You are here: Home » Areas of Activity » Safety & Security » Newsletter » Flight Bag - October 2009 » Regional Updates

Asia/Pacific

OPC Outcome

The Asia/Pacific outcome from the OPC meeting included a major focus on the North Pacific airspace restructuring.

The Pacific Project

Since the introduction of Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS) 20 years ago, airlines have sought to enable greater efficiencies from the airborne capability of the modern aircraft fleet. This quest has been supported by many air navigation service providers (ANSP) and has been actively championed by Civil Aviation Service Organization (CANSO) representing ANSPs globally.

Today, as NEXTGEN and SESAR plan the transition of their air space management from terrestrial navigation to satellite navigation the focus turns to other parts of the globe.

At the Informal Pacific ATC Coordinating Group meeting (IPACG/31) in Tokyo, IATA tabled The Pacific Project initiative. It aims to improve flight efficiency between North America and Asia by enabling User Preferred Routes (UPR) as the primary means of navigation.

It is estimated that if UPR were freely available across the Pacific flight time would be reduced up to 90 minutes. The environmental benefit could amount to over 25000kg of CO2 for a single flight. With some 10,000 flights per year, expected to double by 2025, the project could deliver more environmental benefits than any other single ATM project in the world.

IPACG/31, whilst supporting the project intent, decided that the Cross Polar Working Group (CPWG) may be a more appropriate forum to further develop and progress this proposal.

North Asia

New Milestone Reached with Communications at Hong Kong Chep Lap KoK International Airport (HKIA)

Co-operation between Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), IATA and the airport airline community, has achieved a further milestone in the drive for effective communications.

An ACC/HKIA sub group was formed to debate the infrastructure requirements for a new Mid Field Airside Terminal. This new facility comprises additional taxiways and aircraft stands, mid field terminal building & GSE areas, airside people mover and an extended tunnel excavation. The infrastructure will handle 100 million passengers by 2030.

Requested Flex Routes

Eight member airlines modeled ideal vs. actual data within one month, with 1,694 flights in total. They  demonstrated a potential saving 104 flight hours, or 1,105 tonnes of fuel and 3,481 tonnes of CO2 for flexible use of the entry/exit points. Annual savings would exceed 13,260 tonnes of fuel.

The results were delivered to ATMB, with a keynote given at China Civil Aviation Forum.

Pearl River Delta Update

IATA’s consistent work on airspace efficiency improvements in Pearl River Delta region expedited the implementation process. The Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong announced the recent implementation of new Standard Terminal Arrival Routes/Standard Instrument Departures (STARs/SIDs) procedures. The new arrival routes will save up to 12,000 hours in flight time, or to reduce 64,211 tonnes of CO2 emission annually for arrival aircraft.

FEGA Workshop in Beijing

A two-day Fuel Efficiency Gap Analysis (FEGA) workshop was held in September in Beijing for the carriers in the North Asia region. A total of 49 participants from 14 airlines, as well as governmental organizations worked with IATA experts to discuss best practices on generating the efficiencies in flight operation, dispatch, maintenance & engineering and ground operations. The European Emission Trading Scheme was also introduced.

Flight Safety and New Routes

An IATA delegation paid a visit to Air Koryo in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in September to discuss flight safety and new routes. Based on IOSA requirements, Air Koryo will speed up the process of purchasing aircraft that meet IOSA standards. A new route segment across Pyongyang FIR beneficial for the flights to/from Seoul came into approval process by the DPRK government.

RVSM Implementation

General Administration of Civil Aviation (GACA) of DPRK has recently implemented RVSM in Pyongyang FIR. The Flight Level Allocation Scheme (FLAS) in DPRK was identical with China Metric RVSM FLAS, which was developed by China ATMB, with technical assistances from IATA.

Africa

OPC Outcome

Committed to take African safety improvement to the next level, the OPC has agreed that IATA adds five more African member airlines in the Implementation Program for Safe Operation in Africa (IPSOA) in 2010. 

IATA Safety Activities Making a Difference in Africa

In line with OPC strategy, IATA has engaged African operators in intensive IOSA preparations since 2005 through Partnership for Safety (PfS).

In total, eight IOSA workshops, 25 IOSA gap analyses and 35 relevant safety courses were carried out. As a result, 20 African carriers are now on the IOSA Registry. Positive changes were also noted in the way 30 African airlines operate.

This contributed to a significant reduction in the African accident rate, from 9.2 in 2005 to 2.12 accidents per million departures in 2008. There were zero accidents for IATA African members in 2008 – a milestone in itself.

An IATA assessment revealed that out of 40 accidents involving African operators from 2005 to 2008, 11 were classified as runway excursions. In order to decrease this category of accidents, IATA will conduct a workshop relating to runway excursion risk reduction on 9-10 December 2009 in Johannesburg.

Seven ground service operators are engaged in the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) program and two African Authorities have documented their open supports for ISAGO.

Middle East/North Africa (MENA)

OPC Outcome

The OPC agreed that the MENA region needs to focus on gulf airspace redesign and the problems in Saudi Flight Information Region (FIR).

Enhancing Safety

A safety workshop was held in Amman on 20-21 October. Safety staff from airlines, regulators and air navigation service providers were given training in the Runway Excursion Risk Reduction toolkit, recently released jointly by IATA and the Flight Safety Foundation. The establishment of safety management systems within airlines was also dealt with, in light of international standards that have recently taken effect.

Performance Based Navigation (PBN)

PBN is currently being implemented in several locations in the region. Several air traffic services routes in Oman and the United Arab Emirates have been upgraded to the RNAV 1 specification, enabling closer spacing between airways and thus providing the potential for increased capacity.

At Abu Dhabi airport RNAV 1 arrival and departure routes have been implemented, enabling better environmental performance. Similar improvements are expected in Dubai before the end of 2009.
The following are the seven Terminal Maneuvering Areas:

• Marsa Matruh, Egypt.
• Taba, Egypt.
• Assuit, Egypt.
• Arar, Saudi Arabia.
• Taif, Saudi Arabia.
• Wadi-Ad-Dawasir ,Saudi Arabia
• Abu Dhabi ,UAE.

Europe

OPC Outcome

The OPC agreed that the Europel flight efficiency plan targets needs more of a collaborated push to get implemented.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Flexible Airspace

The Palenquero Special Use Airspace became available for northbound departures out of Bogota on 1 September. The release of this airspace will provide distance savings for the users from 3-36 nautical miles depending on route of flight. This will translate to an annual savings of 4,000 tonnes of fuel and reduced CO2 emissions by 12,662 tonnes.

RNAV/RNP

The Cuzco (CUZ) Required Navigation Performance (RNP) was implemented on 7 May. Additional projects are currently underway including Comalapa, Toluca and Curacao. Juan Santamaria should be launched by the end of the year.
The efficiencies gained are primarily in the reduced number of diversions and flight cancellations these procedures will provide to the users.

Technical Mission to Peru

IATA conducted a technical mission to Peru to meet with the Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil de Perú (DGAC) and CORPAC on 2-3 September to address operational, safety and security issues affecting the airlines. Key items raised were Cuzco and Lima airport construction plans, RNAV and approach procedures at Lima and Apiay. IATA has written to the Peruvian DGAC to seek approval for an approach arrival to runway 33.

North Atlantic and North America

Random Routing - Eastbound

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NAVCANADA are moving forward with the implementation of the Random Routes Eastbound Trail.

IATA has supported a harmonized strategy and implementation which followed the same process as with Random Routes Westbound. Phased implementation has been progressing, but slowed due to controller workforce concerns. Airlines participating in the trial include Delta, Lufthansa, US Airways, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Continental, with British Airways coming onboard soon. Eligible airports include: Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Washington, Miami, Houston, Raleigh and Dallas.

The Random Routes East Trial continues to provide efficiencies to its users. With participation now increased to 300 flights per month, up from 160 a month in April, this now equates to an increased savings from 292 tonnes per Aeronautical Information Regulation and Control (AIRAC) cycle to 535 tonnes per cycle. Optimized routes, vetted through the Boston managers and controller workforce, has increased route options in the US northeast corridor.

With this increased participation of additional airlines, IATA has now calculated an annualized savings estimate of 6,965 tonnes of fuel and 22,198 tonnes of CO2.

John F. Kennedy Airport in New York

IATA and airline members met with FAA manager regarding JFK airport efficiency in September.  Discussions focused on ways to achieve maximum airport efficiency during the major runway closures and periods when there is a high volume mix of arrivals and departures. FAA managers and the airlines agreed to pursue a Ground Delay Program (GDP) implementation process similar to GDP at San Francisco.  This important step will drive a collaborative process for GDP implementation for New York John F Kennedy airport.

The FAA has created a new tool that increases safety and efficiency at JFK. The Arrival Distance Window (ADW) ensures an aircraft performing a go-around will not get too close to an aircraft that is taking off on an intersecting flight path. ADW provides the ability for JFK controllers to use the two-arrival-runway configuration, helping to reduce delays during the busy arrival operations. On 8 August, JFK controllers successfully used ADW, which represents a 23 percent increase in throughput.