ENAIRE, the national air navigation service provider, is improving operations at the Burgos Airport with new satellite-based navigation instrument approach procedures.
The implementation of these new procedures promoted by ENAIRE, as part of a joint effort with Aena, the airport manager, increases the efficiency of operations, as well as accessibility to the Burgos Airport. Since these procedures do not depend on ground-based navaids, they provide a very useful solution as an improvement or alternative to the current conventional approaches.
To fly these procedures based on the use of satellite navigation, aircraft need to be properly equipped and the crews trained on their use.
As for the VOR/DME instrument approach procedures currently in use for runways 04 and 22, the new satellite-based procedures improve performance and offer new alternatives for making direct approaches to these runways.
The new satellite-based procedures provide vertical guidance to aircraft in the final phase of the approach and generally bring the decision height - which is where the pilot must decide whether to continue or abort the landing - closer to the runway threshold, thus improving service continuity at the airport.
The approach service to Burgos is managed from the Vitoria Airport Control Tower, a unit where ENAIRE provides aerodrome and approach service to both Vitoria and Burgos.
Pioneers in Castile and León
The recent implementation of these new procedures in Burgos, the first of their kind in the region of Castile and León, is in addition to those already in place at the airports of Reus, Lleida-Alguaire, Girona-Costa Brava, Castellón, Josep Taradellas Barcelona-El Prat, Jerez, Seve Ballesteros-Santander, Almería, Valencia, Fuerteventura, Palma, Lanzarote, Vigo, A Coruña, San Sebastián and others as part of ENAIRE's Plan to Implement Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) Procedures.
In addition, the Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport has a satellite-based ground augmentation system called GBAS, and procedures for precision instrument operations based on this system.
This process of implementing satellite-based navigation procedures will help to further comply with the requirements of the PBN Transition Plan and ENAIRE 2025 Flight Plan. It also assists in complying with European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1048, the aim of which is to improve the efficiency of air traffic management at the European level by implementing performance-based navigation (PBN).
In order to allow for these new landing and take-off procedures, ENAIRE has conducted the necessary safety studies, which were duly processed with the National Aviation Safety Agency (AESA).
