Yolanda Portillo will take over as head of the EUROCONTROL Network Manager Operations Centre

- From 1 May, Yolanda Portillo will be in charge of the EUROCONTROL Network Manager Operations Centre (NMOC)


- She previously led ENAIRE's Air Traffic and Space Management Division


- ENAIRE is pleased by her appointment to EUROCONTROL, where she will direct 24/7 operations at the heart of the Network Manager to ensure a safe and quality service

Starting 1 May, Yolanda Portillo Pérez will be in charge of EUROCONTROL’s Network Manager Operations Centre.

Her duties at EUROCONTROL will include developing and implementing the strategy, objectives and services of the Network Manager Operations Center, administering resources (budget and personnel) and ensuring the availability of the current and future skills required.

“It’s a great challenge, one that I face with enormous enthusiasm and the security I get from having been part of a great team at ENAIRE”, says Yolanda Portillo.

The aeronautical engineer has a degree in Physical Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Research from the University of Cranfield (United Kingdom) in concepts related to the Single European Sky.

As head of the EUROCONTROL Operations Centre, she will develop effective processes and procedures in accordance with existing safety and quality standards; and she will promote and participate in the strategic evolution, development and planning of future systems, processes and procedures to deal with future challenges.

She will also oversee the improvement of network operations and ensure a cost-effective, performance-based operational service that meets stakeholder expectations.

She will be responsible for transforming strategic airspace and capacity plans into real-time network operations, with a specific focus on the new integration of Network Manager Systems (iNM).

The services provided by the NMOC include operational functions of the European network, operational functions and services related to the network’s airports, as well as the effective management of operations in contingency and crisis situations through the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell (EACCC).

As an air controller, she was a supervisor/controller at ENAIRE’s Control Centre in Madrid and a controller in Seville from 2004 to 2018. She previously worked for over 10 years as a consultant in the international department at Ineco, and later in Aena’s Airspace and International Management divisions.

She is currently the head of ENAIRE’s Air Traffic Flow Control and Airspace Management (ATFCM/ASM) Division. She will stop working for this unit in order to assume her new duties at EUROCONTROL.

ENAIRE – also photo