The Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO) planned to hold their World ATM Congress 2020 next week in Madrid, Spain (ATM is an acronym for Air Traffic Management). Although the event was recently cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it is not yet clear whether an announcement of the award winners will still take place via press release or at the next congress to be held.

In either event, candidate organizations will be recognized for excellence in three separate categories, specifically collaboration, innovation and sustainability.

NATS (the U.K. air traffic authority), Nav Canada and Aireon LLC together are contenders for the Collaboration Award for the innovative development and deployment of the world’s first global, real-time space-based ADS-B service.

Nav Canada is also in the running for the Sustainability Award for becoming the first ANSP (air navigation service provider) in the world to implement ICAO’s new standard that establishes Required Navigation Performance-Authorisation Required (RNP AR) procedures. As a result of this innovation, Nav Canada has seen a reduction of over 4.1 million kilograms of CO₂ emissions.