Airbus’ Quovadis and IndiGo Flew The Approach At Conchin
International Airport
The first ‘Required Navigation Performance’ (RNP)
flight of any commercial airliner in India has been successfully
completed by Airbus’ Quovadis RNP subsidiary and IndiGo at
Cochin International Airport.
IndiGo A320
Specially developed by Quovadis, the RNP procedure for this
airport was validated using Airbus flight simulators. Following
this successful flight by IndiGo in an Airbus A320, Jet Airways
will soon also demonstrate this procedure at the airport using a
Boeing 737-800. Together, all operators with ‘RNP
capable’ aircraft will benefit from RNP approaches at Cochin
airport, once the new procedures have been officially published by
the authorities.
“RNP approaches are a great way to achieve savings while
improving safety,” says Paul-Franck Bijou, Chief Executive
Officer of Quovadis. “RNP navigation has the necessary
flexibility to optimise and segregate trajectories from non-RNP
traffic, terrain and obstacles”.
He adds: “Quovadis, together with its partners CGx AERO in
SYS and ENAC (Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile), have
been working with Indian authorities (DGCA), Airport Authorities of
India and two operators, IndiGo and Jet Airways, to develop this
RNP procedure.”
The new procedure for India, which has been jointly financed by
Airbus and the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC), brings the
following benefits to both local authorities and airlines at Cochin
International Airport:
- Fully managed approach on contained trajectories.
- A much shorter flight path saving 40nm for operators on each
approach, equating to approximately 1,000lbs fuel saved per
landing, whilst reducing noise emissions.
- Easier air traffic management especially in areas with reduced
or no radar coverage.
Optimized RNP Approach File Image
“Flying RNP at such a busy airport is a great way to
ensure fully managed and stable approaches, reduce flight time and
increase fuel efficiency,” says Captain Kathpalia, Head of
Flight Inspection at DGCA.
“We are looking forward to flying commercially RNP APCH at
Cochin Airport in the very near future,” says Aditya Ghosh,
President of IndiGo. “We expect tangible cost savings, since
it will improve the efficiency of our operations,” he adds.
“More importantly, we are excited about partnering in this
significant step towards improving Air Traffic Management in India
and helping to make it a safer environment.”