New navigation system soon at Chennai airport

Chennai: Flying into Chennai will no longer be expensive for airlines and time-consuming for passengers, as the Airports Authority of India
(AAI) is all set to make the airport one among the most fuel-efficient destinations in the country.
At a time when airlines and airports have started to feel the impact of economic slowdown, AAI has decided to tweak air traffic control procedures to cut down air traffic congestion and avoid delays in landing of aircraft at Chennai airport.
The airport will introduce Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedure and upgrade from the existing system (RNAV 10) to a new system (RNAV 5 or 1) that specify lateral separation among aircraft, in six months. The new navigation procedure is already in place at three airports - Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.
Under the new system, pilots would be provided pre-determined arrival routes into an airport. It helps them to fly in without the aid of air traffic controllers and also learn about the air traffic density around an airport. The most sophisticated RNAV 1 reduces space between aircraft while approaching the runway for landing. This helps better use of airspace, allows airlines to cut down on fuel consumption and to cut down on flight delays.
"When the new system is in place, aircraft equipped with special navigation equipment can fly without ground support from the air traffic controllers while approaching the airport for landing," said a senior official.
At present, aircraft flying into the airport are guided by airtraffic controllers. This consumes an airline more fuel because air traffic controllers often manouvre approaching aircraft away from its path to manage congestion.
Jet Airways recently got approval to use RNAV 1, the system for all aircraft in its fleet.
19/11/08 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Nov 2008, New Nov 2008