5.2 SDO 2 - Optimising airport and TMA environmental footprint

This SDO aims to optimise the continuity of capacity delivery at airports and in TMAs, while also meeting military needs and avoiding network-wide delays and reducing the environmental impact of ATM (Table 2). It also aims to mitigate the safety issue assessed by EASA with an elevated priority category ‘mass diversions (SI-2032)’ (1) due to airspace and/or airport closure, where a large amount of displaced traffic leads to an overload for air traffic control (ATC) and increased workload for the flight crew.

What

Who

Where

ID

Deployment action

2.1

 Implement collaborative management of regional airports and their integration with Network Manager (NM) by sharing departure planning information (also shared between NM and airspace users).

ANSP, AU, AU MIL, 
AO, NM

Airport, TMA, 
En-route, Network

2.2

 Implement solutions to better integrate large/very large airports and the network via an enhanced AOPs-NOP tactical, pre-tactical and strategic planning and AOP to AOP collaborative planning process.

ANSP, AU 
AO, NM

Airport, Network

2.3

 Implement environmental performance management at airports and solutions to reduce the airport impact on emissions (single engine taxiing, engine-off taxiing though use of sustainable taxiing vehicles).

ANSP, AU, 
AO

Airport

2.4

 Implement capabilities to better manage arrival constraints between various extended arrival management (E-AMAN) units in cross-border environments and to better integrate the out-of-area inbound flights.

ANSP, AU

Airport, TMA, 
En-route, Network

2.5

 Implement optimised descent operations using merge to point and advanced approach procedures (2) (i.e. second runway-aiming point (SRAP), increased second glide slope (ISGS), increased glide slope to a second runway aiming point (IGS-to-SRAP)), which aim to reduce the environmental impact (e.g. noise, fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, etc.) on the airport’s neighbouring communities.

ANSP, AU, AU MIL, AO

Airport, TMA, 
En-route

2.6

 Implement new capabilities to increase airport runway capacity both on arrivals and departures using wake turbulence separations based on static aircraft characteristics, required surveillance performance (RSP) and runway occupancy time (ROT) characterisation of the leader aircraft.

ANSP, AU, 
AO

Airport, TMA

 

Table 2: SDO 2 – optimising airport and TMA environmental footprint

(1)          EASA, European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS), 2024 edition.

(2)          These advanced procedures can be implemented at airports with different types of approach means supporting vertical guidance (e.g. ground-based augmentation system (GBAS) landing systems or required navigation performance approach procedures (area navigation (APV-Baro) or localiser performance with vertical guidance, enabled by a satellite-based augmentation system), as per Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1048 of 18 July 2018 laying down airspace usage requirements and operating procedures concerning performance-based navigation, OJ L 189, 26.7.2018, p. 3 (performance-based navigation regulation)).