NATS To Introduce Time-based ATC Solution at Heathrow
Time-based separation will significantly increase an airport’s flight acceptance rate.
Time-based separation will significantly increase an airport’s flight acceptance rate.

British ATC provider NATS announced last week that a new system that uses time intervals rather than distance to separate arriving and departing aircraft should be in full operation at London Heathrow Airport next spring. The dynamic time-based separations (TBS) system is expected to reduce aircraft delays while increasing an airport’s landing acceptance rate by accounting for wind-speed changes that current distance-based separation ignores.