NATS Blog - about Gatwick Airport - no room for error it would seem as the plan is to increase 53 movements per hour to 55 and they still want more with another new flight path - no room for safety or error? 16 September 2013 Over the past few years, Gatwick has had a declared runway capacity of 53, well ahead of many other international airports with multiple runways, but since January 2012 NATS has been working with the airport’s owners, GIP, on beating that record. The project focused on implementing a version of EUROCONTROL’s concept of Airport Collaborative Decision Making (ACDM), where information is shared right across the operation to improve safety and efficiency. Like an F1 pit crew, the principle of ACDM is that everyone involved is in the right place at the right time, working precisely to plan, in unison and sharing information. At an airport, this means everyone, from the caterers to the controllers. One of our objectives was to reach a declared capacity level of 55 aircraft movements an hour – that’s a take-off or landing every 65 seconds. In order to reach that goal, the ACDM55 project (as it became known) had three main air traffic control components: § Enhance runway capacity by reducing spacing variations § Boost on-time performance to 85% or more § Introduce a system to monitor how well the entire operation is performing on a real time basis One of the key suggestions emerging from the project team was an approach stabilisation trial, which we ran at the end of the peak summer season last year (2012), and again from March to September this year (2013). It involved analysing the operation to find ways of improving the consistency of the spacing provided between arriving aircraft in order to maximise throughput. We discovered that by REMOVING THE SHORTENED APPROACH PATH as aircraft turned into land, we were able to achieve a 25% reduction in the spacing variation. In May 2012, during a seven-hour peak period, we declared one hour at 53 aircraft and 11 to 12 hours at 50+, but as a result of the trial we now have the capability of declaring a 55-aircraft movement capacity. That level of change in the delivery is incredibly significant, and all the more so given the high performance starting point of operations at Gatwick. Airlines have been telling us that the new approach procedure is much more straightforward, with less uncertainty. And from the airport’s perspective, the reduced variation in the final approach spacing has resulted in a record capacity declaration for the winter 2013/14 schedule. We want Gatwick to be a worldwide benchmark for single runway ATC operations and we’ve got a range of other projects underway to help cement that. These include providing noise respite to local communities and the first introduction of permanent RNAV departure routes at any major UK airport.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 14:26:08 +0000