On 16-17 September 2015 in Paris, more than 200 aviation stakeholders came together to find out more about Extended Arrival Management (E-AMAN), a SESAR Solution that aims to overcome congestion and delays at busy airports across Europe.
Organised by the SESAR Joint Undertaking and hosted by DSNA, participants had an opportunity to visit a number of demonstration platforms and hear first-hand from the ATM experts carrying out the research and validation of the solution. The workshop also presented the current status of the solution’s implementation and heard from representatives of airports, airlines and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) about the benefits in terms of efficiency, costs and the environment that this solution will bring to their operations.
Opening the two-day event, Florian Guillermet, Executive Director, SESAR Joint Undertaking, noted the importance of providing stakeholders with in-depth updates on the progress of SESAR’s delivery of solutions: “This workshop is an excellent way for stakeholders to see SESAR Solutions in action and take home best practices in this important area of ATM R&I. E-AMAN is one of several solutions already in the pipeline for deployment – showcasing these solutions is therefore critical to spread the word and encourage take-up.”
In his keynote address, Maurice Georges, Chief Executive Officer, DSNA, welcomed participants to the workshop, noting: “The subject of E-AMAN is not new but the way we are managing is. SESAR provides the right environment for developing fast time, reactive and open solutions. That is the important added value of SESAR.”
E-AMAN is one of several solutions that are set for Europe-wide deployment through the EU’s Pilot Common Project and the SESAR Deployment Programme. Maurizio Castelletti, DG MOVE, European Commission, noted that the implementation of E-AMAN allows industry to go beyond abstract discussions to enabling greater efficiency for arrivals.
Presenting where the solution will be implemented across Europe, Massimo Garbini, SESAR Deployment Manager, noted that the benefits expected from E-AMAN are much higher than the costs of its implementation. Concretely, it is estimated that its implementation (combined with Performance-Based Navigation) will amount to EUR 200 million, while benefits are expected to reach EUR 1.1 billion, representing a 37.5% of the overall PCP net benefit.
Olivia Nunez, SESAR Joint Undertaking, set the scene by spelling out the current AMAN system and the challenges that E-AMAN seeks to address. Today, arriving airport traffic is managed and sequenced in the airspace close to the airport. Faced with increasing traffic, airports are looking for ways to overcome congestion and reduce the need for holding. The SESAR Solution, E-AMAN, allows for the sequencing of traffic in preparation for landing much earlier than is currently the case, by extending the AMAN horizon from the airspace around the airport, to a point further upstream, in neighbouring en-route airspace. With E-AMAN, controllers in the neighbouring sectors can instruct pilots to adjust the aircraft speed before beginning descent towards the destination airport, thereby reducing the need for holding.
Validation exercises have already taken place in Rome, Amsterdam, Malmö and London showing that, for each flight, holding time near airports is significantly reduced, which also delivers a valuable reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The first operational cross-border implementation of the Extended-AMAN concept, known as XMAN, is for arrivals at London Heathrow, the world’s busiest dual runway airport where 65% of all arrivals experience stack holding. Since going live in April 2014, XMAN has resulted in a reduction of up to a minute in holding times for those flights influenced by the trial, saving airlines around €1.25 million in fuel and 5,000 tonnes of CO2, as well as reducing noise for communities underneath the stacks. Participants were invited to see this application of E-AMAN as well as others in the pipeline at five dedicated demonstration platforms hosted by DFS; DSNA and Thales; ENAV and Selex ES; Eurocontrol; and NATS.
The solution offers benefits to all stakeholder groups. Providing the ANSP perspective, Jonathan Astill, NATS, noted that E-AMAN is proof of how small changes can have a big impact. He stressed that as service-providers, ANSPs need to respond to their customers’ need and support them in achieving their goal of delivering passengers with a better travel experience.
Given the proven fuel savings, E-AMAN is obviously good news for airspace users. This view was shared by Andreas Linner, Novair, who noted that in addition reducing carbon emissions through fuel efficiencies, E-AMAN also helps to address noise around the airport. He called the solution “a pre-requisite for a Single European Sky,” and a “supreme solution if combined with enhanced, efficient and dynamic airspace design”.
E-AMAN also looks set to have a positive impact on airport operations. Speaking on behalf of SEAC, Guillaume Auquier, Aéroports de Paris, noted that E-MAN is intrinsic to airports’ goal of greater performance and punctuality for a better passenger experience. To achieve this goal, it was important to see E-AMAN within the context of SESAR’s vision of total airport management. For example this involves the full integration of the Airport Operations Plan and the Network Operations Plan, improved information sharing and collaborative decision-making between stakeholders.
Of course, the successful implementation of the E-AMAN solution is reliant on its acceptance by the controllers. Luis Barbero, IFATCA, noted that controller feedback has been very positive but underlined the need for controllers’ continued involvement in refining E-AMAN human machine interface and addressing future challenges such as the complexity with the introduction of overlapping E-AMANs.
While the human factor is key, E-AMAN sees changes to the system and service infrastructure to facilitate the sharing of information further upstream, speaking on behalf of ASD, Luc Lallouette, Thales, spoke of the need to focus on having more accurate 4D trajectories and a standardisation of processes to ensure the full benefits of E-AMAN. He also called for increased collaboration between stakeholders to further refine and extend the application of the solution.
E-AMAN is not just about resolving congestion at one busy airport. With a planned deployment in 24 airports across Europe, the aim is to increase ATM performance at a network level. Giving the Network Manager perspective, Joe Sultana, Eurocontrol, noted that the overlapping of E-AMAN horizons emphasises the need for a network (performance) approach that takes on board local and individual flight requirements and constraints, including those for (extended) sequencing. He pointed to the exchange of data as critical to enabling increased accuracy and appropriate distribution.
All in all, the benefits observed in the R&D validations have provided a convincing argument for the application of E-AMAN for busy airports. Serge Bagieu, SJU, presented the next steps for the solution. While its deployment is planned, Mr Bagieu noted that it will be critical to have connectivity between systems – airports, the Network Manager, ANSPs and standardised procedures. Under the SESAR 2020 Programme, very large scale demonstrations will be conducted in preparation for deployment, as well as some further validation will take place to look at the next phase of the solution.
Benoit Fonck, SJU, concluded by showing how E-AMAN fits within the overall catalogue of SESAR solutions, noting the importance of complementarity between these solutions to ensure the performance levels required. Performance was one of the main topics for discussion in the closing Q&A session, where participants suggested the need to identify indicators to measure performance more adequately across stakeholder communities.
Download presentations and videos
Watch the video from the event
Find out about NATS XMAN activities at LHR