GE Aviation is here in Hall 2A Stand C137 exhibiting a flight deck with a flight management system (FMS) able to optimize approaches for reduced fuel burn and maximized runway usage, with time-of-arrival precision within a claimed seven seconds. In GE’s simulated flight into Frankfurt airport, the new FMS has the aircraft shaving 26 minutes off the average trajectory. Southwest Airlines has ordered the FMS for retrofit on its Boeing 737 Classics.
GE has called the concept four-dimension (three dimensions plus time) trajectory-based operations (4D TBO). Such continuous descent approaches have helped Scandinavian Airlines, which used the concept in 2008, flying 4,000 approaches at Stockholm airport. As a result it saved 240 metric tons of fuel, which translated into 756 metric tons of carbon dioxide not emitted. Nitrous oxide emissions were cut by 2.6 tons and noise reduction was significant, at 65 dB for the exposed area, according to GE.
