Editor's Note

NBAA Urges SoCal Airports to Ready FAA PBN Conversion

By S.L. Fuller | January 31, 2017
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Some 65 new arrival and departure procedures are set to go into effect for Southern California March 2, according to NBAA. Like North Texas and other regions of California, the Southern California Metroplex project aims to convert existing standard terminal arrival route (STAR) and standard instrument departure (SID) in 21 area airports to performance-based navigation (PBN) using area navigation procedures.

The Theme Building and control tower in Los Angeles International Airport. CC BY-SA 2.0

Informational opportunities are available, which NBAA recommends in order to prepare for the conversion. Updated aeronautical charts should be available, and the FAA plans to hold webinars and a series of workshops in Southern California, detailing airport-specific procedures. When the metroplex conversions are complete, NBAA says the FAA expects the optimizations to yield $7.8 million in annual fuel savings for area operators. It should also reduce carbon and noise pollution.

Southern California airports that will be affected include Los Angeles International (LAX), San Diego International (SAN), Santa Monica Municipal (SMO) and Van Nuys (VNY).

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