This investment would have been planned months ago and hence don't see how this can be pinned on the MD

Rivet Joint

LPV explained here:

https://www.thebalance.com/localizer...pproach-282711


Great advance over ILS, no expensive equipment to buy/maintain and does not need the recurring expense of having to flight check it every six months.

The only expenditure required is a obstacle survey, which is checked annually (already needed to sustain other instrument approach procedures and the EASA Aerodrome Certification) and paying someone to design the procedure and get it approved by CAA. Last time I was quoted for one was less than £50K.

Just remember if you read that link we do not have WAAS in Europe - so EGNOS would be used instead.

This morning's KLM requested an RNAV approach but was advised it was now NOTAM'd as not available until March 8th.

Sounds like win win. Begs the question why the bigger airports stick with ILS though?

On a separate note, what's going on at SOU today? Obviously the whether is extreme at the moment but the likes of Doncaster and Newquay seem to be open yet SOU is closed. Lack of equipment to clear the snow? Can't imagine it has been hit as bad as the airports in the north.

The snow has been particularly bad for SOU and BOH meaning the runways couldn’t be cleared fast enough before another’s layer covered them. Also freezing rain affected the southern most airports like Exeter Bournemouth and Southampton which is even more disastrous than snow and can be deadly. My only criticism is of Exeter and Bournemouth’s social media updates which have been totally disgraceful compared to Southampton and others

Why do you say Southampton is closed! it has been open since 8:30 am this morning.

The Blue island from Guernsey landed at 10am and the Jersey flight was on its way but turned back to Jersey for reasons unknown to me.
Flybe have taken the decision to cancel its flights until 3pm but saying the airport is closed is not true!

ILS has lower minima (including CAT 3 autoland). If the bigger airports relied solely on RNAV approaches then no one would land when visibility went below 1400M or cloud ceiling was below 700’. CAT 1 ILS approaches can be carried out in 550M visibility and 200’ cloud ceiling.

*these figures are an approximation and vary according to location and aircraft/aircrew.

The ability to fly a LPV procedure considerably lowers the OCA, for a CAT C aircraft on runway 02 the OCA is 415 FT. Had the obstacle environment been better (ie no hill or trees) the OCA would have been even lower.

From what I recollect the visibility/RVR minima takes into account many factors, including OCA and the length of approach lighting on the landing runway. I suspect that could result in less than 1400 metres.

See my link in #402

Of which SOU has very little!

Just having a look at the January 18 figures for Easy jet flights

Geneva 4697 passengers

Don't have access to the Flybe loads but taking the following , for example

1 )

Flybe operated 12 flights ( 2 x Sat , 1 x Sun ) average 65 pax per flight
Easy jet operated 13 flights average 121 pax per flight

2 )

Flybe average 75 pax per flight
Easy jet averaged 111 pax per flight

That’s why I said the figures were an approximation.
The question was why do the big airports still rely on ILS: the answer is lower minima.
I’ve yet to see RNAV approaches be certified for LVPs.

Del Prado
The Nats IAIP RNAV chart 02 for SOU clearly shows the LPV approach with the minima OCA as stated by TCAS FAN,therefore it is available ,but not to the 8/3 as stated by Notams.
Clearly a big improvement for landing aircraft at SOU.

Presumably you are talking about EU OPS Low Visibility Operations, ie operations in RVR less than 550 metres, applicable for Lower than CAT 1, CAT 2 etc.

These are not applicable at SOU due to obstacles in the each runway's final approach segment, and a restrictive aerodrome ground lighting system.

What will now become available on 8 March for runway 02 is a quantum leap for SOU.

Adding to this plaudit, well done to the Airside Ops team for getting the runway back into operation following the recent snow, and keeping it operational.

Rivet Joint said “Begs the question why the bigger airports stick with ILS though?”

The answer is lower minima for ILS.

With the greatest respect to other posters, I don’t have to check out SOU approach plates or links to explanations of types of approach or consider the lack of LVPs at SOU.

The question was “why the bigger airports stick with ILS?”

The answer FOR BIGGER AIRPORTS is that the ILS allows operations to continue in marginal weather - in fact right down to 0/0 if aircraft is so equipped and crew are suitably qualified.

Apologies for the lack of Southampton references here but I was simply trying to answer a question from another poster about bigger airfields.

BMIR
 

Just been trying to book flights from SOU-MUC for May but nothing is showing as bookable on the BMI Regional website after 24th March. Is the route stopping?

Wouldn't be a surprise as the route is cancelled more times than it runs!

I hope not, was planning to use it again in the summer. Loads were over half last time I used it. Really will be a case of groundhog day if SOU loses another operator/route. I have noticed they often lend their fleet to Logan and even Eastern lately. Would be better used serving their own routes, but these niche operators seem to want to just be in the wet leasing business now. Look at Cityjet.

Which airline would operate a Brussels route if re-instated? Airport social media recently asking for feedback on viability and with Flybe withdrawing some time ago, maybe someone else is looking at it (BMI? Although if they are pulling out of MUC, would they then jump in to Brussels)

The airport has seen big falls in passenger volumes year on year for the MUC route. Is the airport too close to Heathrow? Is that why it seems to struggle to get above 2m pax per year? It should be at least half of Bristol’s throughput (9m) by now (4.5M)