On June 21, test flight was carried out at Lhasa Gonggar Airport to validate the flight procedures of RNP AR. The test flight has opened up a new era for Chinese civil aviation which witnessed a transition from the introduction and absorption of the new RNP AR technology to its management and innovation. It also signaled that following the pilot program at Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport, RNP AR has become public procedures available for use at airports. Deputy Administrator Li Jian was present during the test flight.

The test flight lasted for 2 hours and 28 minutes. The Airbus A319-115 of Air China Southwest Branch has successfully applied the flight procedures including all engine take-off, single engine take off, approach, and go-around, and the results were all satisfactory. Following the implementation of public procedures, there is no need for airlines to design their own procedure, which will not only lower the cost, but also effectively reduce potential safety hazards caused by procedures differences, thus greatly optimizing the operation environment of the terminal area of Lhasa Gonggar Airport. CAAC will draw on operation experience of RNP AR and take this test flight as an opportunity, to publish a new version of advisory circulars on operation certification, aiming to substantially simplify the requirements for human training and for test flights and facilitate the operation of airlines, air traffic management units, airports and other entities.

Li Jian highly recognized the far-reaching significance brought forth by the successful test flight to Chinese civil aviation. He pointed out that Lhasa Gonggar Airport is the first airport in China applying RNP AR procedures with more than 13 years of operating experience. For Chinese Civil Aviation, this test flight represented an important milestone in the application of the new technology - RNP AR, indicating that public procedures are where the future is. As a global leader in the application of RNP AR technology, China broke the ground by implementing public RNP AR procedures as well as simplified certification, and made its contribution to the development of relevant ICAO standards. To accelerate the application of new technology, we should focus on developing and updating regulatory standards, and rolling out policies more beneficial to the implementation of new technologies, so as to support high-quality civil aviation development.