Saab Provides Aircraft and Vehicle Surface Management System for RIOgaleão Airport

Defence and security company Saab has signed a contract with RIOgaleão, the concessionaire responsible for managing the Tom Jobim International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, to supply a common-use surface surveillance platform. The system increases the efficiency of aircraft operations on the ground and contributes to reduced flight delays. RIOgaleão, the second busiest international airport in Brazil, will be the first airport in Latin America to use this technology.

Composed of multilateration sensors installed on the surface of the airport and Saab’s Aerobahn Surface Manager, the common-use platform allows all agents operating on the ground at the airport, such as the airlines, ground handlers, and emergency service providers, to view the real time position of aircraft and vehicles. This information sharing capability improves operational agility on the ground, resulting in significant reductions in operating costs and flight delays.

“Airport traffic capacity is closely associated with the speed and efficiency with which activities are performed between each aircraft landing and take-off, typically referred to as the “turnaround time”. The shorter the turnaround time, the more flights airlines can operate. With the common-use surface surveillance platform, Tom Jobim Airport should significantly increase their efficiency levels while also reducing fuel burn and CO2 emissions”, said Anders Carp, head of business unit Traffic Management within Saab business area Surveillance.

"We understand the importance of the Aerobahn software in the US airports, because the airport operator can manage more efficiently the airport apron", said Carlos Rodriguez, operations manager of RIOgaleão. “Moreover, this system is a catalytic tool and generates information on the airport movement area, so we can increase the efficiency of the RIOgaleão operations regarding the strategic and tactical interfaces”.

In addition to providing real-time tools for managing surface operations, the Saab common-use surface surveillance platform records aircraft and vehicle movements to support investigation and analyses of critical events, such as incidents and periods of heavy congestion. With statistical reports detailing the use of runways, gates and other airport resources, operators are provided with a much better picture of how their airport is running and where improvements can be made.

Saab’s Aerobahn and multilateration systems are already used in several of the world’s busiest airports with impressive results, including the United States’ John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) in Georgia. Two years after implementing Aerobahn in ATL, the world’s largest airport in passenger traffic significantly reduced taxi times, saving operators an estimated US$ 97 million in fuel and delay costs.

"The growth of air transport in Latin America over the past decade has highlighted the need to improve airport infrastructure. As such, we believe that many other airport operations will adopt more efficient mechanisms to manage the airport surface procedures”, continues Carp.

Around 17 million passengers passed through Tom Jobim International Airport in 2015 and this is expected to reach more than 80 million passengers in 2039.