Thales and the FIFA World Cup 2010: ready for kick-off

Thales’s innovative and state-of-the-art technologies will allow you to enjoy the world’s biggest sports event by travelling there by air and by ground, or simply have it broadcast directly to your living room.


Kick-off of a new environmental Air Traffic Management system for South Africa



The FIFA World Cup will attract an additional 450 000 people to South Africa. Due to the country’s location they have no choice but to fly to reach the South of Africa. Such traffic peaks usually result in delays and disorganisation and bad impact on the environment. But thanks to Flowcat, Thales’s air traffic flow management system, the Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) organisation of South Africa will have the world’s most comprehensive tools to anticipate flow and optimise aircraft trajectories.
Flowcat fuses data from several Air Traffic Control systems into a consolidated nationwide view of current and forecast air traffic up to six days in advance, probes aircraft flight plans against moving thunderstorms and automatically proposes alternative routes, taking into account aviation separation standards. It also predicts and smoothes imbalances in controllers’ workload using “what-if” features to better anticipate sectorisation and it optimises airport arrival and departure slots for flights, considering factors such as en-route delays, adverse weather, dynamic runway capacities and runway closures.

With Flowcat, Air Traffic Management shifts to Air Traffic Optimisation. ATNS has chosen Thales’s solution to cope with traffic growth while reducing environmental impact of aviation.
“Thales is proud to have been selected by ATNS for this world first”, says Rémi Gille, Managing Director of Thales’s ATM Business Line. “The Flowcat system will contribute to reduce the environmental impact of aviation and help the airlines to reduce fuel costs. Furthermore, Flowcat will diminish delays, increase passenger satisfaction and overall, improve the quality of service rendered by ATNS to its customers.”


Kick-off of the brand new international Durban airport



Thales also participates in the development of the Durban’s King Shaka International Airport. Durban’s stadium will host the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup. In preparation for this great sporting event, the South African government constructed the new King Shaka International Airport (KSIA), which has just recently been put into operation, in accordance with the initial objectives.
As part of this extensive programme, Thales is providing the Special Airport Systems (SAS) engineering, as well as the integration of communication, information, safety and security systems.
Thales’s turnkey solution includes 24 electronic systems, fully integrated with all airport facilities: Transmission and Communication network, Airport IT, Security and Building systems.
KSIA is the largest building project on a single site ever procured in South Africa and Thales was involved in the project since the beginning of the works. The project for the construction of Durban’s King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) was started in 2007 by the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) and DTP who appointed the Ilembe Consortium as the turnkey contractor to engineer, design and construct the airport.
Thales’s approach during the preliminary phase of the overall bid was the key factor to become the master system integrator of the SAS package for the consortium Ilembe. In fact, a dedicated team has been mobilised for the entire bid phase to work jointly with Ilembe, and participated actively to the success of the consortium.


Kick-off of the new Gautrain line: a unique ticket for train, bus and park



The 2010 FIFA World Cup kick-off will take place in Johannesburg, a city that will host 15 matches and where the new train line Gautrain has just entered into operation.
Thales has delivered the automatic fare collection (AFC) solutions of the train line including the equipment for vending, validating and controlling transport. Passengers will be able to travel with a single transport card on the entire transport network, including 10 stations, 9 car parks and 125 busses.
The first stage of the programme required for the World Cup has entered into operation on June 8, with 4 stations linking the heart of the city to the Ortambo international airport, 3 car parks and 44 busses.
The Gautrain line forms an inverted “Y”, with the central stem running southwards from Pretoria to join the heart of Johannesburg at Park Station and a branch heading to Johannesburg International Airport on the East side.


Kick-off on your screens: Thales’s role in broadcasting the event worldwide



European leader in satellite systems, Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Finmeccanica (33%), has provided over the years more than 30 satellites that will broadcast the 64 matches. That will represent at least 5760 hours of game broadcasted through more than 150 TV channels in more than 90 countries all over the world.

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About Thales
Thales is a global technology leader for the Aerospace and Space, Defence, Security and Transportation markets. In 2009, the company generated revenues of 12.9 billion euros with 68,000 employees in 50 countries. With its 25,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design, develop and deploy equipment, systems and services that meet the most complex security requirements. Thales has an exceptional international footprint, with operations around the world working with customers as local partners.

About Thales in South Africa
Thales South Africa is composed of several companies namely the leading defence electronic company Thales Defence Systems (TDS), the primary air traffic management company Thales Air Traffic Management (TATM) , Thales Security Solutions Systems (T3S) and Global Telematics.
Facilities are located mainly in Midrand and Cape Town and the company employs over 340 people.
Thales Defence Systems is the principal provider of system integration and the foremost supplier of command & control systems & software in meeting the needs of air, land, naval & joint forces.
TATM’s capabilities in air traffic management provide solutions to ATNS (Air Traffic & Navigation Services) and to the Southern African regions.
The focus of Global Telematic is to provide superior integrated telematic solutions that enable populace, businesses and government to better manage fleets of vehicles and on-road-employees.