As part of the SESAR3 JU project ITARO, flight tests were carried out at Groningen Airport Eelde with research aircraft from Royal NLR and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). During the flight test, the possibility of Interval Management on fixed routes with continuous descent was successfully demonstrated.

At lower altitudes, the ecological footprint can be reduced by using fixed routes for departure and arrival, combined with continuous climbing and continuous descent along those routes. However, when traffic demand is high, additional buffers for the distance between aircraft should be considered. Maintaining the required peak hour capacity then becomes a bottleneck. The Interval Management system, developed in collaboration with Honeywell Inc (USA), allows very accurate control of the distance with a leading aircraft, reducing the need for large distance buffers between aircraft and thus eliminating the aspect of capacity reduction during rush hour is overcome.

The SESAR3JU PJ.37 Integrated TMA, Airport and Runway Operations (ITARO) project demonstrates several solutions in the TMA environment that improve efficiency both operationally and environmentally.

For more information, visit: https://www.sesarju.eu/projects/itaro
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sesar2020-pj37-w3-itaro/
NLR research aircraft: https://www.nlr.org/research-infrastructure/research-aircraft/

Please take the opportunity to connect and share this video with your friends and family if you find it helpful.