IndiGo lands India's first plane using fuel-saving technology at Kochi

Low cost carrier IndiGo last week became the first Indian airline to carry out a landing at the Kochi airport using a system that allows an aircraft to be guided by a sophisticated on board navigation system instead of ground-based radars. In carrying out this precision landing, an Airbus A-320 aircraft used the Required Navigation Performance (RNP) approach, which provides accurate and shorter flight paths and secure trajectories.

RNP, by allowing the use of an on-board systems and satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS), frees the plane from dependence on conventional ground-based navigation installations. An airline spokesperson said the first regular RNP flight was 6E-345 from Bengaluru to Kochi. RNP approach would continue to be applied by IndiGo whenever its aircrafts land at Kochi, with its entire fleet being equipped with the system. Such landings would lead to the saving of 75 km of distance on each approach, amounting to the saving of approximately 400 kg fuel per landing and therefore lesser emission of greenhouse gases, she said.

IndiGo collaborated with Airbus subsidiary Quovadis and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to develop and implement the RNP procedure, after it was successfully validated on Airbus simulators and the planes.

Commenting on the achievement, Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo said, "We are excited about partnering in this significant step towards improving air traffic management in India and making it an even safer and greener environment to fly in. The development of more such approaches in India will also go a long way towards improving safety and efficiency."

IndiGo had organised the first test flight with RNP approach at Kochi on December 8, 2011.

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