011-2014

• Strong operational performance delivers economic and operational benefit to

airlines

• A growing commercial and international business

NATS, the UK's leading provider of air traffic services, has today announced

strong financial performance for the year to

31 March 2012

. Revenue

increased by £88 million to £865 million, while pre-tax profits rose by £89

million to £195 million.

The exceptional increase in profit mainly arises from the price control review

for 2011-2014 (CP3) which:

reset the mainly cash-based revenue allowances of the economically regulated

business to enable the company to meet higher pension contributions and to recover

additional investment in air traffic control systems, and

adopted new traffic forecasts thereby ending the sizeable under-recovery of revenue

allowances in the previous year caused by the weak economic environment.

Contract renewals and growth in NATS' commercial business also contributed.

Delivering performance targets to customers of

regulated business

NATS' core en route air traffic control service is economically regulated and

incentivised to deliver specific performance targets that create economic value

for its airline customers. In the year, these involved delivering:

1.

Safety and Capacity:

Safety is our first priority. NATS handled some 2.2 million flights

(2011: 2.1 million) and for the fourth successive year achieved its target of no NATS

attributable risk-bearing airprox, maintaining an already excellent safety record.

2.

Low levels of delay:

NATS limited average delay per flight to 7.3 seconds - around one

tenth of the European average - achieved while integrating major new technology.

3.

Saving fuel and CO

2

:

NATS provided improved flight profiles to customers enabling

savings of 25,000 tonnes of fuel worth c £17m, or the equivalent to 80,000 tonnes of CO

2

.

During the year, NATS also delivered a number of major projects with minimal

disruption to services. This included transitioning iFACTS, one of the most

advanced controller decision support systems, into full operational service at

Swanwick, requiring some 30,000 hours of training to 480 staff. The system

brings improvements to both safety and capacity.

This performance, supported by proactive communications, resulted in our

best-ever customer satisfaction score with 81.1% of respondents satisfied or

highly satisfied with the company's service.

Richard Deakin, Chief Executive, said: "We are acutely aware of the high cost to

our airline customers of delay and flight inefficiency. This explains our focus on

continuing to provide the highest standards of safety, environmental and

service performance, cost-effectively. We believe this delivers the greatest

economic value.

"We are looking to find innovative solutions that add even more value in the

future. For example, if we deliver on our CP3 flight efficiency targets, enabling

our customers to save 600,000 tonnes of CO

2,

we will reduce their fuel bill by

some £120m at today's prices.

"And increasingly we are seeking to enhance these outcomes by working

collaboratively with other air navigation service providers under the European

Commission's Single European Sky programme."

A growing commercial and international business

Outside its economically regulated business, NATS provides a range of

commercial air traffic and airport optimisation services. Through renewing

existing domestic airport contracts and winning business in new markets in the

year, the company secured forward orders worth £495m in the UK and 20

other countries. These included:

1. a new seven year contract with BAA to continue to provide air traffic control services to five

airports (including

Edinburgh

, which has since been sold to GIP);

2. a two year extension to the

Gatwick

airport contract;

3. a five year contract awarded to its Spanish joint venture for air traffic control services to 10

airports;

4. consultancy contracts in the

USA

, the

Middle East

and

Asia-Pacific

.

NATS' expertise in information management, designing and managing complex

airspace, and optimising runway capacity for customers, supports the world's

busiest single and dual runway airports at

Gatwick

and

Heathrow

and is now

helping to win new business internationally in markets from the

USA

to

India

,

and from the UAE to

Singapore

.

Richard Deakin added: "We made excellent progress in generating business in

new markets and, with a clear strategy and operating under the NATS brand,

we have made a good start towards achieving our vision for 2015 of £1bn

sustainable revenue.

"We are now looking forward to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Our

planning and preparations have been extensive, including the design and

introduction of temporary new airspace. We have done this in close

cooperation with airlines, airports, military, Civil Aviation Authority and

Government. The significant volumes of air traffic during the Games represent

one of NATS' greatest operational challenges ever, but we are confident we can

play our part in making it a successful event for the UK."

http://www.nats.co.uk