Airline Will Benefit From Required Navigation Performance
Technology At Five Airports
GE has entered into a Performance-based Navigation (PBN)
Services agreement with LAN Airlines to design and deploy an
optimized navigation network at Lima –Jorge Chávez
International Airport, and four other airports in Perú,
Chile and Ecuador.
GE’s PBN Services business in Kent, WA will design the
optimized arrivals and departures using Required Navigation
Performance technology (RNP). RNP is an advanced form of PBN that,
for a typical airline, can eliminate an average of 10 nautical
miles from the distance an airplane flies on its approach to
landing and create significant reductions in annual fuel
consumption and CO2 emissions.
Lima, Jorge Chavez International Airport, is an important hub in
Latin America, serving about 9 million passengers, with more than
100,000 operations yearly. Operated with one runway, and located in
a densely populated area, the airport faces many challenges to
accommodate rapidly increasing traffic volume. GE will work closely
with DGAC-Perú, Corpac S.A. and LAN to design and seamlessly
integrate the RNP procedures in the busy Lima airspace. “We
selected GE to design and deploy the RNP, because of their
unrivaled experience and their successful record in Cusco and at
other airports around the world,” said Jorge Ihnen, senior
vice-president of operations of LAN.
In 2009, GE designed and deployed RNP paths at Cusco and
assisted LAN in gaining regulatory approval to fly them. Cusco
Airport, located high in the Andes Mountains, is a busy vacation
gateway to Machu Picchu in Peru. “The benefits LAN
experienced by adopting RNP at Cusco led us to recognize the value
of deploying these paths at many airports we fly to,” said
Carlos Schacht, vice-president of operations & maintenance of
LAN Perú.
“GE is committed to working with airlines, like LAN, to
custom-design PBN navigation solutions that match operating and
economic needs,” said Steve Forte, general manager of
GE’s PBN Services business, in a news release Thursday.
“LAN joins a growing number of airlines around the world that
recognize the value of implementing optimized RNP navigation
procedures.”
PBN engages the full potential of the aircraft to fly
precisely-defined paths without relying on ground-based
radio-navigation signals. RNP, a form of PBN, ensures the aircraft
precisely follows the path and provides additional navigational
flexibility, such as custom-tailored, curved paths through
mountainous terrain or in congested airspace.
RNP procedures can be deployed at any airport, allowing aircraft
to fly very precise paths with an accuracy of less than a wingspan.
This precision allows pilots to land the aircraft in weather
conditions that would otherwise require them to hold, divert to
another airport, or even to cancel the flight before departure. In
addition, since the procedures are very precise, they can be
designed to shorten the distance an aircraft has to fly en-route,
and to reduce noise, fuel burn and exhaust emissions. Because of
RNP’s precision and reliability, the technology can help air
traffic controllers reduce flight delays and alleviate air traffic
congestion.
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