Asia/Pacific

Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea Airspace

IATA has engineered and entered into an agreement with Boeing and the Airports Authority of India to establish a Central Reporting Agency (CRA) to help expedite the implementation of Automatic Dependent Surveillance/ Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (ADS/CPDLC) to reduce longitudinal separation in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea airspace under jurisdiction of India. ICAO requires the establishment of a CRA to monitor the performance of the aircraft and ground systems before separation standards can be reduced.

The implementation of ADS/CPDLC will improve safety through better communications between ATC and pilots. In addition, because ADS/CPDLC also provides a surveillance capability, it will enable the reduction of longitudinal separation from the current 80 nautical miles to 50 nautical miles and eventually, 30 nautical miles. This will double the airspace capacity in the future.

Europe

European Strategic Safety Initiative (ESSI) Strengthened

IATA signed a pledge of commitment at the European Aviation Safety Agency's headquarters in Cologne. For more information, visit the ESSI site.

Runway Incursion Prevention Workshop in Vienna

Following a few runway accidents in Europe in recent months, a workshop for pilots, airport operators, tower controllers and airport vehicle drivers was held in Vienna in June. The workshop was organised by IATA and Eurocontrol and hosted by Austrian Airlines. A total of 60 people attended. Runway incursions is one of IATA's is top safety issues.

Communication was the highlight of the workshop and everyone agreed that pilots need consistent use of internationally agreed terminology, procedures and markings.

The communication wish list includes:

• Use of standard terminology in accordance with Annex 11 and Doc 4444.
• Use of signs, markings and lighting in according with Annex 14.
• Short, unambiguous taxi clearances (Doc 9870) with no more than three sets of numbers to remember at a time. Special consideration should be given to new information.
• Enhanced situational awareness, based on the use of one language - aviation English.
• A fair culture for all operational staff around the world to ensure that safety-significant events are reported.
• Enough sectors/frequencies to avoid congestion.
• Complete information about expected taxi-in routing and stand, taxi-out routing and runway well in advance.

Fuel Savings

As a response to the dramatic increase of the cost of fuel, IATA met with the Director General of Eurocontrol on 18 June to initiate the creation of an Airline Support Plan defining short-term improvements and fuel savings in three areas (En Route, TMAs and Airport CDM). This Support Plan is currently planned out in an intensive meeting scheduled between Eurocontrol and IATA. Results will be available in late July and will be communicated to States and all relevant stakeholders for immediate implementation.

Update on Single European Sky Package II

On 25 June, the European Commission finally published its long awaited proposal to strengthen the Single European Sky by a "second package" which will achieve the following objectives:

• Regulating and driving performance improvements in the ATM system.
• Endorsement of the SESAR Master Plan scheduled for ministerial approval in October.
• Extension of the scope of EASA to include ATM and airports.
• A series of actions to coordinate airport capacity issues including noise, environment and ATM/slot consistency.
• Alignment of Eurocontrol governance structures with the SES and reinforcing the industry's involvement in decision-making.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Global Aviation Safety Roadmap Workshop

The Global Aviation Safety Roadmap (GASR) workshop took place in Bogota with the participation of 132 industry stakeholders. The purpose of this event was to develop a regional process for self-sustained implementation of the GASR and identify the roles of States/Territories/International Organisations towards its implementation. The Regional Aviation Safety Group - Pan America (RASG-PA) was created to develop safety initiatives to reduce aviation risks. ICAO, Colombia DGAC, FAA, IFALPA, Boeing and IATA were elected as Members of the Steering Committee.

Simplifying Passenger Travel in Brazil

IATA met with Brazilian ANAC to discuss Simplifying Passenger Travel (SPT) including ways to improve throughput and passenger flows at Brazilian airports. SPT invited ANAC, Policia Federal and INFRAERO to participate in an SPT Interest Group meeting in June in Washington.

Environmental and Fuel Savings 

Environmental and fuel savings were obtained through the implementation of infrastructure enhancements and procedural changes at the following locations:  

• Bogotá arrival in trail spacing was reduced from 8NMs to 4NMs increasing airport efficiency and saving an average of one minute. This process will potentially save users about US $630,000 and reduce CO2 emissions by 4,700 tonnes in 2008.
• Los Cabos (SJD) taxiway was completed, reducing departure and arrival delays on average by two minutes. This new taxiway has potential savings for the users of US $680,000 annually and a reduction of 2,900 tonnes of CO2.
• Airway UL797 was implemented serving city pair Santa Cruz, Bolivia-Iquique, Chile. Potential savings on this route is US $85,000 annually and a reduction of 365 tonnes of CO2.

Middle East and North Africa

Global Aviation Safety Roadmap

A top level Safety Team is being formed by the Industry Safety Strategy Group (ISSG) for the purpose of securing implementation of the Global Aviation Safety Roadmap in the Middle East. In addition to IATA, representation will be from aviation authorities, airlines, air navigation service providers, airports, training establishments, maintenance and repair organisations, and IFALPA.

Gulf Airspace Route Design

A project to redesign the route structure in the Gulf area is under preparation. In the initial phase, current airspace, choke points and potential city pairs will be reviewed and a network of Performance Based Navigation (PBN) routes will be developed taking minimum time direct tracks and minimum cost tracks into consideration.

The project will also review traffic flows in relation to military restricted airspace and will develop proposals for the flexible use of airspace that will fulfil mission needs for both civil and military airspace users.

IATA will need to collect information from airlines on future city pair services. The substantial increase in numbers of aircraft that will operate out of airports in the Gulf area will significantly impact future traffic patterns and such information (de-identified as much as possible) will be needed in order to develop realistic route proposals.

In an effort to pave the way, IATA will visit a number of high-level state officials in several countries around the Gulf to seek support for the route design project. Later, ATS authorities at the working level (ideally with military counterparts present) in these states will also be visited in order to allow all concerned parties to review and discuss the proposals. The working level visits will be led by IATA and ideally include the home based airline(s) as well as one or two additional carriers as part of the delegation.

North Asia

Cabin Safety Seminar in Beijing

The Cabin Safety Seminar, organised by IATA and CAAC, was held in Beijing and included 60 attendees from the CAAC head office, Regional Offices and the China carriers. IATA presented on the following:

• LOSA-line operation safety audits
• Safety and risk management
• Situational awareness
• Treat and error management for cabin operations
• Emergency drills and evacuations
• Crowd control
• Disruptive and unruly passengers
• Conflict management
• Carriage of disabled passengers

The seminar provided valuable information and best practices to Chinese regulators and carriers to use in preparation of the upcoming Beijing Olympic 2008. The seminar was part of the IATA-CAAC Safety Cooperation Programme.

IATA World Tour 2008

IATA World Tour 2008 was held in Macau and focused on the challenges of rapid growth in China: building a cost-efficient, safe and competitive aviation industry. Fifty representatives from China's mainland, Hong Kong, Macau civil aviation authorities, airport authorities and airlines participated. IATA's initiatives and contribution to a safer aviation environment was presented at the meeting. Other topics such as an overview of the current state of the Chinese aviation industry, Simplifying the Business, improving airspace capacity through Performance Based Navigation application, and the IATA training programme were also presented at the meeting.

North Atlantic and North America

Runway Safety

The FAA's Runway Safety Call to Action committee identified new taxi instructions as one of several procedural changes that could significantly improve runway safety. Controllers have started telling pilots and airport vehicle operators the specific route an aircraft or vehicle should follow across the airfield.  The new mandatory detailed instructions require controllers to name the specific taxiways the aircraft or vehicle should use at each step along its route.

Reducing Fuel Consumption

The Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE) conducted flight demonstrations designed to reduce fuel consumption for oceanic flights. This was done by optimising flight trajectories across the Atlantic Ocean. Eight Air Europa flights were flown with optimised trajectories from Madrid to the Caribbean through oceanic airspace controlled by Santa Maria and New York. The current AIRE demonstrations are the first in a series, with another round expected in the fall. The goal is to include more flights in those demonstrations using a greater number of cities and also to start including eastbound trans-Atlantic flights.

Another J80 Route Implemented

A second J80 route was implemented for departures from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Newark Liberty Airport (EWR) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). It provides additional departure capability for westbound traffic that alleviates constraints associated with airport departure flows that compete for room on the existing J80 route. The new route mirrors the existing J80 route to the north and extends through five air route traffic control centres — New York, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago and Kansas City Centres. This route combined with the re-sectoring of ZNY73 provides potential CO2 savings of 14,500 tonnes.

Environmental and Fuel Savings 

Environmental and fuel savings were obtained through the implementation of infrastructure enhancements and procedural changes in the following locations: 

• The T-16 route was redesigned providing 58NM savings for 80 flights per day with fuel savings of US $1,733,633 and reduced CO2 emmissions of 6,906 tonnes annually.
• The FAA agreed to provide improved handling of inbound flights arriving ORD from the Far East arrivals.  The agreement provides to keeping flights at a higher altitude/ profile descent for approximately 40NM from the current 100NM at 10,000’ and reduced vectoring. 
• The military airspace along the US East Coast was made available for the Memorial Day Weekend. Opening this airspace allowed airlines to flight plan previously restricted airspace/routes in one of the most congested aviation corridors in the country and travellers benefited with reduced air travel delays.

New York Short Term Airspace Initiatives 

The FAA has deployed several key “NY Short-Term Airspace" initiatives. The “second J-80, resectoring ZNY 73, Creation of new ZNY Sectors 9,10", the “Canadian North Thunderstorm Escape Route from NY area”, and new software load for the RAPT weather routing tool have been completed and deployed in July. Currently the FAA has completed 14 of the original 17 on the short-term list.