The trial took place at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on 3 May, with an ATR 42-600 twin-turboprop and an Airbus A350 widebody airliner also taking part.

LPV permits aircraft-guided approaches, operationally equivalent to a Category 1 instrument landing system, but without the need for ground-based navigation aid infrastructure. The system is reliant on global positioning system and space based augmentation capabilities like EGNOS and the USA’s wide area augmentation system.

France was the first European country to publish approach procedures permitting EGNOS LPV200, says Dassault. Austria’s Vienna International will be the next airport to receive an LPV200 approach capability, although a trial date has not been disclosed.

“The accuracy and stability of LPV guidance is really amazing; much better than with ILS,” says Dassault test pilot Jean-Louis Dumas, who was at the controls, alongside fellow crew member Olivier Perriaud. “Lowering the minima to 200ft will be a great boon for European business aviation operations.”