Strategic Pillars

Our four strategic pillars are the foundation of our value proposition to our customers, industry and the community.

We are focused on what our customers, the community and other stakeholders value and expect, in navigating the challenges and opportunities of technology and trends in aviation and air safety globally.

Our program deliverables will ensure that we are:

• safe and secure
• valued and accountable
• efficient and commercial
• innovative.

The success of our programs and deliverables outlined in this section are measured by our key performance indicators.

Industry Leadership

Promoting opportunities to enhance the safe and secure growth of the aviation industry, anticipating future needs.

Our key legislative obligations under the Air Services Act 1995 (Cth) include providing facilities and services for safety, regularity and efficiency of air navigation in Australian administered airspace and to foster and promote civil aviation.

Our role in fostering and promoting civil aviation challenges us, as an industry leader, to continually look for ways to improve the aviation ecosystem. We exemplify leadership by anticipating changes rather than responding, and bringing together stakeholders from across our industry and community to navigate inevitably complex issues. This collaboration will support industry growth, as together we create an environment in which the aviation industry thrives.

We will ensure representation of all layers of our industry-airlines, regional operators, general aviation users, commercial and non-commercial drone operators-as well as the communities and citizens we ultimately protect.

Programs

Fostering and Promoting Aviation

In fostering and promoting civil aviation, we place critical importance on not being an economic or operational impediment to industry growth. That is why we held our prices in 2015 and embarked on a transformation program to improve our efficiency, and position the organisation for future success. In 2017-18 we waived our charges for many not-for-profit aeromedical services. Following successive years of zero price growth, from 1 July 2019 we provided a price reduction for our customers of two per cent. This translates to a real price reduction of 20 per cent for our customers from 2015 through to 2023-24.

International Capability Development Program

We enhance the safety of air transport in our region by helping our neighbours improve their operations and internal capability. Airservices works closely with the Australian Government to provide this international assistance.

Airspace Modernisation Program

Airspace modernisation is critical to support continued safe air traffic growth while catering for the proliferation of new airspace entrants such as drones. The program will deliver a series of enhancements over the next five years to improve safe and efficient service outcomes and increase airspace access for the aviation industry. It will be primarily achieved through national standardisation and leveraging the benefits of increased surveillance coverage, while ensuring that the safety of air navigation provided by Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) remains the most important consideration.

The tranches of the program are:

• Tranche 1:

  Nationally standardise enroute and tower airspace management arrangements at regional air traffic control tower locations

• Tranche 2:

  Increase and nationally standardise upper enroute Class C and Class E controlled airspace

• Tranche 3:

  Nationally standardise the use of Class E controlled airspace at regional air traffic control tower locations

• Tranche 4:

  Introduce the higher service level Class B controlled airspace at major capital city locations such as Sydney and Melbourne

• Tranche 5:

  Replace uncontrolled Class G airspace with controlled Class E airspace at regional locations outside of air traffic control tower operating hours

• Tranche 6:

  Modify controlled airspace to allow for environmentally efficient Continuous
  Descent Approaches.

Deliverables

Service Innovation

Investing to deliver enhanced and new service offerings, valued by our customers and the community now and into the future.

We are focused on optimising our value to customers and the aviation industry now and into the future.

We innovate to develop valued services for our customers, while providing the flexibility they need for success in an ever changing and growing industry.

To anticipate and keep pace with change, we continually explore and identify ways to keep our skies safe and deliver distinctive value. By embracing opportunities to work in new ways, we add value to our customers and industry with improved safety, economic and operational outcomes.

We recognise the impact of aviation on communities and the environment.
Our engagement with communities minimises the potential impact of our operations.

Programs

Network Management

We play an important role in the efficient and effective management of the national aviation network. We are collaborating with industry to continuously improve our network management and minimise the impact of air traffic disruptions on the travelling public.

Our two programs of work are:

1. Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM)

A-CDM is a cross-industry initiative with the potential to realise major efficiencies for the aviation industry over the next decade. Following completion of the foundational work, 2019-20 will see the A-CDM system go-live at Brisbane and Sydney Airports.

2. Long Range Air Traffic Flow Management (LR-ATFM)

LR-ATFM shifts some or all of the required airborne delay for long range flights from the arrival phase of the flight to the enroute phase. The resulting benefits for airlines are less fuel burn and improved predictability of arrival flows into our major airports. LR-ATFM will go live at Melbourne Airport during this reporting period, with other airports to follow in 2020-21.

Digital Aerodrome Services (DAS)

We are introducing DAS-known as digital air traffic control towers-to help our air traffic controllers enhance service delivery and improve safety outcomes for the aviation industry and travelling public.

Trials to be conducted during 2019-20 and 2020-21 will help us determine the technology’s suitability to meet our stringent operational and safety standards and deliver the expected benefits.

The trials will cover a range of possible applications:

• back-up facility for service continuity and resilience purposes (to be trialled at Sydney)
• a control tower service where there is the need for a future replacement of the current air traffic control tower (to be trialled at Canberra)
• the introduction of a service at an aerodrome that does not currently have an air traffic control tower, but may require an air traffic control service in the future (Ballina).

Subject to the successful outcome of the trial, we will progress to operational implementation supported by the appropriate safety analysis, business case, and necessary regulatory approvals.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Integration and Management Services

The UAV integration and management services program is designed to rapidly assess the maturity, capability and functionality of emerging unmanned traffic management (UTM) systems. It will also provide test-and-learn opportunities
to understand how we must adapt
our approaches to airspace design to accommodate the changes occurring in the emerging landscape for low altitude airspace.

As part of this program, we are working with industry to pilot operational concepts for UTM services and to integrate with conventional airspace users, while maintaining a safe and secure environment for all.

The objectives of the pilots are to:

• rapidly assess the maturity, capability and functionality of emerging UTM systems and their providers
• accelerate our understanding of the aeronautical data requirements needed to support low-altitude operations
• inform approaches to boundary management between ATM and UTM systems, to assure segregated operations between conventional and low-altitude airspace segments
• provide test-and-learn opportunities
  to understand how we must
  adapt our approaches to airspace design to accommodate urban environment complexity.

Deliverables

Service Excellence

Delivering our services to a standard of excellence, while improving safety and efficiency for our customers and the community.

While the aviation industry operates in an environment of significant growth, unprecedented change and complexity, we remain focused on delivering service excellence to our customers. This means doing what we do now-well-while continuously improving the safety and efficiency of our service delivery to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations.

We understand our obligation to protect the environment and community from the effects of aircraft operations.

We reward the trust placed in us by communities, industry and the Government by ensuring that the safety of air navigation remains our most important priority and fulfilling our environmental and other legislated obligations.

Programs

OneSKY

The OneSKY program will deliver a harmonised civil and military air traffic management system for Australia and remains our key priority.

The program includes investment in critical air traffic infrastructure, facilities and services to enhance the safety, efficiency and capacity of the Australian air traffic network. It is the most complex transformation of air traffic management in Australian aviation history, delivering over $1 billion in economic benefits and enabling us to meet Australia’s future air traffic management needs, maintain Defence capability, and meet national security imperatives.

Over the coming financial year the benefits enabled by the new voice communication system commissioned in 2019 will be delivered to our customers.

Airport Development Support Program

We continue to support industry expansion and aviation infrastructure investment across Australia. This program delivers essential communications, navigation, surveillance and aviation rescue fire fighting services across Australian airports to support the safe and secure growth of air traffic.

We are establishing new Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting Services (ARFFS) at the Whitsunday Coast Airport. To enhance safety at the aerodrome while the new fire station is constructed, an early service will be introduced by the end of September 2019. The new fire station will be operational by the end of June 2020.

To support the new parallel runway at Brisbane Airport, a second fire station, Brisbane West, will be commissioned in 2020.

We are supporting planned developments at Sunshine Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Western Sydney airports with airspace design flight paths and infrastructure.

Our airspace and flight path design work is essential to realising the safety, economic and passenger benefits of
airport infrastructure investment. We will engage with communities as we seek to minimise the impact of aircraft operations on the environment.

Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting Services Modernisation Program

The ARFFS Modernisation Program will ensure ARFFS is ‘fit for the future’ and positioned to leverage technology developments that will enhance our service delivery.

The program-which also supports the Industry Leadership, Service Innovation and Organisational Agility pillars-is structured around six work streams:

• organisation design
• leadership and management
• personnel
• vehicles and equipment
• facilities and training
• support

Air Navigation Services Readiness Program

This program will prepare our air traffic operations capability to transition to OneSKY.

The program is structured around four work streams:

• organisation design
• people, leadership and capability
• systems and processes
• change management

Deliverables

Organisational Agility

Operating efficiently and effectively, while remaining agile to meet and exceed our customer, industry and community expectations.

Our organisational capability and capacity underpins everything we do. We need to continue to set the internal conditions for service delivery and innovation to thrive, as we aim to be a more agile organisation with the capability and capacity to respond to a rapidly changing and complex environment.

Programs

People

Our People Strategy identifies the requirement to evolve-and in some areas transform-our workforce over the short and long term. Over the planning period we will ensure that our organisation design and people practices build, develop, engage and retain the people capability that is essential to deliver service excellence and innovation for our customers and community.

We will further develop and sustain an inclusive workplace, where differences in our people are valued and utilised to support our innovation and change agenda.

We will continue to identify, develop and deploy our current and future leaders
to ensure they are ready to deliver on
our strategic initiatives and optimise service delivery.

Digital and Information Capability

Advancements in technology has meant an exponential growth in data. To leverage the value of this data and to provide improved services in an increasingly complex environment, we need new capabilities focused on data and analytics.

Our digital program has three work streams:

1. Develop a digital services platform to enhance our aeronautical information management (AIM) services through a customer focused approach to our information-based products and services.
2. Develop a ‘digital twin’ of our operation to support the delivery of optimised network management through improved collaborative decision making.
3. Using the ‘digital twin’ to optimise air traffic controller work load as well as traffic complexity and air route design.

Enterprise Network Modernisation Program

This program will ensure that the Airservices network has the capacity, availability, flexibility and security to manage the current and future bandwidth requirements of all our critical aviation equipment and systems.

Cyber Resilience

Investment in cyber security continues to improve our cyber resilience and security posture through the implementation of a comprehensive security framework that is consistent with the Australian Government’s Protective Security Policy Framework.
We promote a positive security culture that evolves along with our systems to meet technology’s rapid advancements.

Deliverables