ENAIRE improves operations at the Reus Airport with new satellite-based navigation instrument approach procedures

ENAIRE, the national air navigation service provider, has improved operations at the Reus Airport with new satellite-based navigation instrument approach procedures.

By implementing these new procedures, ENAIRE is increasing the efficiency of operations, as well as accessibility to the Reus Airport. Since these procedures do not depend on ground-based navaids, they provide a very useful solution as an improvement or alternative to the current, conventional approaches. To carry out these procedures based on the use of satellite navigation, aircraft need to be properly equipped and the crews trained on their use.

This further enhances the safety and consistency of operations, as well as the continuity of the airport's air navigation services

As for the VOR/DME non-precision approach instrument procedure currently in use for in runway RWY 07, the new satellite-based procedures improve navigation performance by providing vertical guidance to aircraft in the final phase of the approach and bringing the decision height - which is where the pilot must decide whether to continue or abort the landing - closer to the runway threshold, thus improving service continuity at the airport.

The recent implementation of the new procedures at Reus Airport is in addition to those already in place at the airports of Seve Ballesteros-Santander, Jerez, Almería, Valencia, Castellón, Fuerteventura, César Manrique-Lanzarote, La Palma, Palma, Vigo, A Coruña, Lleida-Alguaire, Girona-Costa Brava, Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, San Sebastián and others as part of ENAIRE's Plan to Implement Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) Procedures. In addition, the Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport has a satellite-based ground augmentation system called GBAS and procedures for precision instrument operations based on this system.

This process of implementing new approach procedures based on satellite navigation will help to further meet the requirements of the Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) Implementation Plan, laid out in ENAIRE's Strategic Plan, the 2025 Flight Plan.

It also assists in complying with European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1048, the aim of which is to improve the efficiency of air traffic management at the European level by implementing Performance-Based Navigation (PBN).

In order to allow for these new landing and take-off procedures, ENAIRE has conducted the necessary safety studies, which were duly processed with the National Aviation Safety Agency (AESA).

European EGNOS System

The new procedures in the Reus Airport rely on the European EGNOS system for runway 07. 

The use of the European EGNOS satellite navigation system, which is owned by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), is part of the service agreement already in place between ENAIRE and the ESSP, the company that operates the EGNOS system.

ESSP is an air navigation service provider supervised by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and owned by ENAIRE, together with air navigation service providers from Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. 

Through this effort, ENAIRE is making available to users of the Reus Airport satellite-based approach procedures that improve the safety and consistency of operations in the airport. This is all possible without having to set up additional land infrastructure, which provides financial savings and operational benefits as a result.