From a source in NATS, it is to help them during the transition to electronic strips. At the moment you free call and the controller writes a VFR transit strip out and issues a clearance based on what you want to do.
When E strips start this month the controllers will be doing a lot of on the job training alongside their simulator details. The app is to help them in a very complex change process. The creation of an E strip for a VFR transit is actually quite complex and takes them from their priority task. If you use the app your strip will be ready and you shouldn’t get any delays.
When East Midlands went the electronic route they NOTAMed no transits due to the training. Now transits are no problem.
When you book into Luton, Stansted and I believe Gatwick, the first the radar controller knows about you is your initial inbound call. For some reason there is a huge disconnect between the airports and the radar controllers in Swanwick. You book with your handling agent, they book the airport and the airports don’t tell TC Ops about you.
Until the E system is running properly and safely expect delays unless TC know about you. I was told that to create a VFR transit strip takes a dip into at least 3 sub menus all in different places and several minutes. At the same time controlling a bunch of airliners into the right sequence.
It is a huge change at Swanwick, but given time and practise you won’t notice the difference, however for a few months the radar controllers are going to be working bloody hard.
I’d be interested to hear what the experience of the East Mids controllers was, but the no transits notam was in place for quite a while.
SND