Heathrow to Save 80,000 Minutes of Delay With World’s First Time-Based Separation Approach

Heathrow air traffic controllers claim they can save over 1,000 hours of flight delays utilizing new control system.

Air traffic controllers at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) claim they can keep their goal of stopping 80,000 minutes — about 1,300 hours or 55 days — of flight delays every year through utilizing a new air traffic control system developed in conjunction with Lockheed Martin. Air Transport World reports the new system, called Time-Based Separation (TBS), could land more aircraft at the airport and reduce the number of flights waiting on the tarmac.

The new system, introduced to LHR in April by NATS, takes into consideration a number of environmental factors when planning air traffic at the world’s third busiest airport. Instead of calculating landings based purely on distance, air traffic controllers now incorporate headwinds into the equations, which accommodates for slower aircraft speeds. As a result, NATS claims they can land more aircraft on time.

“Time-Based Separation on final approach, a world first at Heathrow, addresses the biggest single cause of arrival delay at the airport,” Derek Provan, director of airside operations at LHR, said in a press release. “Heathrow has been operating at 98% capacity for over a decade and so technology like this is essential to maintaining our efficient operations, and providing the best service possible to our passengers.”

TBS was developed over five years, researching vortex wakes of over 150,000 flights arriving at the British airport. As a result, airport officials claim that the system works with all types of aircraft in any type of wind.

The new system was implemented with regulatory approval and replaces ICAO distance-based standards. While LHR is the first airport to utilize TBS, airport officials predict it will soon become the new standard around the world.

[Photo: iStock]