WAAS coverage expands to Canada and Mexico

November 1, 2007

On September 28 2007, Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) coverage was expanded
into Canada and Mexico, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

This achievement was made possible by the integration of nine new international wide-area reference stations (WRS) into the WAAS network. In addition to extending WAAS coverage to users throughout large portions of Canada and Mexico,
this expansion also benefits the U.S. WAAS users within the U.S., formerly on the fringes of WAAS coverage, are now well within its coverage boundaries.

The new WRSs are located in Canada at Goose Bay, Gander, Winnipeg, and Iqaluit, and in Mexico at Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, Mérida, Tapachula, and San Jose del Cabo.

For WAAS users, this expansion of service means more locations where vertically-guided approach procedures based upon GPS/WAAS can be developed and used. The FAA has already published over 900 localizer performance with vertical (LPV) approaches throughout the U.S.