KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
COOPANS VALUE
The COOPANS Alliance stands as the leading example in Europe of an industrial partnership with cooperation between multiple ANSPs and a good working relationship with its ATM system supplier. The COOPANS Alliance has now implemented the same software version at all 7 ACCs, across 5 ANSPs, within a very short timescale. Furthermore 4 out of 5 partners are now running CPDLC and all use the advanced ATM functionalities like 4D trajectories, MTCD and Mode S with downlinked parameters. Additionally all have the same integration platform and undertake common planning of validation.
The system fulfils the operational needs of the ANSPs, including significantly increasing capacity and the ability to handle increases in traffic without any delays. Controllers are working on a very stable basis, with the COOPANS system functioning consistently well. The COOPANS system has also facilitated improvements in ANSP safety and environmental performance, for example as an enabler for Performance Based Navigation which allows more precise departure and arrival routes. The COOPANS Alliancehas also succeeded in implementing EU Implementing Rules on time.
The COOPANS system minimises costs to its customers (airspace users) by keeping system costs down and saving ANSPs time – for example in terms of testing new software releases, integration, common build releases. A 2012 Value for Money (VfM) study concluded that the COOPANS business model has strong foundation, and results (in principle) in significant savings per build step (typically greater than 30 % of development costs) compared with a standalone model.
The reason for this is that, as long as a high level of commonality can be maintained in the requirements for each build, the development costs are shared between 6 ANSPs. Furthermore, the establishment of a common platform significantly reduces the integration and deployment costs for the ANSPs. These benefits are expected to become more apparent with increasing commonality across COOPANS partners.