NAV CANADA

Their core work

NAV CANADA is Canada's civil air navigation service provider, operating air traffic control towers, flight information centres, and surveillance infrastructure across Canadian airspace — one of the world's largest ANSPs by traffic volume. In the H2020 context, they contributed operational and technical expertise to SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) projects focused on airport surface management, remote tower operations, and runway throughput. Their role is that of an external industry expert: they bring real-world ATM operational experience from a non-European jurisdiction into European research consortia. They help validate whether new ATM concepts work at scale in live operations.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the earlier SESAR projects (2016-2019), their contribution spanned foundational concepts — remote tower control of multiple airports and integrated airport surface management. The more recent work (PJ02-W2 AART, 2019-2023) narrowed toward precision approach procedures, runway throughput optimisation, and technical enablers like GNSS curved approaches, EFVS, and A-SMGCS datalink. The trajectory suggests a move from broad operational concepts toward measurable capacity and safety gains at specific airport bottlenecks.

They are shifting toward measurable capacity and safety improvements at constrained airports — useful for anyone working on secondary-airport operations, curved approaches, or runway incursion prevention.

How they like to work

NAV CANADA never coordinates H2020 projects and does not hold prime participant status — they contributed as a third party across all three engagements, which is consistent with a non-EU ANSP supporting SESAR research. Despite the peripheral formal role, they collaborated across 68 partners in 24 countries, indicating they are drawn into large, multi-country SESAR consortia as an operational reference voice. Expect them to contribute expertise and validation rather than lead work packages.

Connected to 68 distinct consortium partners across 24 countries, reflecting the broad geographic footprint of SESAR industrial and ANSP networks. Their presence is concentrated within the European ATM research community rather than tied to any single national cluster.

What sets them apart

NAV CANADA is a non-European ANSP deliberately brought into SESAR research, giving consortia access to operational perspectives from one of the world's largest and most geographically dispersed air navigation systems. Unlike European ANSPs tied to dense, short-sector airspace, they bring experience from remote, low-density, and oceanic operations — directly relevant to remote tower and secondary airport use cases. Partner with them when you want your ATM concept pressure-tested against a very different operational context.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PJ05 Remote Tower
  Remote tower for multiple airports is a flagship SESAR concept, and NAV CANADA operates the kind of low-density airport network where remote towers are most relevant.
• PJ02-W2 AART
  Their most technically dense engagement, spanning GNSS curved approaches, runway throughput, A-SMGCS and runway excursion prevention at secondary airports.
• PJ03a SUMO
  Integrated surface management complements AART, showing sustained focus on the airport side of ATM rather than only en-route airspace.