Intelligent Approach is a proven solution developed by NATS and Leidos and has been in continuous operation at Heathrow since March 2015.
The system was upgraded in March 2018 to implement RECAT-EU wake vortex separation rules, as well as improvements to the tool to provide separation to the runway threshold. These enhancements have helped make the operation more resilient against delays and disruption.
The first four months of operations following the upgrade saw a tactical capacity gain of approximately 1.4 additional aircraft landings per-hour in all wind conditions, with an additional 1.6 arrivals in strong headwinds over and above the 0.8 additional landings (2.6 additional in strong winds) already achieved by the original system.
That is the equivalent of extending Heathrow’s operating day by 24 minutes, delivering valuable operational resilience that helps ensure the airport can deliver to plan, airlines can keep to their schedules and local communities are not affected by late running arrivals.
Heathrow is capped at 480,000 movements per annum so this additional tactical capacity is all translated into improving on-time performance and a better passenger experience.
Benefits already achieved include:
- Average tactical capacity gain of 2 aircraft landings per hour in all wind conditions
- An improvement of 2.5% in airport punctuality
- An average saving of over 1,410 seconds per day in arrival separation on final approach – the equivalent to extending Heathrow’s operating day by 24 minutes
- A 60% reduction in delays due to headwinds
- A saving of 15kT of fuel per year due to reduced airborne holding
- Tactical capacity gains quoted are for Heathrow which was already using 6 Wake Categories so may be higher for some airports. Gains are baselined against original distance based separation.