Bristol Airport Consultation
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Implementation of RNAV aircraft approaches from the south at Bristol Airport Consultation Document July 2013 Prepared by: Bristol Airport Limited This page is intentionally blank Implementation of RNAV aircraft approaches from the south at Bristol Airport – Consultation Document Table of Contents Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. 1 Foreword ............................................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 5 2. Introduction of RNAV at Bristol Airport ........................................................................... 5 3. Consultation ................................................................................................................... 8 4. Overview of current operations at Bristol Airport ............................................................ 8 Runway 09 ........................................................................................................................ 9 Runway 27 ...................................................................................................................... 10 5. Proposed RNAV routes ................................................................................................ 11 Runway 09 – Route A ...................................................................................................... 12 Runway 27 – Route B ...................................................................................................... 14 Likely use of the RNAV routes ......................................................................................... 16 6. Environmental considerations ...................................................................................... 16 Government policy........................................................................................................... 16 Noise contours ................................................................................................................ 16 Continuous descent approaches (CDAs) ......................................................................... 17 Track-keeping .................................................................................................................. 18 Mendip Hills AONB .......................................................................................................... 18 7. How to respond to this consultation .............................................................................. 18 Appendix A ......................................................................................................................... 21 Appendix B ......................................................................................................................... 23 1 Implementation of RNAV aircraft approaches from the south at Bristol Airport – Consultation Document This page is intentionally blank 2 Implementation of RNAV aircraft approaches from the south at Bristol Airport – Consultation Document Foreword Bristol Airport is the fifth largest airport in the UK outside London and last year handled nearly 6 million passengers. Flights to over 100 destinations help link the South West and South Wales with the world, creating connectivity which drives inward investment, exports and inbound tourism across the region. Throughout what has been a successful journey over the last decade and more, Bristol Airport has remained committed to maintaining strong relationships with local stakeholders. For example, planning approval for the development of facilities to enable up to 10 million passengers per annum to pass through the terminal was preceded by several years of consultation with the local community, and was accompanied by a range of commitments on air quality, nature conservation, noise and the environment. This latest consultation continues our commitment to keeping local stakeholders informed as we put the building blocks in place to take advantage of developing technology which will change the way aircraft navigate, not just here at Bristol Airport but in airspace across Europe and the world. Area Navigation (RNAV) is at the heart of new technology with the potential to streamline air traffic procedures, ultimately delivering fuel savings, reduced emissions and an improved noise environment for people on the ground. While its full utilisation may be some years in the future we believe that RNAV, which uses satellite-based navigation systems to ensure more reliable, repeatable and predictable flight paths, is worth investing in today. This document provides further details on the case for doing so, and explains the procedures involved. Thank you for taking the time to take part in this consultation. We welcome your interest and are committed to taking all responses into consideration. Robert Sinclair Chief Executive Officer 3 Implementation of RNAV aircraft approaches from the south at Bristol Airport – Consultation Document This page is intentionally blank 4 Implementation of RNAV aircraft approaches from the south at Bristol Airport – Consultation Document 1. Introduction This document describes our proposal to replicate, implement and eventually replace the current approach routes from the south into Bristol Airport with more accurately defined routes utilising the improved capabilities of modern aircraft. Section 2 explains what RNAV is, how it will be used, and its potential benefits. It also clarifies the scope of the consultation, which is only concerned with approach procedures to Bristol Airport from the south. Section 3 explains why this consultation is required and lists the stakeholders with whom we are consulting. Section 4 provides an overview of current operations at Bristol Airport, including diagrams illustrating the tracks taken by aircraft approaching from the south. Section 5 sets out the proposed RNAV routes, which are designed to replicate the current tracks as closely as possible. Section 6 sets out environmental considerations and examines, in particular, any potential impacts the proposals could have on noise levels. Section 7 sets out how stakeholders should respond to the consultation and explains what will happen next. 2. Introduction of RNAV at Bristol Airport The airspace route network in the UK is currently based on “conventional navigation” whereby required routes are aligned to ground based navigation aids. However, most aircraft in the UK have the potential to use modern Performance Based Navigation (PBN) technology that does not require ground based navigation aids. However, without standardisation of how aircraft interpret the conventional route structure, the tracks flown by different aircraft and operators on the same route can vary resulting in different areas being overflown. The use of Area Navigation (also known as RNAV) allows appropriately equipped aircraft to follow a standardised route with a greater degree of accuracy than before1. This method of aircraft navigation can use existing ground based infrastructure, satellite or on-board systems to navigate from point to point with a higher level of certainty and assurance. On board monitoring tools are used to alert the aircrew if the aircraft deviates from its assigned track. Bristol Airport, its airline customers and air navigation services provider, NATS, have identified an opportunity to introduce RNAV for the approach routes to the airport from the south. This is seen as part of a phased implementation of RNAV into the airspace as a whole, but the complexities of the relationship between northern arrival routes and the national airways system limits the potential opportunity to the southern approaches for the time being. The current proposal will therefore affect a relatively small proportion 1 The navigation specification for RNAV requires a track-keeping accuracy of ±1 nautical mile compared with ±5 nautical miles for the next best standard. 5 Implementation of RNAV aircraft approaches from the south at Bristol Airport – Consultation Document (approximately 13%) of aircraft flying into and out of Bristol Airport. It does, however, provide a readily achievable opportunity to secure the operational and environmental benefits of the new procedures in advance of a wider roll out. The implementation of RNAV at Bristol Airport is consistent with the Government‟s objectives to improve the efficiency of the UK airspace network and to mitigate the environmental impact of aviation. This will entail the redesign of the UK‟s terminal airspace over the period to 2025 to facilitate the use of new procedures such as PBN and better queue management techniques. The Bristol Airport airspace was thoroughly reviewed, redesigned and updated to suit the current and anticipated future levels of traffic growth in 2006. This process considered the requirements of other airspace users, in particular the Ministry of Defence in respect of the airspace to the south of the airport. The approach routes were optimised at that time to take account of these needs and a redesign of these routes is neither necessary nor feasible now. Our proposals for the introduction of RNAV are therefore based on updating the southern approach routes by “replication” whereby the existing route alignment is preserved as much as possible, whilst catering for the greater navigational accuracy of PBN.