“Something Special in the Air” was a popular slogan used by American Airlines in the eighties and nineties. Now, it served as the fitting theme for a visit by experts from Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) to the American Airlines Systems Operations Control Centre (SOC) at Dallas/Fort Worth. The visit provided an important opportunity to increase awareness on SESAR and to get valuable feedback from AA on the latest evolutions of flight and wing operation centres.

The SOC comprises 28 Dispatch Desks and 5 Equipment Coordinator Desks, coordinating over 1,800 daily mainline flights system-wide, 24-hours a day. Operational planning and execution focuses on safety, customer service and operational economics.

The evolution of flight and wing operations centres in the SESAR Programme is addressed under Work Package 11.01, comprising Airbus, Cassidian, Honeywell, Lufthansa Systems and Sabre Airline Solutions. American Airlines, along with the oneworld alliance, participates actively in various activities of the SESAR Programme via the SJU Airspace User framework.