Air traffic controller Adacel Technologies has been tasked with modernising Fiji’s traffic management system in a deal worth $4 million.

The company (ASX:ADA) will install its Aurora Automation system which integrates surveillance data with flight processing to prevent mid-air collisions.

The deal will bring Fiji’s Nadi Airport in line with the likes of airports in France, Iceland, New Zealand and Norway. It is a significant boost for an airport in a developing nation.

As late as 2009, bits of paper were used to track flights at Fiji’s airport — air traffic controllers traditionally used paper strips are moved along a “strip board” according to altitude in a traditional air traffic control.

Traditional flight strip set up.
A traditional air-traffic control method using paper strips.

Adacel’s updated Aurora system would “provide controllers in Fiji with the latest in air traffic management technology including new electronic flight strips and advanced flight and surveillance data processing and training capabilities to effectively manage traffic and provide better service to airlines and the travelling public,” Adacel told investors.

The shares gained 3 per cent on the news, up to as much as $2.38.

Adacel Technologies (ADA) share price movements over the past month.
Adacel Technologies (ADA) share price movements over the past month.

In his chairman’s address last year, Adacel’s Peter Landos predicted profit growth of 35 per cent for the 2018 financial year. Progress is to be shared with investors in a half-yearly report later this week.

As part of the arrangement, Adacel will provide 10 years of post-warranty support services to the airport, expected to be fully commissioned in 2019.

In 2014, the Nadi Airport handled almost 2 million passengers on international and domestic flights — of which 85 per cent are tourists.

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