A UK subsidiary of a German government-owned company has taken over the control air navigation systems at Scotland’s busiest airport.
Air Navigation Solutions (ANS), a subsidiary of DFS Group, took over the services at Edinburgh’s air traffic control (ATC) tower on Sunday.
The company was awarded the ten-year contract following a public tender in July 2016.
ANS will provide tower and approach control as well as the maintenance of ATC systems at Edinburgh, the UK’s sixth busiest airport.
The company already has a similar deal with the country’s second busiest airport, London Gatwick.
There are more than 330 aircraft movements every day at Edinburgh Airport, which is serviced by 33 airlines and last year handled more than 13 million passengers.
It offers direct connections to 188 destinations in 130 countries.
The airport is owned by the New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which also operates Gatwick.
Klaus-Dieter Scheurle, CEO of DFS, which is headquartered near Frankfurt, said: “We are delighted that the owner of Edinburgh Airport has chosen DFS to strengthen the innovation and competitiveness of one of their airports.
“The takeover of air navigation services in Edinburgh bears testimony to the company’s goal-oriented and innovative approach to the European market.
“While maintaining the level of safety, Air Navigation Solutions will do everything in its power to further enhance service quality, increase efficiency and become even more customer-friendly.”
ANS secured accreditation from the Civil Aviation Authority in March 2016 to operate as an air navigation service provider (AMSP) in the UK.
The privately organised DFS, which is wholly owned by the German federal government, has responsibility for air traffic control in Germany.
The service was founded in 1993 and replaced the supra-regional military air traffic control and the Federal Agency for Air Navigation Services (BFS) as an authority for the control of civil and military air traffic in the country.
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