NATS selects CGI to support multi-year IT transformation

IT and business consulting services firm CGI has been selected to partner with the UK’s leading provider of air traffic control services. The consultancy will help NATS to transform and modernise the company’s digital infrastructure and evolve its services for air traffic operations in the UK. 

Each year, around 2.5 million flights and 250 million people fly above our heads in UK skies. NATS (formerly National Air Traffic Services) provides air traffic control services at 15 of the UK's biggest airports and manages all UK upper airspace (London FIR, Scottish FIR and Shanwick Oceanic) – working with pilots to help bring them in quickly, efficiently and safely.

As NATS looks to prepare for a busy year, with international travel gradually returning to pre-pandemic levels, it is seeking to transform and modernise the company’s digital infrastructure and evolve its services for air traffic operations in the UK. To support the large number of IT tasks tied up in that implementation, NATS has partnered with global technology consultancy CGI.

Tim Bullock, supply chain and facilities management director at NATS, said, “NATS is currently implementing a transformational technology programme to deliver the next generation solutions that will continue to keep the skies safe into the future and support our customers worldwide and we will be relying on CGI’s expertise and proven capability to build and support the digital infrastructure. CGI will be joining an ecosystem of partners and I look forward to many years of collaborative success.” 

CGI has already been working with NATS for over a year, but this new seven-year agreement will see it deliver data centre and hosting services to further increase the resilience, flexibility, and scalability of NATS’ critical digital infrastructure. CGI’s support will include transitioning NATS to a hybrid cloud model using an agile delivery approach. In addition, CGI will provide NATS with consulting services, frameworks, and practices for transforming and managing its complex IT portfolio.   

Neil Timms, senior vice president of CGI’s UK and Australian space, defence and intelligence business, added, “We will work alongside NATS to deliver flexible, scalable, and safe IT systems that will be vital to the ongoing control and transformation of this complex and critical national infrastructure. We are proud to help position NATS for the future while enabling them to deliver greater customer value today.”  

Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world. With 91,500 consultants and professionals across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities – which saw it named among Consultancy.uk’s 2023 list of top consulting firms. Among the services CGI was lauded for were its aerospace and aviation offerings – which received diamond and silver ratings respectively.