skeyes air traffic control system undergoes major upgrade

On 19 October, skeyes, the Belgian air navigation service provider, upgraded its air traffic control systems. This involves the Mid-Life Upgrade 2 (MLU2) of the air traffic management system in its control towers and CANAC2 control centre on the Steenokkerzeel site. The MLU2 is essential for equipping the skeyes systems with new hardware and software that will enable additional functionalities to be added in the near future and to meet tomorrow’s aviation safety requirements.

The retrofit started late afternoon on Saturday 19 October and will continue until the morning of Sunday 20 October. The transition only took a few hours.

To minimise the impact on air traffic at Brussels Airport and regional airports, skeyes carried out the works outside the peak period of the summer flight schedule and on the night from Saturday to Sunday, traditionally the least busy night of the week.

Prior to the actual implementation of MLU2, the programme underwent more than a year of preparation and testing to anticipate possible incidents. skeyes has worked out a flexible transition, including back-up scenarios, ranging from an initial implementation with subsequent modifications to a complete return to the previous state.