Stockholm Arlanda has become the first airport in Europe to introduce a new air traffic concept that will enable arriving aircraft to make systematic use of curved approaches.
The new concept, referred to as Established on RNP (EoR), is designed to improve air traffic capacity, efficiency and sustainability.
The ‘RNP’ stands for Required Navigation Performance, a type of performance-based navigation that allows an aircraft to fly a precise path between two points with a high degree of accuracy, thanks to onboard performance monitoring and alerting.
EoR will allow airports to increase their landing rates per hour and reduce carbon emissions, both for aircraft flying shorter, curved approaches, and for those flying the standard instrument landing approach.
This is because fewer aircraft will have to use the runway dedicated for arrivals, reducing the queue for that runway.
To be able to fly curved approaches, airlines must have a special permit from their national supervisory authority.
The Stockholm Arlanda venture was announced by Swedavia, operator of the airport, and Luftfartsverke, Sweden’s national air navigation service provider (ANSP).