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Point Merge: Improving and Harmonising Arrival Operations with Existing Technology |
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Point Merge is a new way to merge arrival flows that:
- is based on a specific precision area navigation (P-RNAV) route structure;
- enables continuous descent approaches (CDAs) even under high traffic load;
- is implemented at Oslo, and considered at Paris, Dublin, Rome, Brussels, Geneva; and
- is a building block for 4-D trajectory management in SESAR.
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The motivation behind Point Merge is to improve and harmonise arrival operations by, in particular:
- maintaining current runway throughput (during longer periods and with high accuracy) with a potential to match future capacity increases,
- minimising environmental impact (enabling continuous descents and ensuring the containment of trajectories),
- increasing predictability (with aircraft staying on flight management system trajectories), and
- addressing staffing and qualification (with standard and streamlined controller working methods).
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Point Merge is based on a specific P-RNAV route structure that is made of a point (the merge point) with pre-defined legs (the sequencing legs) equidistant from this point that should be used for path shortening or stretching.
The sequence is achieved with conventional direct-to instructions to the merge point. (Open-loop vectoring should only be used to recover from unexpected situations).
As Point Merge relies on existing technology, namely P-RNAV and a metered traffic (e.g. with an arrival manager), it can be implemented in the short term.
It is also a building block for medium and long term developments, such as 4D trajectory management, in the context of SESAR.
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To learn more, read the following documents:
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