Arlanda and Brisbane Airports Pursue RNP and 4D Trajectories

The key building blocks of global air traffic system modernization should be deployed at airports on two continents by year-end. The pioneering projects show why there's no need to wait a decade or more to lower fuel burn, emissions and noise while boosting runway capacity.

The 4D trajectories (4DTs) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) approaches are being implemented at Arlanda Airport here and Brisbane Airport in Australia. These medium-size facilities are good testbeds because of their mixed traffic and complex airspace.

Scandinavian Airlines' Boeing 737NGs are using 4D flight paths at Arlanda along with continuous-descent, or "green," approaches. ("4D" denotes the three spatial dimensions plus a required time of arrival over the threshold.) SAS has logged about 2,000 green approaches with area navigation (RNAV). Qantas, meanwhile, has exploited more precise satellite guidance during more than 8,000 RNP RNAV approaches at Brisbane, with the resulting savings in fuel and emissions (see p. 56).

The LFV Group, Sweden's air navigation service provider, is leading the Arlanda effort with SAS, while Airservices Australia is overseeing the Brisbane project with Qantas.

Now SAS and LFV plan to add RNP to the 4DT demonstrations in the second half of this year, and Qantas will include 4DT in its RNP demos, according to Capt. Alex Passerini, the technical pilot in charge of Qantas's 737 fleet.