Thales Australia wins the Aviation/Aerospace Australia award for Excellence in Innovation

At the Aviation/Aerospace Australia (A/AA) A24 Airspace Awards, held in Melbourne, Thales Australia won the Excellence in Innovation category for our integrated Approach Spacing Tool (AST), which brings precision to optimised spacing between arrival flights and promotes greener skies for the future.

The A/AA Airspace Awards recognise and celebrate excellence in the Australian aviation and aerospace industry, highlighting innovative projects and advancements that contribute significantly to the sector.

Thales was recognised in the presence of many other aviation and aerospace organisations at the awards ceremony.

The AST is an innovation by Thales Australia's Air Traffic Management experts and engineers within our Airspace Mobility Solutions business headquartered in Melbourne. The tool seamlessly integrates into the Thales TopSky-ATC solution, exported from Australia to Air Navigation Service Providers worldwide.

“This award highlights the unique factors that have made our Australian industry a leader in world aviation and aerospace innovation. It recognises an innovative project developed in Australia that helps enhance our international reputation for progressive applied thinking.” – Philippe Bernard-Flattot, Vice President Airspace Mobility Solutions at Thales Australia & New Zealand. 

The AST transforms arrival management. By precisely calculating optimised spacing during the descent phase of flight and considering diverse weather conditions and dynamic aircraft performance, the AST provides consistent and accurate arrival sequences. It offers a clear, graphical representation of each aircraft's position relative to the ideal trajectory, ensuring efficient arrival sequences.

For pilots, airlines, and airports alike, the benefits are manifold. Predictable arrival paths reduce fuel consumption, cockpit workload, and delays while enhancing safety and customer service. Thales, at the forefront of technological advancement and innovation significantly contributes to a greener, safer aviation industry for all. These achievements align with our ambitions to deliver greener aviation solutions for the industry.

A study by the Civil Aviation Department in Hong Kong, revealed that the AST implementation marks a new era of increased efficiency and sustainability. With a projected reduction of over 16,500 tons of fuel and 52,000 tons of CO2 emissions over a year attributed to AST implementation, the skies above Hong Kong become clearer, quieter, and more sustainable—with Thales helping to build a future we all can trust.

Melbourne Centre of Excellence for Air Traffic Management

Thales Australia has invested in the development of software products and services that have been successfully exported worldwide. Through our sovereign Australian capability, we continue to remain dedicated to growing our Australian operations, engineering and services workforce as well as to continuing our significant contribution to the Australian economy.

Our capability as a prime systems integrator for complex turnkey CNS/ATM/UTM means Thales can be a trusted partner to develop, deploy, integrate, operate, service and support complex critical national ATM infrastructure using Thales and 3rd party systems, for our clients.

We are investing in Australia’s future with world leading technology and over 480 high tech jobs. Our Australian Graduate program assists with the development of the new generation of skilled people who will deliver the services necessary to support the future growth of the dynamic and changing Australian based Aviation sector.