Air navigation capacity and efficiency priorities
Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP)
The sixth edition of the
Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP, Doc 9750) has been made available in an interactive format via the
GANP Portal following its endorsement by the Fortieth Session of the ICAO Assembly. As the strategic direction for global air navigation, this edition of the GANP responds to challenges stemming from a new era in aviation, turning them into opportunities so that aviation can continue to boost social well-being worldwide. Furthermore, it is a call for action to all aviation stakeholders, at global, regional and national levels, to join efforts towards a common vision through the implementation of an evolutionary transformation of the air navigation system driven by performance.
To this end, this edition of the GANP includes:
- For the decision-makers: main challenges and opportunities, expectations, ambitions and a strategy
- For technical experts: tools and dashboards built from a performance framework and two global operational frameworks.
To promote a performance-based approach for a cost-effective modernization of the air navigation system, ICAO developed the Air Navigation - System Performance Assessment (AN-SPA) tool. This tool guides the aviation community in the application of a six-step performance management process and in the selection of relevant operational improvements within the Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) framework. In 2019, States, together with other aviation stakeholders, were encouraged to implement a performance management process and use the tool to assess their needs as well as to provide feedback to ICAO for validation and improvement purposes.
To develop and maintain future editions of the GANP, ICAO formed a group of experts, the GANP Study Group (GSG), in response to Recommendations 1.1/1, 1.2/1 and 4.3/1 from the Thirteenth Air Navigation Conference (AN-Conf/13).
Regional Air Navigation Plans (ANPs)
As the alignment of regional and global air navigation planning is essential to ensure a harmonized modernization of the air navigation system, in 2019 ICAO started the development of a system to integrate the ANPs on the GANP Portal.
International Aviation Trust Framework
A new Memorandum of Understanding with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was signed in February 2019 on exploring the specifics for a new trust framework aimed at securing digital communications in the aviation sector.
Performance management planning
The sixth edition of the GANP emphasizes the importance of adopting a globally harmonized performance management process for cost-effective air navigation modernization based on collaborative decision-making. To this end, it includes a performance framework composed of a six-step performance management process, a catalogue of performance objectives and a list of key performance indicators.
To expedite the work on the performance framework, ICAO formed a group of experts, the Global ICAO Performance Expert Group (GIPEG) to work under the auspices of the GANP Study Group (GSG) (AN-Conf/13 Recommendation 4.3/1 refers). The GIPEG held its first meeting in Brussels, Belgium from 22 to 25 October 2019. Its work programme focuses on the collection and sharing of information, the identification of required data and data sources, the development of data models and influence diagrams, the development of global standards for the generation, exchange and processing of performance data or the emerging techniques for performance data management and use.
Performance-based navigation
In 2019, PBN approval procedures were simplified, requiring specific approval listed in the operations specifications (OPSPECS) only for the more demanding Authorization Required (AR) approaches. Additional work to streamline the process of gaining a specific approval for these approaches continues.
As of 2019, close to 30 per cent of Member States have concluded the transition to the new PBN chart identification using Required Navigation Performance (RNP) instead of area navigation (RNAV),The feedback has been positive; the new chart identification aligns the language in the aircraft airworthiness approvals and the operational approvals with the language in approach charts.
Aerodrome capacity and efficiency
Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) were developed in 2019 concerning airport master planning that will contribute to improved capacity in a timely and sustainable manner. A master plan ensures that all airside, landside and airport support elements develop and expand in a structured, balanced and orderly fashion for improved operational efficiency.
Implementation of the provision of space weather information service
Following Council Decision 215-7, the space weather information service to support international air navigation started operations on 7 November 2019. The space weather advisories are disseminated through the aeronautical fixed network in cases of moderate or severe impacts of space weather phenomena of solar origin, notably with respect to high frequency (HF) communications, global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based navigation and surveillance and augmented radiation aboard aircraft.
This global service is being provided on a 24/7 basis by the States that have accepted the responsibility to provide global space weather centres, namely: the ACFJ consortium (comprising Australia, Canada, France and Japan); the Pan-European Consortium for Aviation Space (PECASUS) consortium (comprising Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom); and the United States. Two regional space weather centres provided by the China/Russian Federation consortium and South Africa will also be established at a later stage.
When there are space weather events, space weather advisory information is supplied to area control centres, flight information centres, aerodrome meteorological offices, international OPMET (operational meteorological information) databanks, international NOTAM offices and aeronautical fixed service Internet-based services. Additionally, space weather advisory information relevant to the whole of a particular route is supplied to operators and flight crew members as part of meteorological information and transmitted to aircraft in flight.
The implementation of the service involves the National OPMET Centres (NOCs), Regional OPMET Centers (ROCs), Regional OPMET Databanks (RODBs) and Inter-Regional OPMET Gateways (IROG) which will be responsible for receiving and disseminating space weather advisories.
To support the implementation, the
Manual on Space Weather Information in Support of International Air Navigation (Doc 10100) and the Twelfth Edition of the Manual of Aeronautical Meteorological Practice (Doc 8896) were issued in 2019 and additional information about the dissemination of the advisories was also made available on the ICAO Meteorology Panel (METP) website.
