Marcel Bakker, appointed Director of iTEC

The iTEC Board has appointed Marcel Bakker as the alliance's director at Airspace World in Geneva, the event that brings together key players from the air traffic industry from all over the world, from March 19 to 21. Marcel Bakker currently holds the position of General Manager of Systems and Infrastructure at LVNL, the Dutch air navigation service provider, and will step into his new role full time on 1 May 2024, for a period of 5 years.

Marcel Bakker, who is enthusiastic about his new post, has extensive operational, technical and managerial experience in air traffic and aviation, over 24 years, at different levels of responsibility in LVNL. The last 10 years he held the position of General Manager Systems and Infrastructure and was a member of LVNL's management team. As Senior Responsible Owner, he was responsible for several ambitious projects, including the successful refurbishment of the Schiphol Air Traffic Control Tower and the introduction of Electronic Flight Strips in 2019. The implementation of the Intelligent Approach (IA) tool, enabling RECAT – EU separation and Time-Based separation (TBS) at Schiphol. One of his most significant responsibilities was the development of the new iTEC-based Centre Automation System (iCAS).

With this appointment, iTEC members take one more step to advance the future strategy and their commitment to promote safer, more efficient and sustainable aviation thanks to the deep cooperation of the eight countries that make it up. With iTEC SkyNex, the Alliance's unique system will be flexible and interoperable thanks to shared knowledge and innovation. It will improve the synergies between service providers and industry and provide common technology for barrier-free air traffic management.

iTEC SkyNex will increase efficiency and interoperability, provide more accurate data, optimise flight routes and resources, and reduce delays and CO2 emissions, significantly lowering costs.

The iTEC Alliance manages the highly complex and busy airspace of eight countries: Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Lithuania and the latest addition, Canada, totalling over 26 million square kilometres controlled from 27 centres that share the same technology for more sustainable aviation with lower emissions.

About iTEC

iTEC is an alliance formed by eight air navigation service providers: DFS (Germany), Enaire (Spain), NATS (United Kingdom), LVNL (Netherlands), PANSA (Poland), Avinor (Norway), Oro Navigacija (Lithuania), and NAV CANADA (Canada), with Indra as the technological provider. Together, they have developed and are deploying the next-generation air traffic management system, iTEC SkyNex, which enables more collaborative and efficient flight control.