The International Air Transport Assn. is making a concerted effort to bring the most modern navigation techniques to Latin America and the Caribbean, and the effort is demonstrating how these procedures can benefit not just individual airlines and airports but an entire region.

In addition, Boeing and Airbus are taking a proactive approach to helping their airline customers exploit Required Navigation Performance (see pp. 56-58), a type of procedure that’s not widely used yet but is gaining traction.

The IATA effort involves persuading airlines, airports and regional civil aviation agencies to adopt area navigation (RNAV) and RNP. IATA also helps all the participants accelerate the adoption of both types of techniques for their fuel-saving and emissions-reduction benefits, plus safety improvements.

The effort saved airlines $45 million in fuel bills during 2003-06 and cut greenhouse gases by thousands of tons. And a “huge potential” for improvement remains, notes Peter Cerda, IATA’s director of safety operations and infrastructure for the Americas. Of IATA’s 240 members, 16 airlines are in North America and 23 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

IATA’s efforts began 4-5 years ago as the association worked to streamline jet routes to cut flying distance, fuel burn and emissions. This move came before the more recent global focus on reducing the carbon footprint of civil aviation, but serves that goal as well.

One aim is to eliminate doglegs in routes, drawing a straight line between two points without any off-course diversions. This effort employs RNAV. Most modern airliners are already equipped, since they have flight management systems capable of using satellites and triangulating on ground-based sensor signals.

These route-improvement projects involve not only helping airlines to redesign the routes (with the aid of third-party suppliers), but also facilitating the approval process with international and local civil aviation authorities. One new route can take a year to complete. IATA even has a full-time fuel expert to find ways to make routes more efficient.

This year, IATA has been working on 21 intraregional routes; some of the changes will be implemented in the next two months. For example, a new route between Panama City and Buenos Aires is expected to shave off 25 naut. mi., save airlines $141,000 a year in fuel, and eliminate 718 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

A streamlined route between Santiago, Chile, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, saves a similar distance by cutting 28 naut. mi. off the traditional path that crosses over ground-based navaids. Now aircraft will be guided by GPS satellites or DME/DME (distance-measurement equipment) signals. With 48 operations a week, this new route will save $822,000 a year and eliminate 2,866 tons of CO2 emissions.

In addition, IATA aims to improve the connections over the ocean between South America and Africa and to Europe. The association wants aircraft to be allowed to fly random routes over the water so they can optimize the use of airspace and save a significant amount of flying time. It’s no longer necessary for a pilot to pick one of six airways and stick to that pre-defined flight path.