SESAR partners trial solution to make air traffic near airports smoother and more sustainable

SESAR partners in the Netherlands successfully carried out flight trials demonstrating a solution to enable aircraft approaching airports to fly fixed routes in continuous descent. Trialled within the context of SESAR’s Integrated TMA, Airport and Runway Operations (ITARO) very large-scale demonstration, the solution is expected to help improve the efficiency and sustainability of aircraft as they approach busy airports.

The Interval Management (IM) flight trial was carried out at Groningen Airport Eelde. The NLR Cessna Citation II research aircraft was equipped with the IM system and the DLR ISTAR aircraft, a Falcon 2000 LX, was the lead aircraft during most flights. A few flights were executed with a Cessna Citation CJ4 as lead aircraft. The lead and follower aircraft operated approach procedures with fixed routes and fixed profile descents at either 2.0 or 2.5 degrees. These routes have been especially designed for this flight trial. In total, 49 successful IM operations have been performed during 11 flights.

Find out more about the trial.