Avinor and EUROCONTROL to improve arrival operations to Oslo with Point Merge

The new organisation, planned for implementation during the first Quarter of 2011, relies on Point Merge, an innovative procedure developed by the EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre. This will be combined with a new arrival manager from Barco, for incoming traffic to Oslo airport, Gardermoen. Point Merge aims at improving and harmonising arrival operations with existing technology including precision area navigation (P-RNAV). According to François Vergne, EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre operational expert Point Merge enables, in particular, continuous descent approach even under high traffic load, with a potential average fuel saving of 100kg per aircraft in the TMA. In addition to these short-term benefits, Point Merge is also a key building block for longer-term developments in the context of SESAR, such as 4D trajectory management. The simulations are part of the Avinor Oslo Advanced Sectorization & Automation Project (ASAP) established in May 2006. The overall objective of ASAP is to ensure adequate capacity for future traffic growth of the Oslo area, including Oslo and Farris TMAs and the adjacent ACC sectors. Geir Gillebo, ASAP project manager said Within the Oslo TMA, the use of Point Merge together with associated working methods and tools would enable a capacity increase of up to 30%. It would also allow the use of continuous descent approaches (CDA) and continuous climb departures (CCD) which are estimated to reduce CO2 emission per aircraft in the TMA. The simulation activities, which began in February 2007 at EUROCONTROLs CRDS facilities in Budapest with a model-based simulation, will conclude with a final large-scale simulation of the Oslo area in March 2009 at the EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre. They are carried out in the context of a specific agreement between EUROCONTROL and Avinor. EUROCONTROL is also supporting the Irish and Italian Air Navigation Service Providers (IAA and ENAV) to assess the applicability of Point Merge for Dublin and Rome, as part of the reorganisation of their respective TMAs.