Press & News
Successful EoR independent parallel approach verification test flight at Tianjin Binhai International Airport
September 2023
This article is based on the report from the China Civil Aviation News and China Civil Aviation Network reporter Li Jiawei:
At 2:34 and 2:36 in the morning on September 26th, two Tianjin Airlines Airbus A320 aircraft took off at Tianjin Binhai International Airport. According to the plan to carry out an EoR operation verification test flight, the traditional ILS approach on one runway and RNP AR approach on the other runway were flown successfully, side-by-side, independently towards the parallel runways 16R and 16L. Using radar guidance to join the RNP AR procedure, relying on accurate navigation performance to achieve both. The two planes performing the independent parallel approaches landed at 3:05 and 3:02 respectively. This test flight was in line with China's EoR regulations being drafted as part of the EoR programme, at an airport surrounded by restricted airspace. It marks significant progress in the EOR project and has the potential to effectively alleviate the crowded airspace at Tianjin Airport and open up new ways to empower future development. The use of the EoR concept can effectively shorten the aircraft approach distance, reduce carbon emissions, optimise multi-parallel runway operation modes, and further improve the operational efficiency of multi-runway airports.
The EoR project is one of the important research projects in the EU-China Aviation Partnership Project (APP). It was initiated in 2020, with a second phase launched in 2023. Under the organisation of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Civil Aviation Administration of North China, Civil Aviation Administration of Tianjin, North China Air Traffic Control Bureau, Tianjin Air Traffic Control Bureau, Tianjin Airlines, Tianjin Binhai International Airport, Civil Aviation University of China, Airbus NAVBLUE and other companies worked together to complete a series of tasks including drafting regulations, flight procedure design, TCAS verification, flight simulator verification, controller pilot theory and simulator training, and formulation of test flight plans.
The next step will be to complete the formal approval of Tianjin Airport's EoR flight procedures, formulate relevant normative documents, study and optimise the operation mode of Tianjin Airport, and assist Tianjin Airlines and Tianjin Air Traffic Control to carry out EoR pilot operations (flight trials) at Tianjin Airport to accumulate operational experience. The experience will lay a solid foundation for the future promotion of EoR operations at busy airports in China and Europe.
Aviation partnership EU-China: looking ahead
May 2023
The EU and China have built a strong partnership in civil aviation, and driven by technical cooperation between the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) as well as many European and Chinese industry stakeholders involved, the EU-China Aviation Partnership Project (APP) has supported its development since 2015. Looking ahead, both sides are eager to continue deepening this partnership.
“We are keen on achieving mutual benefits and promoting EU-China aviation cooperation to a higher level” Mr Chen Wei, Director General of the International Affairs Department of CAAC, said at the EU-China APP’s 2023 Project Management Board Review Meeting. The Meeting was held on 28 April and gathered the various CAAC Departments, EASA, and Delegation of the European Union to China representatives, to review and formally approve the new Work Plan of the project.
During the meeting, it was noted that the strong commitment of stakeholders and participants to continue exchanges online during the last years was appreciated a lot. Nevertheless, a key point which all participants looked forward to is the prospect of holding face to face activities again in the near future. Mr Luc Tytgat, EASA Strategy and Safety Management Director said “EU-China APP has achieved good results, and we hope that more onsite activities can be carried out, covering more topics in the future.”
Putting plans into practice, EASA and CAAC started by launching the Established on Required Navigation Performance (EoR) regulation and implementation Study Project. This project is organised under the EU-China APP as a follow-up phase to the Tianjin Airport Study Project, with the aim to advance the testing and demonstration of the EoR concept for future implementation. On 5 May, representatives of CAAC Air Traffic Regulation Office, CAAC Flight Standard Department and other authority and industry partners from Europe and China for the implementation of this project came together for its Kick-off Meeting, to discuss in detail on the plans and work timeline ahead.
This initiative will be one of the key activities of intensified EU-China civil aviation cooperation this year, and together with the other 18 activities planned, we look forward to having many more exchanges and thereby continue strengthening our partnership for the benefit of all aviation stakeholders!
Aviation women!
February 2023
As we have stepped into the new Chinese Year of the Rabbit, EU-China APP is preparing another series of cooperation activities. Looking forward to another fruitful round of exchanges between Europe and China this year, we would also like to once again highlight inclusiveness in our global aviation sector.
EU-China APP is happy to see the high participation and contribution to aviation by women; for example in 2022, well over 500 women attended our activities, including speakers from both European and Chinese partner organisations having provided excellent contributions to the exchanges.
Encouraging further promotion of inclusiveness and women’s participation in the aviation sector, we would like to take this opportunity to raise awareness and congratulate ongoing initiatives celebrating contribution of women to aviation: the 34th Annual Women in Aviation International Conference from 23-25 February (including Girls in Aviation Day 25 February!) and Women of Aviation Week from 6-12 March.
For more information about these initiatives, please visit www.WAI.org/23conference and www.womenofaviationweek.iwoaw.org and you are kindly invited to keep an eye on www.eu-china-app.org for more EU-China APP upcoming activities.
EASA publishes European Aviation Environmental Report 2022
October 2022
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has recently published the third European Aviation Environmental Report 2022 observing the historic and future scenarios of air traffic and its associated noise and emissions.
The report also summarises the latest scientific understanding of these impacts before focusing on five main impact mitigation areas (Technology and Design, Sustainable Aviation Fuels, Air Traffic Management, Airports and Market-Based Measures) with recommendations on how to further improve the level of environmental protection.
English translation of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Civil Aviation Development
March 2022
The EU-China APP project has funded translation of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Civil Aviation Development in English. This English translation is for reference only and cannot be considered an official translation of the original Chinese text.
Click here to download the document.
Tianjin Airport study project concluded
February 2021
After six months of successful collaborative efforts, the EU-China Aviation Partnership Project’s (APP) study project on a new concept of operation for Tianjin Binhai International Airport was formally closed in an online meeting on 1 February. Chaired by EASA and the CAAC Flight Standard Department, participants to this meeting reviewed the results of the research cooperation and discussed its conclusions as well as the way forward.
All milestones of the project were achieved, with the delivery of technical reports, validation of procedures and training sessions, among others. These served to demonstrate how the integration of new technologies and new concepts of operation enhance airspace safety, capacity, operational efficiency, as well as environmental performance. The project partners in China, including CAAC, ATMB, Tianjin Binhai International Airport, Tianjin Airlines and Airbus Navblue are preparing for a demo flight to take place, in accordance with the research results.
CAAC Flight Standard Department Director Mr Jia Jianqing stated: “Lots of work has been done and results achieved despite the challenging pandemic times. We are very grateful to all the partners involved to make this possible and thank the experts for their support”. EASA’s Strategy and Safety Management Director Luc Tytgat said: “The work in Tianjin has been the second successful hands-on cooperation between Europe and China with practical results to address airport capacity constraints, providing us the evidence how well we can work together in partnership with industry to meet such challenges.”
EU-China APP resumes online authority-to-authority exchanges
November 2020
Starting this November, EU-China Aviation Partnership Project (APP) is scaling up again the technical cooperation exchanges between EASA and CAAC. During the recent Project Steering Committee meeting, the EU and China partners decided to increase the number of online activities to continue facilitating the mutually beneficial cooperation.
Because many activities in 2020 had been postponed, both sides committed to organising as many as feasible in the format of online exchanges between the aviation authorities, with the intention to resume physical events if possible next year. As a result the first online activity of this winter, on civil aviation accident and incident investigation, has already been held successfully. Upcoming exchanges organised for the following months will cover a variety of topics, including economic regulation, Unmanned Aircraft Systems management and airport certification, oversight and runway safety. Meanwhile, the EU-China APP study project on new concepts of operation for Tianjin Binhai International Airport is also well underway.
The current phase of EU-China APP will run until 14 April 2021. Following the success of the project, EASA and CAAC have expressed their strong intention to continue the cooperation and a new project framework to facilitate this is under preparation.
EU-China APP concludes successful Shanghai TMA optimisation research cooperation project
August 2020
On 26 August 2020, EASA and CAAC Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) held the official closing event of their successful Shanghai Terminal Manoeuvring Area (TMA) optimisation project. This cooperation initiative was part of the EU-China Aviation Partnership Project (APP) and the technical research cooperation was led by Airbus Navblue and Thales.
In a period over two years, European and Chinese experts developed and proposed a design concept for optimising flight procedures to improve the operational efficiency, safety and environmental performance of the Shanghai airports, which provides technical reference for their future operations. The jointly produced work included the development of a new concept of operations, ground operations optimisation assessment, and an environmental study focused on the reduction of CO2 emissions and noise.
CAAC ATMB Deputy Director General Mr Zhang Yong concluded: “Many excellent cooperation projects have been completed successfully under the EU-China APP framework in the past years. Those achievements have played a positive role in China’s aviation industry. The Shanghai TMA project is a good example of such achievement in the deepening and expanding EU-China aviation cooperation”. Luc Tytgat, Strategy and Safety Management Director at EASA, said: “The results of this project are good and give evidence to the high potential of EU-China cooperation in the air traffic management domain. This summer we already launched a new study project focusing on concepts of operation for Tianjin Airport, and we look forward to further strengthening our partnership in the years to come.’’
Studying new concepts of operation for Tianjin Airport
July 2020
Following the successful cooperation on airspace design for the Shanghai airports, the EU-China APP launched another initiative studying new concepts of operation for Tianjin Binhai International Airport. This effort is led by CAAC and EASA and associates all relevant partners including central and local representatives from CAAC, ATMB, Tianjin Binhai International Airport as well as Tianjin Airlines. On the European side, Airbus Navblue is the main technical partner.
During the kick-off, both sides agreed to look at implementing the Established on RNP (EoR) procedure, which will allow for more efficient parallel approaches to increase the overall throughput of the airport. Capacity constraints are a big challenge for Tianjin, suffering from a very dense airspace. The strong growth in air travel at Tianjin, above China’s average of 10% per year, further increases this pressure. Tianjin airport and its local partners are known for pioneering new technologies such as Heads up Display (HuD) or time based operations (i4D). The European partners are proud to work on this exciting project and to contribute to bringing efficiency gains to this dynamically growing aviation area of China.
Air Traffic Controllers instructors training in Madrid
November 2019
As EASA and CAAC aim for closer cooperation on training methods for Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs), the EU-China APP organises two training sessions for ATCO instructors this month. A total of 40 instructors, selected by the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of CAAC, will be welcomed in Madrid to participate in a course covering topics such as European regulatory environment of ATCO training, teaching skills development, and European best practices for developing training concepts and methods.
Following a train-the-trainer approach, the objective of the programme is to contribute to ATMB’s review and efforts to modernise selection and training of ATCOs. The first group of instructors will start the two-week programme on the 4th of November. Two field visits to ATCO Approved Training Organisations, SAERCO and SENASA, are part of the training programme.
GA Flight Experience training kicks off in Barcelona
June 2019
On the 24th of June, the EU-China Aviation Partnership Project (APP) will be welcoming a CAAC led group of 20 Chinese aviation professionals to Barcelona. This group will take part in the first General Aviation (GA) flight experience training session organised in Europe under the APP implemented by EASA and CAAC.
‘‘Experiencing general aviation in Europe will strengthen the delegates’ ability to perform their future oversight activities in this domain, and thereby foster the sector’s development in China.’’ said Mr. Matthias Borgmeier, Head of the EASA International Technical Cooperation Section.
In the next three weeks, the delegates will receive an introduction to GA in Europe, aeronautical training for pilots and real flying practice with instructors on a single engine piston aircraft at Sabadell Airport. For this first edition of the GA Flight Experience Training, the group is hosted by European Aviation School (EAS) Barcelona.
Executive Director EASA addresses China Civil Aviation Development Forum
May 2019
For the 10th edition of the China Civil Aviation Development Forum (held from 16-17 May in Beijing), EASA’s Executive Director Mr Patrick Ky addressed the audience on Europe’s practice with safe and efficient air transportation management system. To underline EASA’s commitment to cooperation and technical exchanges with China, he also signed a joint Letter of Intent together with CAAC’s Deputy Administrator Li Jian, endorsing the EU-China Aviation Partnership Project to organise 26 activities this year.
Shanghai Terminal Manoeuvring Area (TMA) optimisation action
09 July 2018
On 9th July 2018, the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Air Traffic Management Bureau of China (ATMB) officially launched the Shanghai Terminal Manoeuvring Area (TMA) optimisation action as part of the EU-China Aviation Partnership Project.
It will prepare a new airspace concept of operation for Shanghai. Technical implementation will be led by Airbus Navblue in cooperation with Thales, two strong European partners. This will include a range of flight and ground simulations, evaluation of safety and efficiency, and guidance for the application of new technologies for the region.
The project has also the potential to be a precursor for deploying technologies developed under SESAR such as ADS-B In in line with the ICAO ASBU. “By optimizing the ground operations and carrying out environmental studies we aim to reduce CO2 emissions, fuel burn and noise” said Thomas Lagaillarde Vice President for Bespoke Solutions, NAVBLUE.
The benefits for airports and airlines will mean shorter routes, continuous climb and descent operations that will lead to less fuel burn and environmental impact. There should also be an increase in aircraft capacity due to the improved circulation of Air Traffic Management. “Increasing Air Traffic Management efficiency is a shared goal for European and Chinese airspace users alike. With this project we take our cooperation with China in this important domain to another level, being able to deliver real improvements in Shanghai everyone will benefit from.“ said Luc Tytgat, Director for Strategy and Safety Management, EASA.
2018 EU-China Year of Tourims kicks off
The 2018 EU China Tourism Year (ECTY) was on the agenda of the 12th EU-China Business Summit and the 19th EU-China Summit on June 2nd. President Juncker started by unveiling its logo with Chinese Prime Minister LI Keqiang at the Egmont Palace. He then declared to the participants of the Business Summit that this Year "will provide new opportunities for investment and more people from both sides to discover the beauty of each other's landscapes and ways of life", adding "I will make use of this Tourism Year to spend half of the year in China ..."
1st CAAC-EASA Aviation Safety Conference
27-28 April 2017
The Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Mr Patrick Ky and the Deputy Administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Mr Li Jian today opened the first joint Safety Conference organised by the two administrations, bringing together leading CEOs from the European and Chinese aviation industry. The conference marks a new high in aviation ties between the European Union and China. These have steadily grown closer over recent years.
In the presence of CAAC Administrator Feng Zhenglin and the European Commission Director General for Mobility and Transport Mr Henrik Hololei, leading members of the aviation community discussed progress on establishing a future Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) between China and the European Union.
Launch of the APP Newsletter
February 2017
The APP Newsletter of the project was launched on 14 February 2017. Sign-up now to be the first to hear about our upcoming activities, speaker invitations, registration deadlines etc. The Newsletter is free of charge and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Click here to sign up to the recipient list.
The 1st CAAC-EASA Aviation Safety Conference is on-route to you
27-28 April 2017
The first edition of the CAAC-EASA Aviation Safety Conference is on-route to you. To further broaden the bilateral dialogue, the two authorities invite the wider European and Chinese aviation industry to this conference to discuss latest trends in aviation.
Visit the event page to learn more about the agenda and registration details.
EASA's Executive Director visit to China
23 September 2016
In the context of his visit to China this week, Mr Patrick Ky - EASA's Executive Director - delivered a speech at the China Air Transport Association (CATA) in Beijing, on the Challenges in the Field of Airline Operations Safety. He also met with CAAC management to review progress in EASA-CAAC relations. On the occasion, Mr Ky had separate meetings with executives from both European and Chinese aerospace firms in China including the leadership of the newly established Aero-Engine Corporation of China (AECC).
EASA's Strategy & Safety Management Director visit to China
16 September 2016
EASA's Strategy & Safety Management Director, Mr Luc Tytgat, visited China from 12 to 16 September, to review the ongoing progress of the EU-China Aviation Partnership Project. In this context, he paid a visit to Beijing’s Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) operator, Beijing 999, where he discussed prospective cooperation between Europe and China in this domain. Mr. Tytgat also attended this year’s ATC Global Conference where he delivered two speeches on Delivering Effective Regulation and RPAS.
