NAV CANADA wins major environment award for deployment of fuel and emissions saving ATC technology
Hudson Bay ADS-B Tower at Puvirnituq, Quebec (photo: NAV CANADA)
Fri 26 Mar 2010 – Canada’s air navigation service provider, NAV CANADA, has been named winner of the Environment Award at the recent 2010 ATC Global Exhibition and Conference in Amsterdam. Deployment of Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) technology over Hudson Bay is expected to save airlines around $195 million in fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 547,000 tonnes between 2009 and 2016. With the ADS-B surveillance, NAV CANADA can now employ 5-mile separation standards rather than the 80 miles that was previously used, allowing aircraft to fly shorter routes and at more efficient altitudes.
Presented by Janes Airport Review, this is a new ATC Global Award that is aimed at recognizing green air traffic management concepts and the aviation industry’s contribution to reducing environmental emissions. The panel of judges included the FAA, Eurocontrol, IATA, CANSO, ICAO and Jane’s.
The award was shared with US-based Sensis, which developed and supplied the technology, consisting of five ground installations deployed in January 2009 around the Hudson Bay shoreline to provide surveillance of 850,000-square-kilometres of airspace.
Today, 17 airlines operating 425 ADS-B certified aircraft account for over 50% of the traffic over Hudson Bay. NAV CANADA expects the number of ADS-B certified aircraft will double by the end of 2010. This means more than 80% of the traffic transiting this airspace will be flying ADS-B routes.
Further savings in fuel and emissions are expected to be realized – especially by oceanic traffic to and from Europe – as ADS-B expands into north-eastern Canada and over southern Greenland, a project that is already underway.
“I am honoured to accept this award on behalf of the NAV CANADA employees who did the pioneering work on this exciting deployment of ADS-B in Canada’s North,” said John Crichton, President & CEO. “And their work continues, with further deployments that will deliver even greater benefits for our customers and for the environment.”
John Jarrell, Vice President and General Manager of Sensis Air Traffic Systems., commented: “This award honours a landmark system that is improving safety in high traffic airspace while simultaneously delivering tangible and measurable benefits to the environment. In addition, NAV CANADA is helping their airline customers cut fuel costs and improve the flying public’s experience through more efficient and predictable flight routes.”
NAV CANADA estimates that improved combined efficiencies achieved through new technologies and procedures will save a total of 8.4 million tonnes of aviation-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the period 2009 to 2016, representing some $3 billion in fuel reduction costs. When added to the 4.3 million tonnes that have already been reduced through more efficient traffic flows between 1997 and 2008, the company says this would result in a total decrease in aviation-related GHG emissions of 12.7 million tonnes in its first 20 years (1996-2016) of operations.
