ETW STAFF – Mumbai
Honeywell’s SmartPath has been selected by Airservices Australia as the country’s first Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS) to improve operational efficiency and decrease air traffic noise at Sydney Airport.
Designed to overcome ILS limitations at airports experiencing high traffic volumes, GBAS augments Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to make them accurate and safe enough to use for precision approach and landing for aircraft. Honeywell’s SmartPath is the world’s only certified GBAS, with certifications from the FAA and Germany’s BAF, and replaces older Instrument Landing System (ILS) technology.
Sydney Airport has developed into a major international hub for the Australasian and Asian region, serving a record 36.9 million passengers in 2012 — a 3.6 per cent rise from the previous year. Responding to growing passenger demand, the selection of SmartPath at Sydney is the result of a successful partnership between the airport, Airservices, Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and Qantas, who provided GLS-equipped A380 and B737 aircraft for system testing. SmartPath will complete operational testing and evaluation by Airservices, Sydney Airport and Qantas by the end of Q1 2013 before becoming commercially operational — pending certification by CASA
Benefits of SmartPath Precision Landing System: Support up to 26 precision approaches for aircraft across up to four runways simultaneously, eliminating the need for multiple ILS systems at airports with several runways; reduce maintenance – SmartPath can yield annual maintenance savings of up to $400,000 over ILS; reduce tarmac congestion and increase airport throughput by mitigating the need for taxiing aircraft to ‘short-hold’.
