London Heathrow has introduced a new aircraft separation system that air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (NATS) says is already improving punctuality and cutting carbon emissions. The system was deployed in December 2024 as part of Heathrow’s existing Intelligent Approach arrivals spacing tool.

Heathrow is the first airport in the world to use the technology, which was developed by NATS and Leidos UK. The approach changes how the gap between arriving aircraft is calculated, and early results point to smoother operations at one of the world’s busiest and most capacity-constrained airports.

Data Shows Fewer Delays After Pairwise Introduction

The new system, which is known as Pairwise, replaced the traditional method of spacing aircraft , which used to be based

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