(Or you can read about what this new system involves here.)

Modern planes are capable of sending vast amounts of information down from the cockpit to the controllers on the ground, including their own speed and the local wind speed. The TBS system combines weather information from the Met Office weather service, and plane data. It then gives controllers a very clear understanding of vortex conditions – the turbulent air left in the trail of a plane – and how quickly it is dispersing, and it can be dangerous for an aircraft behind to fly though.

Nats tracked 150,000 arrivals into Heathrow, and modeled the vortex those aircraft left behind. That has enabled them to calculate a safe separation based on conditions at any given time. Since switch-on, the system has been declared a success, cutting delays due to wind, but maintaining safety.

Further technological innovations are planned for Heathrow. The airport is now breaking ground on an updated instrument landing system (ILS). It will be the second one in the world, after one installed in Zurich.

The ILS provides a radio beam that airplanes lock on to so they can fly down to the runway, and with the new system that beam can be narrowed, further increasing the number of planes that can safely land or take off.

Another crucial aspect to keeping things running smoothly is ground operations. Steve Xerri is the airfield duty manager. He has to deal with airfield compliance issues, and, perhaps even more importantly these days, punctuality. An airport like Heathrow is an extremely complicated mesh of moving parts, and Xerri’s role is try and keep everything working in harmony. His experience enables him to drive amongst the planes, not for the faint-hearted, sometimes following them very closely, on the active taxiway. “It’s a bit like driving on the M25, you go with the flow of traffic not against it!” he says.

In the video below, take a look as he gets up close and personal with planes in motion on the airport: