Quovadis Assists Frontier Airlines to Become first U.S. Airbus Operator Approved for RNP AR 0.3 Public Procedures

Quovadis, an Airbus ProSky company, has assisted Frontier Airlines with the completion of requirements established in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Advisory Circular AC 90-101A for RNP AR 0.3 operations using its fleet of Airbus A320 Family aircraft. After a thorough documentation review, the FAA granted Frontier Airlines operational approval for RNP with Authorization Required (AR) for public procedures in the United States.

Requirements of AC 90-101A included, among others: specific aircraft qualification; updated Flight Operation Documentation; specific crew and dispatcher training programs; Navigation Database validation and management program; GPS Prediction program; and deployment of an RNP AR Monitoring Program.

Frontier Airlines is now the first operator in the United States fitted with Airbus RNP AR 0.3 modification in compliance with the FAA AC-90 101A Approval Guidance for RNP-AR procedures available for applicable airports in the United States.

Accordingly, Frontier Airlines will be able to fly RNP procedures which allow a turn after the Final Approach Point or a missed approach with an RNP values up to 0.3nm. The containment area provided by RNP allows aircraft to fly an optimized horizontal and vertical trajectory in demanding terrain, helps to reduce diversions due to bad weather conditions, lower fuel burn and improve airport access in challenging terrain.

"The opportunity to collaborate with Frontier Airlines has been invaluable. Assisting them with obtaining FAA RNP AR 0.3 Operational Approval will allow them to fly more predictive, efficient and timely routes into more airports throughout the United States," said Don-Jacques Ould-Ferhat, COO, Quovadis. "Thanks to our SAT4FLIGHT service we will also provide Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring GPS signal availability prediction for Frontier Airlines on all RNP APCH and RNP AR operations in the United States and beyond."

"Frontier is proud to be the first Airbus operator in the United States to accomplish RNAV RNP AR 0.3 modifications and approval under AC 90-101A, particularly in conjunction with the addition of these procedures this month to our hometown Denver International Airport," said Scott Gould, VP of Flight Operations, Frontier. "Frontier is committed to leveraging available technology to improve reliability for our customers, as well reduce fuel and emissions impact to the environment and overall costs. We sincerely appreciate the assistance of Quovadis in completing the requirements for FAA approval."

Frontier Airlines will continue working with Quovadis in order to seek operational approval for RNP AR below 0.3 Public Operations in the United States. This would also be done in compliance with FAA AC 90-101A and with the Airbus required modification per the Airworthiness Compliance Document RNP Operations with AR.

RNP AR supports the development of more efficient procedures to reduce emissions, aircraft noise, weather related minima and to access airports with challenging environment. RNP AR, as part of the Performance Based Navigation (PBN) concept is an innovative Air Traffic Management (ATM) solution that has been encouraged by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).