ACI - Outline for Rio Conference

As the "Voice of the World's Airports", Airports Council International is working closely with its member airports and with international aviation organizations on key issues contributing to a safe, secure and environmentally compatible global civil aviation system.

ACI represents over 500 members running some 1,250 airports around the world. Recent surveys showed, that ACI member airports account, for some 90% of global passenger and cargo traffic, serving over two billion passengers and handling more than 54 million tons of cargo. As airports around the world face a number of global issues, ACI is taking a leadership role to ensure a coherent, consistent and pragmatic approach to issues which will affect airports well into the twenty first century.

The International Civil Aviation Organization has always recognized the need to involve airports on key matters. ACI is taking an active role in representing its members in this important international forum. The world's airport community will be an important partner in finding solutions to issues related to the development and expansion of civil aviation in the future.

ICAO has requested active participation by the world's airports in shaping the revised global air navigation plan for CNS/ATM and in developing a realistic timetable for making this future air navigation plan a reality. We at ACI are looking forward to participating in the programs aimed at finding solutions to these exciting challenges.

Using current and future implementations of the global navigational satellite system (GNSS), airlines should be able to take advantage of the most fuel-efficient routes, especially if the "free flight" concept is adopted. Airlines will have greatly improved data handling and exchange with aircraft in flight and between aircraft and with air traffic service providers. An additional benefit we can all appreciate will be increased safety - a direct consequence of improved surveillance and automated conflict detection. This will be particularly evident in continental areas with limited ground-based navigation capability and in oceanic areas. But even in radar-equipped airspace where congestion may be prevalent positive results are foreseen as aircraft capacity may be increased by reducing flight separations, while high safety standards are maintained.

While the principal benefits of the CNS/ATM system will accrue to airlines and air navigation service providers, the consequences for airports should not be overlooked. At the forthcoming ICAO Worldwide CNS/ATM Systems Implementation Conference to be held in Rio de Janeiro in May, 1998, ACI will take an active role in discussions on the global plan's implementation. ACI is particularly interested in participating in evaluation studies on the potential impact of CNS/ATM on airport congestion and delays.

Obviously strategies to improve total system capacity are very much in the interest of airports, particularly as it becomes increasingly difficult to obtain approval for airport development and capacity increases. While on the one hand no one questions the need to protect the fabric of our environment, few, on the other hand, would doubt the need for air transport facilities which can accommodate the logistical requirements of healthy economic growth.

Apart from the safety and aircraft operational efficiency benefits, some particular benefits to capacity constrained airports can already be envisaged. It is anticipated that CNS/ATM systems will provide opportunities for airport capacity improvements particularly where poor weather conditions are a frequent factor in reducing airport capacity.

The likely availability of precision approaches at a greater number of airports could divert some traffic away from airports where delays are common. It is also thought that better sequencing en-route could bring aircraft to the terminal areas in a more efficient manner by clustering of large and small aircraft together or by bringing aircraft in with closer accordance with their required time of arrival.

Local communities can look forward to improved observance of noise-preferential departure routes. Airports hope for spin-off benefits from the resulting lifting of some constraints on aircraft movement capacity.

The construction of new close-spaced parallel runways as independent IFR approaches are facilitated will become a real possibility. New approach and departure tracks may be approved which avoid existing capacity constraints, such as conflicts with reserved airspace, may be eased by the ability to design curved approaches and more complex departure tracks.

But the prospective benefits to airport operators are not limited to capacity in the air and the systems ability to deliver more aircraft movements to the runway. The enhancement of surface guidance at airports should improve ground capacity as well, especially in poor visibility conditions.

ACI has made a firm commitment to the international aviation community to support an ongoing evaluation of the consequences, benefits, and costs of CNS/ATM technologies upon airports and to bring these to ICAO's attention in a timely fashion. By coordinating comprehensive studies of benefits at selected airports, ACI plans to contribute to the aviation community's knowledge and perspective on airport capacity problems.

There are no magic solutions to airport capacity problems. What is important is that the perspective of the world's airports is included in any evaluation of the effectiveness and impact of CNS/ATM on aviation as it continues to develop in the future. There can be no question that the benefits of this global air navigation program can only be realized if all members of the international civil aviation community work together in an atmosphere of concerted cooperation.

Jonathan Howe

Director General, ACI