Celebrating 100 years of air traffic control

NATS is the UK’s leading provider of air traffic control services. Each year, NATS handles 2.4 million flights and 250 million passengers in UK airspace.

In addition to providing services to 14 UK airports, and managing all upper airspace in the UK, NATS provide services around the world – covering Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America.

100 years

NATS came to Rooster with a big birthday fast approaching – 100 years of air traffic control.

They wanted to mark the occasion with something special; a way of being able to tell their iconic century-old story. They wanted to showcase the people that helped write that story, from the early 1900s right up to the present day. We developed the idea of creating a timeline in which each decade would tell its own story – the technological advances, the challenges and the successes of that decade.

NATS already had an incredible image library of vintage shots from days gone by – and we put these to spectacular use to illustrate each decade.

Illustration

We used a range of media, including illustration, to help build the creative style of the NATS timeline. A multimedia approach allowed us to create a dynamic and engaging experience all the way through the user’s journey. Colour and quotes from well-known personalities of each decade were also used to enhance the effect.

Website

We designed and created a stylish and dynamic timeline that engages the viewer with memorabilia, an immersive layout and web animations.

As the user scrolls through the journey, they encounter a new decade in aviation history, with its own colourway and photography from the era. It’s amazing to watch the differences in fashion and technology unfold, from one decade to the next.