OREANDA-NEWS. In keeping with its pioneering spirit, Airbus has joined forces with key European stakeholders to find new solutions for building a more efficient air traffic management (ATM) system. 

The company has an active role in the SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) initiative, part of its commitment to shaping the future of air transportation and driving sustainable growth around the world. 

"SESAR has five objectives that we're working on in parallel: increase capacity at airport level; enhance flight efficiency; increase safety; lower costs; and reduce the environmental footprint of aviation,” explained Patrick Schuster, Airbus Engineering Director, Multi-Program Projects and ATM. 

Partnering for smarter aviation 

The SESAR Joint Undertaking is a public-private partnership established in 2007 to modernise Europe’s air traffic management system by coordinating and concentrating all relevant research and innovation efforts in the European Union. 

SESAR includes members from across Europe’s air traffic management sector: airports, air navigation service providers and manufacturers, airspace users, aircraft and equipment manufacturers, pilots and air traffic controllers. 

"Capacity, particularly in Europe, is limited both in the air and on the ground,” Schuster added. “In order for Airbus to help its customers grow their fleets, we need to find ways to build a more efficient air traffic management system." 

Applying Airbus expertise for SESAR 

In 2016, the SESAR joint undertaking is wrapping up its first wave of research projects – called the SESAR 1 phase – and is preparing to start SESAR 2020 activities. This next step will in particular deploy mature SESAR 1 concepts and solutions on a significant number of revenue flights, with the goal of starting very large scale demonstrations in real airline conditions by 2019. 

Airbus already has made significant contributions to testing and demonstrations conducted so far during SESAR 1 – including performing some 60 flights for the initial 4D (i4D) trajectory trials as part of its role in the PEGASE (Providing Effective Ground & Air data Sharing via Extended Projected Profile) consortium. 

This concept connects the jetliner and ground systems to optimise trajectory in three dimensions (latitude, longitude and altitude) plus time with real-time exchange of trajectory information – the Extended Projected Profile – between aircraft and air traffic management systems. According to J?r?me Condis, Airbus Engineering Data Link and FMS Manager, 4D trajectory management has huge potential to create more efficient aircraft operations and arrival sequences, while reducing fuel burn and aviation’s environmental footprint.