The South African Aviation Authority has approved South African Airlines’ new Required Navigation Performance with Authorization Required (RNP AR) procedures for Cape Town International Airport, which were designed in close cooperation with the Airbus ProSky company Quovadis.

It marks the first such clearance in Africa for RNP AR – which enables aircraft to fly precisely along a predefined route using on-board navigation systems and the GPS-based global navigation system. Customised for South African Airlines operations, these techniques will provide shorter tracks than those of conventional methods – allowing for a reduction in flight time and fuel burn on every approach and departure.

The flight tracks used by South African Airlines’ new procedures are derived from already in-use visual tracks in and out of Cape Town, and the RNP AR development provides a means to fly these shorter tracks even in Instrument Meteorogical Conditions (IMC).

South African Airlines took an active role in the project, and in parallel obtained operational approval from the South African Aviation Authority to conduct RNP AR operations – which involved the implementation of new airline procedures, data management processes and flight crew training.

“We have all worked very hard to reach this milestone. Now, South Africa is ready for a wider PBN deployment in line with ICAO recommendations,” said Capt. Johnny Woods, Director of Flight Operations for South African Airlines. “We have had great support from Quovadis and achieved all our objectives. We look forward to future implementations and procedure design.”

Quovadis is part of the Airbus ProSky subsidiary, which also includes the Metron Aviation and ATRiCs companies. ProSky is committed to working side-by-side with air navigation service providers, aircraft operators and airport authorities to build a truly collaborative system with greater capacity, better performance and environmental sustainability for all stakeholders.

Airbus press release