Travels And Aviation NEWS: Air trains' could speed up travel: futurists

MONTREAL — "Shall we take the eight o'clock air train to Paris?" It may sound strange to say now, but such jargon is likely to become commonplace someday -- if aviation futurists are right in their predictions.
This and other fantastic ideas are being conceived by experts at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) tasked with imagining the future of air travel.
In the corridors of the UN agency's Montreal headquarters, they chat openly about air trains -- a term coined to describe jetliners flying in formation, like fighter jets, from departure to destination.
For air traffic controllers it would mean having to follow a single object or cluster of jetliners in the sky, reducing their workload.
Another proposal dubbed "tunneling" would require autopilots to guide aircraft through virtual tunnels in the sky, reducing the need for interaction between flight crew and air traffic controllers.
Such visions of the future "are not going to become reality tomorrow, but probably in the not-too-distant future," Michel Wachenheim, France's representative at ICAO, told AFP.
In aviation, solutions to congestion problems envisioned for 10 or 20 years down the line must be considered now.
With airline traffic growing at rates of four to five percent annually, the number of airline passengers will soon double. So it is crucial to figure out how to eliminate bottlenecks at airports, in air traffic control and on international routes.
Both Europe and the United States have embarked on air traffic control infrastructure modernization programs called SESAR and NextGen, respectively. Their aim is to roll out new generations of air traffic management systems starting as early as next year.
ICAO is tasked with harmonizing the two systems and keeping in mind Asia, which is seeing double-digit growth in air traffic.
Its proposals are to be unveiled next year following a key air navigation symposium in Montreal this September.
Airports have already started adding more runways to meet the increasing demand for flights, and some air traffic zones have been split into smaller segments to ease the burden on air traffic controllers, allowing them to monitor a maximum of 15 jetliners simultaneously.
But these solutions have their limits: many crowded European airports cannot extend their runways because of a lack of available land, and creating too many tiny air traffic control zones that can be traversed in mere minutes would make them unmanageable.
The standard idea is to manage the trajectory of each aircraft in four dimensions -- including time -- throughout its flight for optimization.
In addition to boosting capacity, the industry would also realize economic and environmental benefits such as shorter travel time and less carbon emissions.
"For an airport, the worst is to have an airplane circling without being able to land," said Farid Zizi, who works with Wachenheim.
European lawmakers have already taken an important first step in one area.
France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland last year signed the FABEC cooperation agreement on air traffic control creating "functional blocs" across the countries.
Progress must still be made, however, in areas such as meteorological forecasting and shortening the minimum braking distances of airplanes to reduce their total time spent on runways.

2. India to support ICAO's endeavors to promote peace amongst nations

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Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi on Monday reaffirmed India's commitment and support to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) towards fulfillment of its vision of a safe, secure, orderly and sustainable development of international civil aviation by promoting consensus and cooperation amongst the members of ICAO.

Inaugurating the Regional Aviation Security Conference (RAVSECC) here, Ravi said: "India will continue to fully support ICAO's endeavors to promote understanding, friendship and peace amongst the nations and people of the world besides promoting economic development, trade and tourism throughout the world."

"Aviation security has been identified by ICAO as one of the three major strategic objectives. We have noted that during recent times ICAO is instituting organizational reforms to increase its effectiveness and efficiency to enable the organisation to face new challenges of technological, economic, social and legal nature," he added.

Ravi, who is also the Overseas Indian Affairs Minister, said the member states of ICAO have greatly benefited from modernized aviation security standards laid by ICAO, which are audited and enforced across the globe.

"Through audits and technical assistance ICAO has provided a basic platform to build a robust aviation security framework. We wholeheartedly welcome these measures and commit to extend necessary support to ICAO in implementing these reforms," said Ravi.

"We also support USAP and commit to fund all aviation security programme through ICAO. India has done well in the first USAP audit conducted by ICAO. The second round is under way," he added.

Ravi further said over the years aviation has become a soft target for terrorists and extremists.

"Any attack on aviation generates a lot of media interest and helps the terrorist groups to achieve their objective of getting maximum publicity. Securing aviation, as you all will agree is a complex business. The dichotomy of stringent security measures vis-Ã -vis the demand for efficient passenger facilitation needs to be managed properly. While fully sympathetic to the demands of the industry and passengers for better facilitation we need to place the security of aviation as our top most priority," said Ravi.

Appreciating the huge potential of aviation as a key driver of economy, the minister said: "Development of infrastructure, generation of employment, promotion of tourism, establishing international and domestic connectivity, movement of cargo etc. are some of benefits of aviation which have just started positively impacting our economy. The last thing we want is any disruption or interference in the orderly operation of domestic and international aviation in this region."

"Aviation Security unlike aviation safety is an extremely dynamic entity. The threats, risks and challenges change and grow very fast leaving us with very little time to react and put corrective measures. The only way to hope for a secure aviation is to think ahead in this game, plan and be prepared for any and every eventuality," he added.

Asserting that India is fully cognizant of the fact that terrorism is not restricted by national boundaries, Ravi said: "We are keen to develop mechanisms within ICAO States to share security related information especially at regional level in an appropriate manner. All of us present here recognize this and that is why we are here today."

The objective of the conference, which is being organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is to endorse the declaration on security adopted in the 37th International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly and also to review the developments taking place in the field of aviation security in the countries of this region.

Delegates from 16 countries, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and India International Organizations like Airport Council International, European Commission, International Air Transport Association, Department of Transport-UK, Transport Security Administration, USA are attending the Conference. (ANI)

3. India to host regional aviation security conference

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) Top aviation security experts from various countries would gather here on Monday to discuss changing threat perceptions to the sector and review whether aviation security activities were being carried out on the lines recommended by the global aviation body ICAO.The Regional Aviation Security Conference, to be held under the aegis of UN body International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), would evolve an aviation security roadmap which can be used by countries to proactively and jointly counter and prevent acts of unlawful interference against global civil aviation, an official spokesperson said.The four-day conference would review the compliance by various nations on the Security Declaration made in the 37th ICAO Assembly last year and carry out a risk overview of the recent developments in aviation security.The Declaration had laid out a comprehensive aviation security strategy, focusing on seven key areas, including ways to address new kinds of threats, efficient security approaches, promoting sharing of information amongst nations and improving the human factor and security culture.The detailed declaration also recommended mutual recognition of aviation security procedures followed by different countries, apart from standardising the security approaches.The conference would be attended by ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin, who earlier headed ICAO's Aviation Security branch, besides representatives from International Air Transport Association, Airports Council International, European Civil Aviation Conference, US Transportation Security Administration and Department of Transport of the UK.Delegates from several countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Bhutan would be attending the meet.The conference will be followed by a two-day Aviation Security Training programme for senior executives of the Indian aviation industry.