FAA: GBAS Operational at Airports Worldwide
Delta Airlines made a perfect Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS) Landing System (GLS) landing at Liberty Newark International Airport on Feb. 18, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s SatNavNews newsletter.
Delta now joins United Airlines and British Airways as airlines that use the GBAS at Newark.
More GBAS locations around the world are reaching operational status, and airline operations using GBAS are increasing as additional GLS-equipped aircraft are entering service for the various airlines. Boeing has confirmed that many of the customers who have ordered multiple 787s, 747-8s or 737s have publicly stated their intention to use the GLS capability on these aircraft.
More than 1,000 Boeing GLS-equipped aircraft are now in use, and this number is growing by an estimated 25 airplanes per month. This estimate is based upon current production rates — one third of 737s are being equipped with the GLS option. GLS is standard on 787 and 747-8 aircraft.
The list below provides a summary of the airlines using GBAS and the airports where GLS approaches are flown on a regular basis.
U.S. Carriers
- Delta Airlines – Houston, Newark
- United Airlines – Houston, Newark
Non-U.S. Carriers
- Air Berlin – Bremen, Malaga
- British Airways – Newark
- Cathay Pacific – Houston, Sydney (plans for Newark in the future)
- Emirates Airlines – Frankfurt, Houston, Sydney, Zurich
- Lufthansa – Frankfurt, Houston
- Qantas – Sydney
- Swiss Air – Zurich
- TUIfly – Malaga
- Various Russian airlines (S7, Transaero, Utair, Sakhalin Energy, Gaspromavia Russia). Fifteen GBAS locations in Russia have been approved with each airline using different airports (Domodedovo, Pulkovo, Tyumen, Ostafyevo, Nogliki and others).
The commitment to GBAS development and implementation continues to grow, according to the FAA, with plans to implement GBAS in these additional locations:
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Chennai, India
- Gimpo, South Korea
- London Heathrow, United Kingdom
- Melbourne, Australia
- Oslo, Norway
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- St. Helena, United Kingdom.
EWR does not have a runway 8-26
Your picture is inaccurate. EWR does have GBAS which has been active for a few years and is used sporadically. It’s a good technnology that will have some application in the future.