CDG is looking to reduce noise and fuel burn significantly by using higher-precision navigation to shorten further the final legs of aircraft trajectories – a project that aims to deliver quantifiable benefits to the airport, the airlines that use it and the environment.
The simulation, which ran 2-6 November, is an important milestone of the project, which is scheduled for full implementation in 2023. The results of the exercise will feed into all aspects of the project – operational, environmental, human factors and cost-benefit analysis.
The exercise, which simulated 3 performance-based navigation (PBN) scenarios versus 2 reference scenarios, including 9 measured sectors, also had two “firsts”.
It allowed the Paris CDG team to test their solution with continuous descent operations for the very first time, while benefiting from all the tools and expertise of EUROCONTROL Brétigny in the field of air traffic control (ATC) simulation. And, in the preparations for the simulation, CDG ATCOs became the first colleagues to access EUROCONTROL working positions remotely – a really important development, as experts can now minimise COVID-19-related risks and travel difficulties by remotely testing and validating some exercise components.
COVID-19 has delayed 2020’s simulations schedule, but our Brétigny centre is currently preparing for three large simulations for Turkey (Istanbul Airport, Turkish Free-route Airspace, and Ankara TMA including Ankara-Esenboğa airport), with further simulations in the pipeline for Lithuania, Morocco, the Netherlands and the UK, and for the Airspace Architecture Study.
The simulations team is also set to work, as part of the SESAR research programme, on R&D simulations for SESAR solutions PJ02 (runway throughput, enhanced arrival procedures and arrival management), PJ18 (advanced data link services) and PJ09 (short-term ATFCM measures, integrated network-ATC planning and dynamic airspace configuration).
