ENAIRE improves operations at the Burgos Airport with new satellite-based navigation instrument approach procedures

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).

European EGNOS System

The use of the European EGNOS satellite navigation system, which is owned by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), is part of the service agreement already in place between ENAIRE and the ESSP, the company that operates the EGNOS system. ESSP is an air navigation provider supervised by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and owned by ENAIRE, together with air navigation providers from Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. 

Through this effort, ENAIRE is making available to users of the Burgos Airport satellite-based approach procedures that improve the safety and consistency of operations in the airport. This is all possible without having to set up additional land infrastructure, which provides financial savings and operational benefits as a result.

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, it provides en route control services for all flights and overflights from five control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Gran Canaria and Palma, as well as approach services to every airport in the country.

In addition, 45 control towers receive ENAIRE's communication, navigation and surveillance services, and 21 airports, including the country's busiest, rely on its aerodrome control services.

ENAIRE is Europe's fourth largest air traffic manager and participates in the A6 Alliance, a coalition of air navigation providers responsible for over 80% of European air traffic, and which is seeking to modernise the air traffic management system. It is also a member of other international alliances promoting the Single European sky, such as SESAR Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC, CANSO and ICAO.

ENAIRE, as the agency appointed by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to implement the U-space system in Spain, will be the provider of the Common Information Services (CIS), which are essential for administering U-space services to drones and Urban Air Mobility, in interaction with local air traffic control services, so that all types of aircraft can fly safely in the same airspace.

ENAIRE has received the highest score in Europe on the aviation safety key performance indicator. It has also been awarded the EFQM 500 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.

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).