Speed Gated Intercept Procedure Study for Integration of Increasing Diverse Operations (IDO) at European Airports

Abstract

The future implementation of Increasing Diverse Operations (IDO) will result in a reduction in capacity at hub airports due to the necessity of inserting larger gaps between aircraft with very different speed profiles. This is due to the large range of different approach speeds that IDO encompasses. Such a development will present a challenge for airports, which are already operating at or near their capacity limit. An alternative routing towards an intercept point at a late stage of the final approach can provide two approach options with relatively low interference for subsequent traffic. This study evaluates the performance in terms of capacity for different constellations of this procedure. The development of an optimized procedure with just one IP on final in order to combine the positive features of all analyzed air traffic scenarios and keep the procedural complexity at a minimum was the main objective of this study. The optimized procedure is based on the advantageous features of the scenarios examined. The selection of the most advantageous scenario determines which option of the approach path the inbound aircraft must fly. Ultimately, an optimized procedure was created that has a higher capacity than to all individual methods.