The world's aviation community has struck a global deal to speed the roll-out of next-generation satellite-based air navigation to help drive efficiency and shrink air transport's carbon footprint.

Leading air traffic management stakeholders signed a declaration calling for the rapid deployment of performance-based navigation (PBN) throughout the global air transport system at the Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva this month.

The declaration calls upon civil aviation authorities to initiate the systems jointly, says the International Civil Aviation Organisation, which in 2007 urged all 190 member states to have implementation plans ready by 2009.

The system entails a shift to more accurate and efficient aircraft trajectories by moving away from reliance on ground-based navigation aids in favour of satellite-guided area navigation procedures. By enabling more direct routes and more efficient approaches and departures, performance-based navigation provides the potential for substantial reductions in fuel burn and emissions. It would also enable better access to "weather-challenged" secondary or tertiary airports without the need to install ground-based precision approach aids.

Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation secretary general Alexander ter Kuile told summit delegates: "PBN takes the best that aircraft flight management systems and global satellite navigation systems such as GPS have to offer and bundles these capacities into a global set of navigation standards. With PBN, aircraft can fly anywhere in the world where the flightpaths are straight, great circle or curved. In and out of airports, aircraft can negotiate around obstacles and terrain with great precision."

Qantas and AirServices Australia have already been developing performance-based navigation arrival procedures - also known as required navigation performance approaches - for Australian airports..

Qantas has flown 1,612 such approaches to Brisbane in low-visibility conditions, which reduced the total distance flown over the period by 32,000km (17,300nm) and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 650t.

The International Air Transport Association estimates that shorter routes could cut carbon emissions by 13 million tonnes a year if implemented globally. A co-ordinated action plan to assist in implementing performance-based navigation according to ICAO criteria has drawn up, and the agency has established regional and global task forces.

Source: Flight International

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