Boeing and Lion Air have introduced Required Navigation Performance (RNP) flight operations in South Asia, performing validation flights to test tailor-made RNP Authorization Required (RNP AR) procedures at two terrain-challenged airports, Ambon and Manado, Indonesia.
Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen, designed, charted, and helped certify the instrument flight procedures, while Boeing Flight Services led the overall project, conducted an RNP Safety Assessment, and trained Lion Air’s leadership, dispatchers and flight crews. Boeing worked with Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation through the construction of a national regulatory framework necessary to fully certify the airline for RNP operations under ICAO guidelines.
"We look forward to seeing these procedures fully implemented so we can realize the substantial economic and safety benefits provided by this program," said Capt. Ertata Lananggalih, managing director of Lion Air. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation Indonesia intends to implement RNP at other airports in the country.
Lion Air is the launch customer for the Boeing 737-900ER and the largest customer and operator of the Boeing 737-900ER in the world. The airline took delivery of its 50th Boeing Next-Generation in September.