Qatar Airways launches advanced navigation system

Qatar Airways has achieved another milestone by becoming the first airline in the world to operate an aircraft with a new navigational approach into Nepal utilising the latest aircraft technology.

The Doha-based airline implemented a Required Navigation Performance – Authorisation Required (RNP-AR) approach into Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA). Locked in the Himalayan mountain range, Kathmandu has one of the world’s most complicated approaches due to the surrounding challenging terrain.

Flying an RNP-AR approach into TIA reduces a pilot’s workload considerably and allows them to take full benefit of the advanced navigation equipment installed in aircraft to easily circumnavigate difficult terrain.

With a smooth descent and fully stabilised approach, it leads to significant safety improvements and reduces the required visibility compared with current standard flying procedures.

The RNP-AR procedure allows aircraft to automatically fly accurate trajectories without relying on ground-based navigation aids, optimises airspace utilisation and reduces diversions in difficult weather conditions.

Qatar Airways continues to invest in enhancing safety of its flights through the installation of the latest aircraft equipment which assist pilots to make approaches into, and departures from, airports categorised as very difficult with higher precision and accuracy.

Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker said safety was the number one priority for the airline. “We pride ourselves on adopting the latest technology across our fleet and operation to ensure we maintain our high standards, vital for any business of our nature,” he said.

Working closely with key industry associates, Qatar Airways has partnered with the French procedures designer QUOVADIS, an Airbus owned company, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to design and implement the Kathmandu RNP-AR procedure.

Airbus senior vice president and chief product safety officer Yannick Malinge said, “Airbus always promotes and supports initiatives contributing to improving safety. New technological capabilities like RNP-AR allow aircraft to improve descent trajectory and reduce non-stabilised approaches.”

“These two criteria are essential when operating in a complicated environment like Nepal’s airspace, in particular the Kathmandu approach.

Airbus would like to congratulate Qatar Airways and Nepali authorities for the outstanding results achieved for this RNP-AR project in Kathmandu and we are delighted to have contributed to this major milestone.”

Director general of CAAN Tri Ratna Manandhar said the RNP-AR approach procedure was introduced to find a solution to the current difficulties of high terrain, adding the authority now expected other airline operators to adopt the new procedure attracting them to fly into Kathmandu.

“There was excellent coordination between us at CAAN, Quovadis and Qatar Airways to fulfill and succeed in this key venture to which I would like to thank all concerned, including air traffic controllers in Kathmandu for their invaluable contribution,” he said.

Qatar Airways currently operates four flights a day between its Doha hub and Kathmandu, one of the carrier’s most popular routes. It was the first airline in the world to pass the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit with a maximum 100 per cent compliance in 2003 and passed the test again during the two-year renewal period in 2005, 2007, 2009, and in June 2011.

The audit was set up to standardise and rationalise a number of safety and security procedures carried out by individual airlines for the purpose of codesharing. Qatar Airways was assessed on flight and ground operations, aircraft engineering, maintenance, operational security, cabin operations and management systems.

source: The Himalayan Times,23 jan 2013