ICAO’s target of having satellite-based approaches at every qualifying airport by the end of 2016 will not be met at the current rate of deployment, industry experts say.
Only a few years into the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) time line, deployment already is well behind schedule. There would have to a significant acceleration in the rollout of these procedures for the ICAO goal to be met, says Steve Fulton, technical fellow with GE Aviation’s PBN Services. Fulton was speaking at GE’s annual Global PBN Summit in Seattle.
This performance-based navigation (PBN) initiative stems from an ICAO resolution in 2007, reinforced by another resolution last year. The requirement is for every instrument-capable runway to have satellite-based approach procedures with vertical guidance (APV) and lateral guidance. APV falls under the broad definition of required navigation performance (RNP).
The first deployment target was for approaches to be installed at 30% of airports globally by the end of 2010, but to date this has occurred at just 15%. The next milestones call for 70% of the procedures to be implemented by 2014, and 100% in 2016.
“We are not really seeing the sort of progress we’d like” on PBN overall, says Graham Lake, director general of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization. Lake says it is not a question of funding, because PBN “is about implementation of existing technologies.” He notes that it is widely recognized that PBN can increase safety and efficiency, and help address noise concerns at airports. “So why is it not being deployed more widely?”
Robert Kennedy, a PBN advisor, agrees that ICAO members are “struggling to achieve” the PBN milestones. But while the current deployment level is low worldwide, the rate of introduction is picking up, Kennedy says. Despite these signs of improvement, “we all realize we are at the tip of the iceberg [with deployment] and there is so much more work to be done.”
There are more than 1,500 runways in North America that are candidates for APV approaches, and so far about 30% have them, Fulton says. Latin American deployment is in the 10%-20% range, but no other region has reached 10% deployment.
Fulton says showing aviation authorities that implementing APVs is not difficult or prohibitively expensive will help spur deployment. New aircraft already are equipped, and ICAO offers support to regulators that want to begin implementation. However, the lack of qualified procedure designers is problem.
Gaining airline support for PBN is crucial, Fulton says. This can be achieved by ensuring there are operational benefits from new approaches and procedures, instead of just focusing on quantity.
In the U.S., for example, many carriers are disenchanted with APV initiatives, Fulton says. Survey responses show that airlines often do not use APV approaches because many offer only limited efficiency gains. The airline calls for added value are “not unrealistic or out of line with the ICAO goals,” says Fulton. “If [APVs] continue to not meet expectations, [the ICAO initiative] will fail.”
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