The national carrier of Portugal TAP recently won a European Commission competition which will give the carrier some €2.35 million to adapt its aircraft with three high tech systems.
TAP won The European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) competition where it applied for European funding under the Connecting Europe Facility programme. The programme, run by the Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA), was created by the European Commission to encourage innovation and development, creating trans-European networks in the transport sector, including the air transport area.
The “Deployment of Key SESAR Solutions in TAP Fleet”, the project allows TAP to receive €2.35 million to equip the TAP fleet with three modern systems and provide the respective crew training:
• RNP-AR (Required Navigation Performance – Authorisation Required), navigation that allows aircraft to be operated on more precise trajectories – for a total of 61 aircraft;
• GLS (GBAS Landing System), an alternative landing system to ILS (Instrument Landing System), that has been developed around the world and which will be a benchmark and replace ILS in the near future – for a total of 47 aircraft;
• ROPS (Runway Overrun Prevention System), an Airbus system that drastically reduces the likelihood of runway excursions (inappropriate exiting the runway during landings), increasing the safety standards during the flight – for a total of 51 aircraft.
This project is the result of close cooperation between Engineering and Maintenance & Engineering Innovation, the Technical Support Department and the Flight Operations Department to continue the modernisation of the TAP fleet.
By equipping its aircraft with and training its crews in the latest technological advances, as well as contributing to European airspace homogeneity, TAP is also ensuring it maintains the highest safety standards and improves its competitiveness and ability to adapt to future innovations at the airports it serves.
