ENAV, the Italian Air Navigation Service Provider, has tested and validated the new precision landing procedures with the European satellite system EGNOS, using its own specially fitted out aircraft, at the Tunisian airport of Monastir.

These activities fall within the ambit of the MEDUSA programme, financed by the European Commission and coordinated by Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales Company, with the aim of expanding the use of the satellite navigation services, EGNOS, GPS and Galileo in the Euromed countries situated in the Mediterranean basin: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia.

Moreover, together with the other six most important European service providers, ENAV is a partner of ESSP, the European Satellite Service Provider, the company to which the European Commission has granted the management of the EGNOS signal up until 2021.

Today the EGNOS procedures are in use in many Italian and European airports, allowing maximum precision landing even in airports with no ground infrastructure as well as in conditions of poor visibility. The benefits of satellite navigation are not limited only to the final phase of flight but also during the cruising period.

Due to the accuracy of the signal aircraft can follow a more direct route, therefore saving flight time and fuel.

The implementation of EGNOS will likewise allow a considerable reduction of costs for the installation of ground infrastructure and its relative maintenance.

“Air navigation in the near future will increasingly be based on the use of satellites – Massimo Garbini, CEO of ENAV explained – ENAV is in fact seriously involved in satellite projects by means of economic investments in operations and in research and development. We are pleased that these first tests have been successful. North Africa represents a strategic area for the economic recovery of our national air traffic and we are convinced we can contribute to the development of the local economy as well as that of the whole region."