Santiago Airport has seen tremendous growth over the last decade.  Between 2004 and 2006 alone, the airport has seen a 60% increase in scheduled passenger traffic.  The airport also serves as an alternate for intercontinental flights to Madrid during poor weather conditions, which significantly adds to the demands on the infrastructure.  To respond to Santiago’s growing requirements, AENA has invested in state-of-the-art multilateration and ADS-B surveillance systems from Era to improve capacity and safety levels in various weather and operational conditions.

“Over the years, Era has successfully deployed their multilateration and ADS-B technology in a number of applications and sites throughout Spain,” said Jose Mota Salvador, Head of Radar Department, AENA.  “Era systems meet our demanding performance requirements, the reliability of the Era solutions is well-established, and they have also consistently demonstrated their ability to deliver and commission these systems to our satisfaction.”

AENA’s selection of Era to provide surface surveillance marks Era’s fifth such deployment in Spain.  Similar systems have been installed in Asturias and Palma De Mallorca and are currently being installed in Tenerife and Madrid Barajas. 

“AENA is one of the largest and most advanced ANSPs in the world and we are honored that they have put their faith in our technology time and time again,” said Dave Ellison, President and CEO of Era Corporation.  “We are committed to helping our customers like AENA meet their goals of handling increased traffic while improving safety and navigation services.”

Recently, Era technology was recognized by Frost & Sullivan, when they presented Era with the prestigious 2007 North American ADS-B Technology Leadership of the Year Award.  According to Frost and Sullivan, Era’s MSS surveillance technology serves as the perfect link to the future by seamlessly integrating ADS-B and multilateration technologies, allowing for complete and total surveillance both today and in the future.

The selection in Santiago extends Era’s strong recent performance worldwide with contracts and awards in Beijing, Munich, Dublin, Riga and Singapore.