CANCELLED: CEP Flexible Route Program
After little more than one month into a planned 5-month trial, Oakland Oceanic has cancelled the Central Eastern Pacific Flexible Route (i.e. Tracks) program between the continental United States and Hawaii. During the brief trial period, Flex Routes only replaced the fixed ATS Routes a handful of times.
The FAA plans to reevaluate the fuel models and develop improvements to the program. Originally based upon B-767 performance specifications, the CEP Flex Routes intended to use daily weather information to create more efficient routes to and from Hawaii. The details of the program were previously reported in this blog.
During the trial period the FAA increased coordination with navigation database service providers to ensure all possible CEP waypoints were included in FMS database updates. The daily NOTAMs for Oakland Oceanic indicated whether the program was operational each day and flight planning organizations routinely included the NOTAMs to their clients. But the FAA has decided to make adjustments before relaunching the program later this year.
Stay tuned for updates.
Ref. KZOA NOTAM A0922/09