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Air Traffic Management

Noise reduction 

When it comes to wider initiatives such as air traffic management (ATM), Airbus cooperates with key players, and even its competitors, to deliver the best solutions for airlines and the environment. Airbus has a leading role in the SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) project to improve the efficiency of European ATM, and works with teams involved in the NEXT GEN project designed to do the same for the U.S. air traffic management system.

Toward tomorrow’s aviation

The industry-wide effort to reduce aviation’s environment impact and to improve its economic efficiency must be supported on all fronts. This is why Airbus is committed to improving the performance of its aircraft and to produce them in a responsible way, as well as taking an active role in improving the overall air transport system.  One of its focuses is helping to define and promote modernised air traffic management. 

Today’s ATM is limiting the growth of air transport, and is a leading factor in flight delays, longer-than-necessary routes and saturation in many terminal areas – each of which has an adverse effect on the environment.  According to the Air Transport Association (IATA), reducing flight time by even one minute globally would save 4.8 million tonnes of CO2 every year.

 

A new solution

European air traffic growth cannot be sustained by the current air navigation services organisation and ageing ATM technologies. The SESAR joint undertaking – which was officially launched in 2008 – is a public-private partnership created to provide improved control of the aircraft flying the skies of Europe, prevent crippling congestion and reduce the overall environmental impact of air transport.

Airbus is a major contributor to all activities, and is leading the aircraft work package that defines onboard solutions to meet operational improvement targets identified in the SESAR master plan.

By 2020‚ SESAR is aiming for a threefold increase in European air traffic capacity‚ while significantly improving safety. The programme also seeks to reduce the environmental impact per flight by 10 per cent. Today, aviation is estimated to account for 2 per cent of global CO2 emissions.

Airbus also is preparing for the future of ATM with the entry into service of new efficient airliners and high-performance upgrades for its in-service aircraft.

Courtesy of SESAR

FACILITATING AIR TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENTS

The Airbus ProSky subsidiary in 2011 focused on enhancing the development and support of modern air traffic management systems such as Europe’s SESAR and NextGen in the U.S.  A major goal of this subsidiary is to accelerate the implementation of these two systems, and link them together by capitalising on their technological, operational and commercial synergies.

By drawing on the operational know-how throughout Airbus itself, and in particular, bringing together the expertise of Airbus’ subsidiaries – Metron Aviation in the U.S. and Quovadis in France – Airbus ProSky offers more than the sum of these parts to provide the world’s best ATM components for maximized value, efficiency, capacity and environmental sustainability.

Airbus ProSky will work with nations’ airworthiness authorities, airlines and partner companies to enhance existing air traffic management systems with new-generation technologies and procedures – which will result in increased operational efficiency with more direct routes.

As part of this focus for the Asia-Pacific region, QuoVadis is participating in the development of a full Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) network at 11 Philippine airports.

A joint effort with the French Civil Aviation Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines announced in 2011, this project will increase air traffic management capacity and also help reduce emissions through the use of shorter flight tracks. Overall, it will help transform Philippine airspace into one of the world’s most advanced PBN-optimised regions.

Later in the year, Airbus was selected to provide Air Traffic Management and Performance-Based Navigation expertise for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Greener Skies Initiative – which seeks to improve ATM efficiency and minimize environmental impacts on the ground and in the air.

Airbus ProSky also is working toward more eco-efficient ground operations at airports, including safe taxiway routing for pilots, all-weather guidance between the terminal gate and runway, and control of aircraft and vehicles.  To implement such improvements, Airbus ProSky is complementing its air traffic management offerings with a powerful airport surface management system – which was designed by the German company ATRiCS.

A unique feature of this airport surface management system is that it automatically switches on green taxiway lights in front of the aircraft as it moves forward, illuminating the correct route ahead for a pilot to follow. Overall, the system reduces taxi time and maximises airport capacity and aircraft throughput, while its intelligent predictive guidance also prevents runway incursions and wrong turns.  This leads to smoother overall traffic flow, the facilitation of continuous ground taxi speed for aircraft, and higher safety.  The result is reduced queuing, less “stop-and-go,” and lower CO2 emissions during aircraft movements on the ground.

A new dimension of flight

The first I-4D test flight was the product of months of collaboration between several SESAR partners, including Airbus.

Airbus’ continued efforts to improve the efficiency of air traffic management systems worldwide marked a significant step forward with the first I-4D (initial four-dimensional) flight test in February 2012 – utilising a new-generation system that contributes to enhanced arrival flow management, improved flight punctuality and more capacity.

I-4D is a cornerstone of the Airbus-supported SESAR programme to help modernise Europe's air traffic management. The successful flight test was performed using an Airbus A320 test aircraft operating from Toulouse, France to Copenhagen, Denmark and Stockholm, Sweden.

The I-4D system’s operations rely on airborne computed predictions in ground systems to establish a sequence for all air traffic converging to a merging point in a congested area. As part of this process, each aircraft is allocated an optimal time target at a specified waypoint. Once completed, the flight management system can then execute the best trajectory to meet these requirements and arrive at the correct time without circling.

Taking air traffic management to the fourth dimension

Airbus’ A320 dedicated test aircraft performed the world’s first flight using four-dimensional optimized and upgraded Air Traffic Management (ATM) technology, achieving this milestone while operating from Toulouse, France to Copenhagen, Denmark on 10 February 2012.

The project is called I-4D (Initial-4D), and it provides benefits that include a significant reduction of fuel burn and C02 emissions, a decrease of delays and therefore shorter and smoother flights for passengers.

Noise reduction Operations