©Fabio Maciel
by eight minutes between these cities’ domestic airports (18% of the current 44-minute flight). Some eight million passengers travelled this route in 2012, making it the third busiest in passenger volume in the world according to Amadeus Air Traffic Travel Intelligence. New PBN routes are planned between other cities hosting the World Cup. The route between Sao Paulo Congonhas Airport and Brasilia will have an average reduction of 11 minutes cut from a journey that usually takes an hour and a half, while flights between Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro are expected to benefit from an average decrease of seven minutes.
Research indicates that Brazil will continue to lead traffic growth in Latin America at least for the next 20 years, with an annual average rate estimated at 6.9%.
Brazil’s efforts, however, are not exclusively driven by the 2014 World Cup. The steep rise in flight movements in recent years calls for permanent and effective solutions to accommodate this growth and continued expansion in the coming decades. Director General of DECEA, Air Lieutenant Brigadier Rafael Rodrigues Filho explains: “The positive results achieved in the events of 2013 are the culmination of strategic plans that take into account Brazil’s long term
demand growth. DECEA is in charge of the airspace control of an enormous area of 22 million square kilometres. The challenge is to keep updating the system to stay ahead of the demand.” According to the Airbus Global Market Forecast published in September 2013, Brazil will continue to lead Latin America’s air transport growth at least for the next 20 years. Annual average growth is estimated at 6.9%, compared with 4.7% average annual growth for the rest of the world over the same period. It is no coincidence that Brazil has a well-advanced modernisation programme called SIRIUS, focused on high technology solutions. Like the European modernisation programme SESAR, and the US Next Generation Transportation (NextGen) programme, SIRIUS employs satellite technology and digital communication solutions. Brazil is a regional leader in the adoption of communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) concepts. Performance Based Navigation (PBN) has been in operation since 2010. As of December 2013, PBN will be introduced at two major South American hubs: Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The new procedure is expected to reduce average flight time
DECEA is also implementing technologies such as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), Multilateration (MLAT), HF Datalink and VHF Datalink as part of long term performance enhancements to maintain the safety of the airspace that extends far beyond international soccer contests. When the 2014 World Cup begins, the world’s attention will turn to Brazil and DECEA will be ready for another successful international event.
©Fabio Maciel
Since 2011, about 2,500 air traffic controllers have enrolled on an intensive training programme oriented exclusively to manage the anticipated traffic growth during the FIFA 2014 World Cup. Each controller receives 150 hours of training in these scenarios and experiences simulated civil and military air traffic in terminal areas, routes, approaches and control towers. The simulated scenarios predict situations of excess demand, contingency, air traffic incidents and other atypical situations such as aircraft hijacks. While traffic has grown 18% on average during recent international events, Brazilian controllers are qualified in simulated scenarios to deal effectively with up to a 30% traffic increase.
Other SIRIUS initiatives include Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance by Contract (ADS-C) which have been in use since 2009 to track equipped aircraft under Brazilian control over the Atlantic Ocean.
Brazilian air traffic controllers have been qualified in simulated scenarios to deal effectively with up to 30% increase in traffic.
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