EANA awards Vaisala contract to equip 31 airports with AWOS

EANA, Argentina’s ANSP, has awarded Finland-based Vaisala a contract worth €14.8 million, covering provision and installation of AWOS systems at 31 airports. It is Vaisala’s largest single airport instrumentation contract ever.

The AWOS shipsets,  part of a large-scale modernization drive undertaken by the Ministry of Transport – EANA’s sole shareholder – have been earmared for installation at Catamarca, Comodoro Rivadavia, Córdoba, Corrientes, El Calafate, Bahía Blanca, Esquel, Formosa, Jujuy, La Rioja, Mendoza, Neuquén, Paraná, Posadas, Puerto Iguazú, Rio Gallegos, Rio Grande, Rosario, Salta, San Fernando, San Juan, San Luis, San Martín de Los Andes, San Rafael, Santa Rosa, Santiago Del Estero, Termas de Rio Hondo, Trelew, Tucumán, Ushuaia y Viedma.

Transport Minister Guillermo Dietrich underlined the transparency of the tender process, “in which the winner bid offered the best technology at the best price, plus the fact that a Finnish company returns to Argentina to resume its local presence.” Jarkko Sairanen, Executive Vice President, Weather and Environment, Vaisala, commented  “interestingly, it will be 80 years since Vilho Väisälä, the founder of Vaisala, travelled to Argentina for the first time to sell radiosondes”.

“Safety and Service Quality are strategic affairs at EANA,” President and CEO Gabriel Giannotti said at the signing event. “We are firmly committed to optimizing our processes and resources as well as reaching the highest performance in safety. It’s within this framework of air navigation service modernization that we are going to invest €14.8 million to implement AWOS equipment at 31 airports.”

First in line for installation is Córdoba airport in Central Argentina. Córdoba will get one of two Cat III AWOS in order to complement a comprehensive capacity expansion plan at the country’s main inland hub, which is also getting a Cat III ILS. Rosario airport, in Santa Fe province (to the East), will also receive a Cat III AWOS.

The balance 29 AWOS will be Cat I. Second-in-line for installation is San Fernando, located north of Buenos Aires. The airport is home to the country’s largest number of private as well as business aircraft, both fixed as well as rotary wings. EANA expects to complete installation of the first six AWOS airport sets before year’s end, and do likewise with the other 29 systems in 2020 although this could extend into 2021.

Meanwhile, EANA has installed Lightning Detection Systems at nine airports: Jorge Newbery Metropolitan (Buenos Aires), El Palomar and Ezeiza (in the Greater Buenos Aires area), Córdoba, Iguazú, Rosario, Salta, San Fernando and Tucumán, followed by Bahía Blanca, Formosa, Iguazú, Jujuy, Catamarca, La Rioja, Mar del Plata, Mendoza, Paraná, Posadas, Resistencia, Rio IV, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Rosa, Santiago del Estero, Sauce Viejo (S. Fe) and Termas de Rio Hondo.