Indra awarded key projects to turn Chengdu into the third airport hub in China for 27 Million Euros

The Chinese South West Air Traffic Management Bureau (SWATMB) has chosen Indra to implement some of the key systems that will help to turn the city of Chengdu into the country's third airport hub. It has awarded Indra contracts worth around 27 million euros this year.

Chengdu is one of the pillars of China's economic activity and the gateway to whole of the west of the country. In recent years, the city's air traffic has continued to grow, taking the Chengdu-Shuangliu international airport close to its maximum capacity. Accordingly, there are plans to put a second international airport into service in 2020, Chengdu-Tianfu, with capacity to receive up to 100 million passengers a year.

To absorb the consequent huge increase in traffic, the SWATMB is building a new Terminal Area Control Center which will be equipped with Indra Air Automation system. The system will automatically generate the flight plans for all aircraft, centralize information and distribute it to users. It will be in charge of controlling one of the most congested spaces in China and the world.

At these airports, Indra will also be responsible for implementing the first fully-integrated control tower system which will enter into operation in the country. The solution will facilitate the flow of information between both airport towers and the different control centers (route and terminal maneuvering area) and data received from ground surveillance radars (surface and multilateration radars, precision approach radars, etc.) and other external information sources, such as the weather service. It will allow controllers to share a centralized and integrated image of the traffic situation.

The tower system will have EFS (Electronic Flight Strips), which will replace the paper strips on which controllers acknowledge the data and handle the flights for which they are responsible, and it will include a backup system and test and simulation equipment.

World leader in safe landing systems

In addition to automation systems, Indra will supply instrument landing systems (ILS) for the Chengdu Tianfu airport. This allows pilots to land safely on runways in adverse weather conditions.

This has been one of the biggest navigation aid system contracts awarded in China so far this year. Indra is the main provider of this technology in the country and one of the most important in the world. In China alone, Indra has implemented around 400 instrumental landing systems, four of them at Chengdu Shuangliu airport.

Indra's instrument landing system has made its name as the best navigation solution in the world. One of Indra's 10 ILS systems installed at Shanghai Pudong airport was approved in March 2018 for use in operations in any weather condition (category CATIII A). It was the first system based on ILS guidelines to achieve this category in the country.

Indra has also rolled out around 400 navigation aid systems (DVOR/DME) across China, helping aircraft to follow their air route as closely as possible.

A shared vision of traffic

In recent years Indra won one of the main contracts for implementing automation systems in Chengdu. Every center in the region benefits from perfect interoperability and maximum efficiency for its systems.

Since 2012, the en route center in Chengdu has used Indra's technology to manage the traffic of five regions in SouthWest China, more than 2.3 million kilometers squared in total. Xian is another major en route center which uses Indra's automation system, in this case to manage flights spanning the northwest of the country.

The company also supplied eight radars (MSSR) for the southwest region in 2013, forming part of the network of 40 radars that cover surveillance for 60% of Chinese airspace.