NATS and AiQ Consulting win Best Solution Provider at AOA Awards

Above: NATS and AiQ Consulting accept their award.  (left to right) Simon Calder, AiQ Managing Director Derek Allen, NATS Portfolio Manager Gary Conroy and AOA Chair Baroness Ruby McGregor- Smith.
Courtesy NATS

Together with AiQ Consulting, NATS’ project won the “Best Solution Provider” award which recognises businesses in the aviation and airport sectors that have delivered new, innovative solutions to meet a defined business need.

The prize acknowledged the delivery of an end-to-end airport capacity assessment at Bristol Airport – the ninth busiest airport in the UK – focusing on pinch points between kerbside and airside.
NATS and AiQ Consulting worked to deliver a completely integrated assessment of the entire airport operation and developed a range of immediate suggested actions and longer-term investments to secure efficiency of the operation.

With exciting and ambitious plans for the future backed by significant infrastructural investment, Bristol Airport now has a validated actionable roadmap that enables them to achieve ongoing improvements to the customer experience.

Gary Franklin, NATS’ Customer Solutions and Delivery Director, said: “By bringing together experts from air traffic control, airport operations, stand planning, baggage management and passenger flow, NATS and AiQ were able to help Bristol Airport understand how to improve capacity constraints across the entire airport, by helping to identify and prioritise investment needs.

“Finding innovative ways to solve specific operational and technical challenges is one of NATS’ key capabilities so we are delighted that our project with AiQ has won this prestigious award.”

AiQ’s Managing Director, Derek Allen, said: “We are very proud to have won this award which was based on exceeding our client’s expectations. Together with NATS we provided an end-to-end capacity assessment from kerbside to airside at Bristol Airport, which took a holistic, whole-journey approach.

“The project demonstrated our deep operations experience and our modelling capabilities that enabled the airport to understand the customer challenges facing them and make the right decisions for the future. From big picture virtual reality modelling to highly detailed insights, the award was a recognition of the talents in the AiQ and NATS team.”

The Airport Operators Association (AOA) is a national trade association which represents the interests of UK airports in areas such as security, economic development, operations and safety and environmental sustainability.