Winner: Airways Corporation of new Zealand
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Achievement: Implementing the first satellite-based oceanic traffic control system, opening up the use of Future Air Navigation Systems in the Pacific.
Airways Corporation of new Zealand has become the first air-traffic-control organisation to install a satellite-based oceanic communications and surveillance system.
This new Oceanic Control System (OCS), which went into service on 14 September, 1995, is a major step forward in helping airlines to exploit the benefits of Future Air Navigation System (FANS) equipment now in service across the South pacific.
The OCS system, which was developed for the Airways Corporation by Canadian electronics group CAE, allows air-traffic controllers to track aircraft within their airspace on a visual-situation display. The system also allows the controllers to send and receive messages from pilots via satellite, overcoming the limitations of conventional radio communications.
In effect, the OCS provides an oceanwide pseudo-radar system, which in turn allows aircrew greater flexibility in selecting the routes that they fly. The Airways Corporation's chief executive, Peter Proulx, believes that with a steady increase in the number of FANS 1-equipped aircraft now flying in the South Pacific region, others will follow New Zealand's lead.
"Airways Corporation in new Zealand happens to be the first off the blocks, but other countries are following, or will be in a position to work cooperatively with those countries which already use the technology", he says, adding that international cooperation is essential in realising the benefits of the FANS concept.
Airways Corporation began an investigation into the potential for satellite systems in 1994 and signed the contract to develop the system October the same year. The interim system was up and running, on time and under budget, a year later. Airways adds that commissioning of the final system will take place by April 1996.
Finalist: CAM-Macau International Airport Company
Location: Macau
Achievement: Completion of the new $1 billion Macau International Airport on land reclaimed from the South China Sea.
LESS THAN FOUR years after construction began, Macau International Airport opened for business on 9 November, 1995, ahead of schedule and on budget.
The project, handled by the CAM-Macau International Airport Company under the leadership of its chairman Prof Ant¢nio Diogo Pinto, involved the construction of a 136Ha (336 acres) artificial island off Taipa Island. The 3,360m long-haul runway alone consumed 5.7 million m3 (200 million ft3) of sand backfilling and another 500,000m3 of concrete.
As well as the technical challenge in reclaiming land from the muddy depths of the South China Sea, the company was responsible for raising $1 billion of international funding. It opens as one of the world's few truly private airports.
The airport expects to handle 1.8 million passengers and 100,000t of cargo in its first year, but has terminal capacity to raise this to 6 million passengers and 200,000t. Further expansion is also possible.
The Awards judges were impressed with the contribution that the airport is likely to make to the economy of Macau and of the close co-operation on the project with China, which is due to take back sovereignty of the Portuguese colony at the end of 1999.
Finalist: Federal Aviation Administration
Location: Washington DC, USA
Achievement: Accelerating approval for extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) on new aircraft and engine types, including the Boeing 777.
WHEN UNITED Airlines introduced the Boeing 777 into service on the North Atlantic in May 1995, it did so with approval for 180min extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS), despite the fact that this was a newly certificated aircraft and engine combination.
This could not have taken place without the US Federal Aviation Administration having the vision and courage to tackle the issue of updating ETOPS rules.
Under the original ETOPS criteria, published in 1985, each engine type is required to have a minimum of 250,000 in-service hours, and each new airframe/engine combination has to have proved itself in operation for at least a year.
The FAA realised that these limits were imposing a heavy cost penalty on airlines seeking to introduce new aircraft types into their fleet, and so set about drafting criteria for a new "accelerated ETOPS" approval. This was published in 1995 and has since been taken up by airlines and civil-aviation authorities around the world.
In particular, the FAA worked closely with the aviation community to allow the 777 to enter service with 180min ETOPS already in place, leading to the United flight in May.
Source: Flight International
