Airport tests system designed to cut delays
Print Edition
A NEW GPS-based system that claims to be able to reduce flight delays by maximizing takeoff and landing efficiency was put through its paces yesterday at Pudong International Airport, officials said.
The GBAS system, developed by Honeywell Aerospace, claims to be able to calculate the shortest possible approach and takeoff routes, which means interval times can be kept to a minimum and airlines can save fuel, the company said.
The system is also more effective than the ground-based radar technology developed in the 1950s and still in use at Pudong as it can improve aircraft operational safety, especially in bad weather, said Brian Davis, vice president of the company’s airlines section for Asia-Pacific.
The new system was used yesterday to assist the landing and takeoff of a China Eastern Airlines Airbus 320 and a Shandong Airlines B737.
Li Jian, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said GBAS represents a milestone in the application of civil aviation technology in the country.
It was first used last year at Sydney Airport in Australia.
While modifications to some aircraft are necessary before the system can be used universally, it will over time be installed at several airports across China, including the two in Shanghai, Li said.
It is hoped the new technology can help to improve efficiency at Pudong and Hongqiao airports, where the on-time rate fell below 70 percent last year, its lowest level since 2009.
Davis said airports in Lhasa and Nyingchi in Tibet have approached Honeywell to install the GBAS system as it is well suited to high altitude operations.
The company is also working to ensure compatibility with China’s homegrown Beidou Satellite Navigation System so as to relieve the country’s dependence on the American GPS system that is currently used, he said.
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