The Pan European Network Service (PENS) is now the operational network for the exchange of coordination messages between the Maastricht Upper Area Centre (MUAC) in the Netherlands and NATS’ Swanwick Center in the UK, according to Eurocontrol.
The most significant traffic growth, according to IATA calculations, will be in Asia where traffic, including China, is expected to increase by about 50% from 2012 to 2020. Other hot-spot growth areas are South America and the Middle East—both forecast to see traffic increases of 40% each—and Africa, where 11% traffic increases are expected by 2020. So even if, as also expected, the traffic numbers for North America and Europe continue at their current flat levels, the high traffic growths of other regions will pile on top of an existing global baseline.