WELLINGTON: Commercial jets approaching Auckland from the north will trial using a third satellite-guided flight path from September 1 this year – in an attempt to reduce fuel use, exhaust emissions and noise and to spread air traffic over a wider area of the city.
Auckland Airport, Airways New Zealand and the Board of Airline Representatives New Zealand (BARNZ) announced today the details of the new satellite-guided SMART Approach trial flight path to Auckland Airport from the North.
Details of the trial come on the day that two permanent Smart approaches – subject of controversial previous trials in 2012 and 2013- come into use.Those paths were chosen in December last year, after a public consultation process.
BARNZ’s executive director, John Beckett, said the new trial flight path, known as ‘Yellow U23’, would last up to 12 months.
The flight path could be used between 7 am and 10pm by up to 10 aircraft per day.
At the conclusion of the trial, aircraft would stop using the flight path and a draft report on it would be published for public consultation.
Airways New Zealand’s chief operating officer, Pauline Lamb, said the trial flight path was higher and its approach curve wider than the SMART flight paths that were trialled in Auckland in 2012 and 2013.
“This is intended to reduce aircraft noise, use even less fuel and deliver benefits for the environment, and incorporates lessons from the first trial. “This new path will also enable us to distribute traffic across a variety of inbound routes.”
Auckland Airport’s general manager aeronautical operations, Judy Nicholl, said the trial aimed to evaluate aircraft performance, airspace management, operational benefits – including time, distance, fuel and carbon emission savings. Noise would be monitored and public feedback welcomed.
She said the airport had more than 420 flights every day and the trial would help the aviation industry to grow travel, trade and tourism in an “environmentally friendly and socially responsible manner.”
