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Boeing, Lion Air developing RNP procedures in Asia

October 5, 2011

Boeing and Lion Air report that they are pioneering the use of precision navigation technology in south Asia with the introduction of Required Navigation Performance (RNP) flight operations.

RNP enables aircraft, using global positioning systems, to fly precisely predefined flight paths without reliance on ground-based navigation stations.

Lion Air, together with Boeing and the Indonesian Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has successfully performed validation flights to test tailor-made RNP Authorization Required (RNP AR) procedures at two terrain-challenged airports, Ambon and Manado, Indonesia.

"We look forward to seeing these procedures fully implemented so we can realise the substantial economic and safety benefits provided by this programme," said Captain Ertata Lananggalih, managing director of Lion Air. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation Indonesia intends to implement RNP at other airports in the country.

Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen, designed, charted, and helped certify the instrument flight procedures, while Boeing Flight Services led the overall project, conducted an RNP safety assessment, and trained Lion Air's leadership, dispatchers and flight crews. Boeing worked with Indonesia's DGAC through the construction of a national regulatory framework necessary to fully certify the airline for RNP operations under ICAO guidelines.

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