Carrier Aims To Improve Efficiency

Under a recently signed Letter of Intent, Jeppesen and Continental Airlines have begun working together to define a multi-year Required Navigation Performance (RNP) program.

Continental is actively adopting the latest technology for its flight operations, including Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) services from Jeppesen. The RNP program is another indicator of how the airline is using technology to maximize efficiency, and reduce its environmental footprint.

"This technology allows us to use a more efficient path through the sky, which benefits our customers and the environment," said Fred Abbott, vice president, Flight Operations at Continental Airlines. "Jeppesen has provided navigation services for Continental for many years and we look forward to working with them on implementation of this technology."

Jeppesen has extensive experience designing and developing RNP procedures for clients around the world and is uniquely positioned to offer a wide array of RNP services, such as RNP procedure maintenance, validation/comparison services on RNP procedure navigation data, charting and database coding for RNP procedures, FAA-qualified RNP consulting, and more.

"Continental Airlines has been a long time key partner for Jeppesen, and we are actively working together to enable their transition from paper- to electronic-based services," said Thomas Wede, Jeppesen senior vice president and general manager, Aviation. "We are very pleased to now be exploring how we can offer a wide range of RNP services to further help Continental take advantage of the latest navigation technology."

RNP is a crucial element in the transformation of airspace toward what will eventually become a nationwide and worldwide performance-based Air Traffic Management structure. Full RNP and Performance Based Navigation benefits will be realized once this structure is complete; however, vast cost reductions, efficiency improvements, and regulatory cooperation are already available to RNP operators.

FMI: www.jeppesen.com, www.continental.com