Effective June 15, ENAIRE will implement new departure, arrival and approach procedures at Córdoba Airport in southern Spain.
Spanish national air navigation service provider ENAIRE will improve the operability of Córdoba Airport by implementing new departure, arrival and approach procedures allowing the scheduling of commercial flights.
At present, Córdoba Airport only allows traffic to operate under visual flight rules, which makes flight planning by commercial airlines impossible, with operations at the airport being highly dependent on the prevailing weather conditions. The implementation of the new instrument flight manoeuvres, part of a joint project with airports operator Aena, not only guarantees the availability of commercial traffic operations, but will enhance the efficiency of existing operations and improve accessibility to the Córdoba Airport, ENAIRE said.
New departures and arrivals are being implemented for RWY 03 and 21 at the airport, based on the RNAV 1 specification, along with approaches based on satellite navigation and, in order to offer alternative manoeuvres, conventional approach manoeuvres have also been implemented that rely on land-based navaids, in this case the Córdoba VOR/DME.
The most advanced technologies
This has been a complex project due to various factors. For one, it required taking into account the geographic location of the airport, in particular its proximity to the city of Córdoba, which significantly increased the complexity of the project from an environmental point of view. The work to design the new manoeuvres was very detailed in order to avoid, as far as possible, flying over the city of Córdoba and the nearby towns, thereby making the project viable from an environmental point of view.
The project also required special coordination with the Ministry of Defence due to the proximity of the Cerro Muriano firing range, as well as with the air traffic provider at Córdoba, with ENAIRE playing a key role in this inter-ministerial coordination.
Satellite procedures in Spain
The main purpose of the project is to implement new instrument procedures in the airspace of Córdoba Airport, enabling it to grow through the operation of commercial flights. The recent implementation of the new procedures at Córdoba 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.
Image: ENAIRE
