The system which allows the management of air navigation in France is somewhat outdated and its modernization will certainly ground a few thousand planes from January 9.
The software itself has obviously been updated since the 1970s, but it still lags behind youthful mistakes and conception problems inherent to his advanced age. It has been progressively modernized from a technical point of view for several years, and this will continue in 2024. More precisely between January 9 and 14 and after the Olympic Games. This shift risks causing some disappointments and massive flight cancellations are to be expected. In any case, this update is imperative and the current state of our navigation system contrasts sharply with the integration of certain technologies in the field of civil aviation. Biometrics in airports for example.
An alarming technological delay
The senator from Seine-Saint-Denis, Vincent Capo-Canellas highlights the urgent nature of this update: “ France is the European champion of delay (…) we are the last to have such an old air traffic control system » he insists. It is true that French air traffic controllers still work with stripssemi-rigid papers which bring together most of the information for a specific flight.
A fact confirmed by Laurent Timsit, General Delegate of the FNAM (National Federation of Aviation and its Trades): “ These are very old software, designed in the 1970s “. He pursues : ” France is today very late (…) this new system should make it possible to increase airport capacities and reduce delays “.
The modernization program was launched in 2011, but has fallen significantly behind schedule since then. The software in question, 4-Flight, was actually only deployed in 2022, although it was supposed to be from 2015. Despite this late deployment, two centers out of five did not really benefit from it in 2022. Its full deployment will therefore take place in 2026, more than 10 years late. This is starting to get a bit long, indeed, but better late than never!
The consequences of a necessary transformation
When you update your graphics card drivers, for example, you’ll only have to deal with a little wait time and a few blinks from your monitor. For updating an aerial system, the problems will be on a different scale. During the testing phases, companies were ordered to reduce their flight volumes by around 20%. This will therefore mean 16,500 flights will be cancelled. Of these, 4,379 belong to Air France. Travelers will need to plan their trips carefully to avoid being surprised.
A certain upheaval, but necessary. Indeed, this colossal update will make it possible to optimize flight trajectories, and therefore at the same time reduce CO emissions.2 aircraft. According to Vincent Capo-Canellas, this “ should make it possible to reduce emissions by 8 to 10% (…)”. An important transition, especially before hosting the Olympic Games at home.
Source : Le Figaro
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