Avinor Air Navigation Services participates in several international collaborations:
ICAO
ICAO is the UN’s aviation organization and the highest authority in aviation, which Norway is a member of. ICAO has a regional office in Paris, EUR/NAT, which, among other things, handles issues related to the North Atlantic (NAT) region. Since Norway is responsible for air traffic services in the Bodø Oceanic FIR and therefore controls airspace over large parts of the North Atlantic in NAT, Avinor Air Navigation Services is obligated to participate in this collaboration.
The NAT meetings are important for setting the framework for service provision in the Bodø Oceanic FIR. Avinor Air Navigation Services assists the Civil Aviation Authority with ATM expertise in various forums where operational issues and future technological choices in the NAT region are discussed.
The Nordic countries also have a dedicated ICAO office in Montreal (NOR-ICAO). This office has been staffed/led by Avinor Air Navigation Services employees on several occasions, for a period of four years each time (most recently from 2020 to 2024).
Eurocontrol and Network Manager
Eurocontrol is an intergovernmental pan-European aviation safety organization with 41 member states, both within and outside the EU. This is a civil-military ATM organization that cooperates with the EU on several areas. Avinor Air Navigation Services is obligated to participate in several arenas as the national service provider due to Norway’s binding membership in Eurocontrol.
You can follow Eurocontrol on Twitter.
The Network Manager is responsible for the operation and development of the pan-European ATM network, including centralized management of European air traffic. This function is established by the EU Commission and assigned to Eurocontrol but is otherwise not part of Eurocontrol's other responsibilities.
NEFAB
NEFAB is a state commitment to be part of the North European Airspace Block (NEFAB) along with Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. Avinor Air Navigation Services is obligated by Norway’s commitment to cooperate on initiatives such as merging and streamlining air navigation services across national borders within NEFAB.
CANSO
The interest organization for air navigation, CANSO, is a global organization with members from 85 percent of the world’s air navigation service providers. Avinor Air Navigation Services is mostly engaged through CANSO’s European office in Brussels. CANSO Europe represents its members’ interests through lobbying and influencing various EU bodies. This is particularly important for Avinor Air Navigation Services, a small organization outside the EU. CANSO also serves as a platform for coordination, information sharing, and benchmarking among members. Additionally, CANSO has established a strategic discussion and decision-making forum for European air navigation directors (EC3).
The main focus in recent years has been on changes to the Single European Sky (SES) regulations and aspects that may impact the operating conditions for European service providers. Very demanding regulatory requirements have been set for air navigation providers, including cost-efficiency, increased centralization, and modernization/digitalization of air navigation services through the ATM Master Plan.
Avinor Air Navigation Services is represented both through the director’s participation in strategic discussions in EC3 and resources in key strategic areas such as RP4, SES2+, and various other important regulatory matters that could affect the company. For the next two years, Avinor Air Navigation Services will lead the CANSO Strategy and Policy Group.
iTEC
Avinor Air Navigation Services is a member of iTEC, one of three service provider alliances in Europe developing shared solutions to meet future regulatory requirements while sharing development costs. The iTEC alliance is divided into three system groups based on the three founding members. Avinor Air Navigation Services is a member of the “NATS System Group” alongside Nav Canada, which joined in spring 2024. Additionally, the German (DFS), Dutch (LVNL), Polish (PANSA), and Lithuanian (ORO NAVIGACIA) air navigation providers are members. ENAIRE (Spain) is the sole service provider in its group, with Indra as the system provider.
The alliance is purely business-based without regulatory obligations. For Avinor, this means cost-sharing on demanding ATM development activities and access to and sharing of vital expertise. Through the FAS (Future ATM System) program, Avinor will implement the latest available version of the iTEC system. This represents a major technological advancement for the company.
The participation in the iTEC alliance is aimed at meeting the requirements of the Single European Sky (SES) and the ATM Master Plan, distributing risks among members, and enhancing expertise and access to technically complex systems. Avinor’s commitment to iTEC currently involves three full-time positions as well as technical and ATM experts and leadership in various decision-making bodies.
Borealis
Borealis is a business collaboration among nine service providers in Northern Europe: the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, and Estonia. This collaboration aims to help meet SES performance targets. Borealis explores similar efficiency opportunities as NEFAB but with a broader geographical scope. Recently, Borealis has struggled to identify viable collaboration areas, and Ireland announced its intention to withdraw from the partnership. This summer, new strategic areas were being considered for the alliance to prioritize in the future, as an alternative to ending the collaboration. These areas include Common Workforce Criteria, Common Service Provision Principles for ATM/UTM, and Common Reduced Regulatory Constraints.