Alaska Airlines Introduces Sophisticated Flight Guidance System in Palm Springs to Reduce Delays and Cancellations

Cutting-edge flight guidance technology pioneered by Alaska Airlines for flying into rugged Alaskan airports has arrived at the desert resort city of Palm Springs, Calif.

Dubbed RNP, short for Required Navigation Performance, the new technology will greatly improve schedule reliability by reducing the number of delayed and canceled flights due to bad weather. The system will also add an extra margin of safety for Alaska Airlines at Palm Springs International Airport, which has high visibility requirements due to its location in a valley surrounded by high mountains.

The Palm Springs airport represents Alaska Airlines’ first destination in the Lower 48 to receive Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for full-scale RNP operations. It will allow Alaska Airlines to safely land at the airport more often in bad weather when other airlines may be restricted.

RNP uses a combination of onboard navigation technology and the Global Positioning System satellite network, rather than relying exclusively on ground-based navigation aids. It allows Alaska Airlines flight crews to fly aircraft along a precisely defined, computer-plotted path with pinpoint accuracy.

As an example of how this will improve schedule reliability, Alaska Airlines was forced to cancel, delay or divert 24 flights into Palm Springs this month because of low clouds and visibility issues. If RNP had been operational during this period, only three flights would have been canceled.

"We have worked long and hard through a great many technical and regulatory hurdles to achieve this improvement in operational reliability in Palm Springs," said Kevin Finan, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of flight operations.

Alaska Airlines pioneered RNP in 1996 as a way to improve schedule reliability out of Juneau, Alaska, an airport known for its bad weather and challenging, mountainous terrain.

Now considered the world leader in RNP technology, Alaska Airlines is working with other carriers and the FAA to standardize RNP for use by other airlines in Palm Springs.

In addition to Palm Springs, Alaska Airlines now uses RNP in seven cities in Alaska, including Juneau. Other priority airports for its introduction are San Francisco and Reagan International in Washington, D.C.

Alaska Airlines and its sister carrier Horizon Air together service more than 80 cities in Alaska, the Lower 48, Canada and Mexico. For reservations visit www.alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines Newsroom on the Internet at http://newsroom.alaskaair.com/ .

SOURCE: Alaska Airlines