Australia’s governing body for aviation, CASA, is implementing new regulations and aircraft equipment mandates to align Australian operations with global standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Under CASA’s guidelines, Australia will adopt GNSS-based Performance- Based Navigation (PBN) in accordance with the ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan. PBN uses area navigation and will provide more direct and efficient routes compared to those based on conventional ground-based navigation aids. The new rules also contain a number of equipment mandates between 12 December 2013 and 2 February 2017 and affect all Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) pilots and aircraft operating in Australia.

GNSS is the enabling technology for both PBN and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) in Australia and will affect all IFR aircraft. CASA claims that applying both PBN and ADS-B over the whole of Australia, the guidelines will permit:

• increased safety as air traffic control surveillance will be available over the whole of Australia at higher levels, and with substantial coverage at lower levels
• flexi-route—a system that optimises aircraft routes according to the latest weather and location of other aircraft
• reduced separation distances, greater fuel efficiency, lower flight times and reduced congestion at busy aerodromes more efficient approaches to aerodromes.

For further information please visit the CASA announcement.