FAA Helps Airlines Save Fuel

At a time when fuel costs are soaring, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has created new East Coast routes over the ocean that have the potential to save millions of dollars in fuel, reduce delays and help the environment. Standardized aircraft navigation, Required Navigation Performance (RNP) 10, will allow planes to fly closer together over the Atlantic from New York to the Caribbean, creating more routes and reducing delays along that busy corridor. Reducing the lateral separation between aircraft from 90 nautical miles (nm) to 50 nm will increase the number of available routes for aircraft traveling off the East Coast by about 40 percent. These routes are in areas that include New York oceanic, Miami oceanic, and the San Juan Center Approach Control airspace.
These new routes give controllers the flexibility to offer more efficient flight altitudes, enabling aircraft to reach their destinations more quickly. The FAA is now able to reduce the separation in oceanic airspace because most aircraft have been equipped with more sophisticated on-board navigation equipment. Airlines and aircraft that are authorized for RNP will be able to take advantage of the reduced separation standards