OREANDA-NEWS. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and ENAIRE, the Spanish air navigation services provider, together with ACETA, the Spanish Airlines’ Association, have agreed to further reinforce their cooperation for the development and implementation of ENAIREs Strategic Plan, “FlightPlan 2020”. This will deliver benefits to the travelling public and the Spanish economy through reform and modernization of Spanish airspace and air traffic management (ATM).

At present, air transport contributes 7% to Spain’s GDP and supports around 400,000 jobs. Successful airspace modernization is expected to create significant benefits, generating an extra 1.4% in GDP annually and supporting about 65,000 jobs over the next 20 years.

The demand for aviation in Spain is set to grow by 4% per year until 2020, resulting in 300,000 new flights to, from and within Spain. Servicing this demand - while ensuring safety, reducing costs, CO2 emissions and delays - requires Spain to modernize its airspace and ATM network.

“FlightPlan 2020” builds on the success of recent airspace and wider ATM developments put in place by ENAIRE and Spanish stakeholders to respond to the Single European Sky objectives and to further support the modernization and improvements in safety, environmental footprint, operational performance, cost efficiency and business continuity, which are pillars of the ENAIRE Strategic Plan.