PANJIM: The first trial flight landed at the under construction Mopa international airport on Monday afternoon.
The Indigo Airlines aircraft which came from Mumbai, onboard Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials, landed at the international airport new runway.
GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL), a subsidiary of GMR Airports Limited (GAL) successfully completed Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedure for both approaches - 10 & 28 - of the newly built Runway at the upcoming new Mopa international airport, the GMR stated in a press release.
An Airbus 320 aircraft from IndiGo Airlines equipped with RNP equipment tested and validated RNP for its accuracy and flyability.
Speaking on the occasion, GGIAL chief executive officer R V Sheshan said, “Today, we have successfully completed the Required Navigation Performance Procedure at the upcoming new Goa international airport. RNP approach ensures integrity and accuracy and helps an aircraft to follow specific paths using board equipment. This procedure not only offers safety benefits by means of its precision and accuracy, but it also enhances operational efficiency by minimising multiple step-downs, and inaccurate circling approaches etc.”
He further said “As an airport operator, GGIAL is working to make New Goa International Airport, the airport of choice for airlines, passengers and all stakeholders, by unlocking the true potential of Goa.”
The new Mopa greenfield airport is likely to be ready for full-fledged operation by October.
Once the RNP procedure is drawn for a particular runway of an aerodrome, it needs to be tested and validated for its accuracy and flyability through simulator and actual aircraft trials. During this process, the defined flight path is tested by flying an aircraft equipped with RNP equipment, in accordance with the procedure developed. Upon successful validation and approval, the procedures are published and promulgated for use by all airlines.
Validating of such procedures by an aircraft at a greenfield airport needs immense amount of ground work in terms of planning, preparation, readiness, testing and precision execution. With this successful RNP flight the Airport has achieved a very important milestone towards commissioning.