14 March, 2019: Airbus delivers the first FANS-C-equipped A320 aircraft to easyJet, a British low-cost airline headquartered at London Luton Airport.
With the help of FANS-C technology, airlines will be able to optimise their aircraft’s trajectories and make traffic flows more fluid and aircraft speed easier to manage, which will be helpful in saving fuel and reducing noise. Specifically, sharing of predicted trajectories with ATC controllers will ensure smooth aircraft sequencing on approach and in the “Terminal Maneuvering Area.”
According to the framework of Europe’s SESAR Air Traffic Management (ATM) research programme, this aircraft and others to follow will have to take part in the project “Demonstration of air traffic management improvements generated by 4D Initial Trajectory Information Sharing” (DIGITS) which is led by Airbus. The project will demonstrate the sharing of an aircraft's predicted trajectory data with air traffic control (ATC).
Hugh McConnellogue, Group Head of Network Operations at easyJet said, “We are very pleased to be the first airline to receive this new FANS-C technology in our Airbus aircraft – and to try it for real in the SESAR demonstration. Our early hands-on experience already indicates that it promises to be an important enabler to increase the efficiency, safety and on-time performance of our expanding operations – especially in the congested European airspace.”
Jean-Brice Dumont, Executive Vice President of Engineering, Airbus Commercial Aircraft said, “We congratulate easyJet on the delivery of the first FANS-C equipped Airbus aircraft, which marks the start of this very large demonstration of 4D initial trajectory sharing across Europe.”
Dumont adds, “We are proud to lead this SESAR project and to play our part in helping ATM respond to the increase in air traffic volume while enhancing safety, and to bring about a positive environmental impact thanks to a more efficient ATM system.”
Seven European airlines will be taking part in DIGITS from now until mid-2020 and will equip up to 100 of their A320 Family aircraft with the FANS-C technology. The “Very Large Demonstration” (VLD) will last more than a year and collect data from over 20,000 revenue flights which will allow stakeholders to show benefits of this technology during live day-to-day operations.
Airbus has received the world’s first certification of FANS-C 4D avionics on a commercial aircraft in November 2018 for the A320 Family.