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Ivory Coast carrier Air Côte d’Ivoire is extending its relationship with trusted inflight connectivity partner SITAONAIR across its new fleet of A320neo aircraft, enabling enhanced levels of passenger satisfaction.

The deployment, due in September 2020, will see Air Côte d’Ivoire’s new fleet enter into service with both SITAONAIR’s Mobile ONAIR and Internet ONAIR Wi-Fi over Inmarsat’s cutting-edge GX Aviation network.

The airline’s selection is set to meet increasing passenger demand for the ultimate level of speed and seamless connection. SITAONAIR’s Internet ONAIR portal also provides Air Côte d’Ivoire with a host of additional services with the potential for new ancillary revenue, as well as personalized content for its passengers.The addition of SITAONAIR’s Mobile ONAIR services on top of enhanced Wi-Fi connections offers the airline and its passengers the best of both worlds. Passengers can enjoy a seamless mobile connection in the air, as on the ground, while increased connectivity bandwidth provides enhanced reliability.

Mr. René Decurey, Chief Executive Officer, Air Côte d’Ivoire, comments: “It’s true that passenger expectations are growing. There is also increasing pressure to provide tailored services that cover the breadth of our passengers’ needs and data consumption. As Air Côte d’Ivoire continues to concentrate on enhanced, new generation inflight connectivity services for true passenger satisfaction, SITAONAIR is the obvious, trusted partner to support our ambitions.”

Stephan Egli, Commercial VP Middle-East, Africa & Europe, SITAONAIR, adds: “Having previously deployed SITAONAIR’s Internet ONAIR solution over SwiftBroadband, the move to GX reflects Air Côte d’Ivoire’s dedication to delivering true passenger satisfaction that’s future-proofed. By offering mobile and Wi-Fi services onboard, SITAONAIR is able to provide an inflight connectivity service to passengers that delivers a unified, seamless and fast experience that costs less. SITAONAIR is proud to be Air Côte d’Ivoire’s long-term partner in this venture.”

To find out more about SITAONAIR’s cabin connectivity services speak to your local SITAONAIR contact or submit an enquiry form.

• After 2 years of exclusive partnership, Aviolinx joins the NAVBLUE family
• NAVBLUE is now positioned to deliver a highly integrated and smarter N-OCC Suite

NAVBLUE is pleased to announce the acquisition of Aviolinx, the Stockholm-based airlines software and services provider, adding Operations Control and Crew Management solutions and expertise to its existing N-OCC suite. Combining Aviolinx with NAVBLUE will bring maximum value to customers by integrating teams of passionate flight operations professionals and flight operations solutions together to offer the most advanced Operations Control Center Suite in the market.

NAVBLUE is an Airbus Services subsidiary dedicated to Flight Operations & Air Traffic Management (ATM) Solutions and providing digital solutions and services, for civil and military environments, on the ground and onboard any aircraft: digital cockpit operations, Operations Control Centre (OCC) systems, Flight Ops Engineering, Performance Based Navigation (PBN) and Air Traffic Management.

Aviolinx provides software and services to the airline industry, including N-RAIDO Ops & Crew Management, designed to handle all aspects of Network Scheduling, Operations Control, Crew Planning, Crew Management, and day-of-ops Crew Scheduling in a single Flight Operations system. At its core, N-RAIDO is a highly dynamic event-engine coupled with a rules-engine that interacts with a single database, resulting in one dynamic application that can handle both day-of-ops management as well as long-term planning requirements of any sized airline.

For the past two years, NAVBLUE has been the exclusive re-seller of RAIDO under the name N-RAIDO Ops & Crew Management. The acquisition is a perfect fit with NAVBLUE, as RAIDO complements NAVBLUE’s solutions across the flight operations eco-system (Flight Planning/Ground Solutions, EFB solutions, ATM). The acquisition will also enable NAVBLUE and Aviolinx to leverage additional joint capabilities to innovate further, industrialize their solutions and expand their market footprint, especially in Tier 1 and 2 airlines.

Both well-known and respected in the market, the two companies share the same vision and joint values, while boasting perfect complementarity:

• Extensive expertise around airline crew and operations related customer needs and technology;
• Joint vision and spirit of innovation to optimize operations in a seamless and fully integrated suite for sustainable flight operations;
• Customer centric culture, providing value to customers offering a customer-focused experience which can now be even further enhanced as one company.
  
  Fabrice Hamel, Chief Executive Officer at NAVBLUE, said: “After two years of partnering with Aviolinx, we are delighted today to welcome them as part of the NAVBLUE family, joining our forces to provide combined offers and reach a larger market penetration, while having a common goal of making tomorrow’s airspace and airline operations more efficient and sustainable. Meanwhile we will expand our global footprint by adding a new office and team in Sweden”.
  
  Joakim ANDERSSON, Aviolinx founder, who will take on the role as Managing Director for NAVBLUE in Sweden, said: “We are very excited about this new chapter for Aviolinx. Being part of NAVBLUE will allow us to advance our technical competences and expertise even further in combination with NAVBLUE’s expertise and flight operations resources. We are confident that joining our solutions and offering a fully integrated suite will create unbeatable value for any airline looking for a modern and highly efficient technology solution to manage their operations. We look forward to continuing to be game-changers in the industry as part of NAVBLUE.”

Wednesday 19 February 2020 – SITAONAIR, the aviation industry’s aircraft communications expert, has been instrumental in the expansion of Very High Frequency (VHF) coverage throughout Turkey, during the development of the country’s largest new airport hub in Istanbul, which opened in April 2019. 

SITAONAIR’s expansion of the current VHF infrastructure enhances operations for airlines serving the regional domestic market and the country’s main airports. 

In addition to the 29 existing VHF antennae which currently serve Turkey’s main cities, including Istanbul, Ankara, and Antalya, SITAONAIR is planning to install a further 14 at six additional sites across the country. This will include six new antennae at Istanbul Airport which opened its doors on 6 April 2019. 

Istanbul Airport covers around 76.5 square kilometers and plans to accommodate up to 200 million passengers per year upon the completion of all phases. The developments come at a time when Istanbul’s air transport management services face increasingly busy traffic through the flight corridor between Europe and Asia, which spans the region, following the recent closure of Istanbul Atatürk Airport. 

SITAONAIR has worked consistently to improve and evolve from its VHF origins by embracing satellite services and VHF Digital Link (VDL) to deal with steep rises in air traffic.

Stephan Egli, Commercial VP Middle-East, Africa & Europe comments: “The expansion of VHF coverage in the region comes at a vital time for the country’s airport migration process. Our inherent expertise in serving the air transport industry make SITAONAIR the right partner at a crucial time where air traffic is booming and in need of a seamless transition, alongside carriers like Turkish Airlines, Pegasus and Sun Express who are poised to support the region’s increased passenger demands. As always, SITAONAIR is proud to support the aviation sector throughout its growth.”

To find out more about SITAONAIR’s ATC datalink systems and network services, visit www.sitaonair.aero, speak to your local SITAONAIR contact, or submit an enquiry form.

RESTON, VIRGINIA: Leidos (NYSE:LDOS), a FORTUNE® 500 science and technology leader, today announced a partnership agreement with Rusada to become a systems integrator for ENVISION, Rusada’s Aviation Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) and Flight Operations software.

ENVISION is used by aircraft operators, MRO providers and manufacturers to efficiently manage their maintenance and airworthiness activities. The web-based software utilizes the most up-to-date technologies to empower aviation decision-makers, providing them with helpful and informative data that adds value to their organization.

Under the agreement, Rusada will continue to be the software product developer. Leidos’ Airborne Solutions Operation (ASO) will serve as the systems integrator providing services to install, configure, operate and apply the software for customer’s aviation business.

“As a premier provider of airborne solutions, Leidos is committed to keeping its customers abreast of best-of-breed technology enhancements,” said Kevin Lansdowne, senior vice president of Leidos Airborne Solutions. “This agreement will leverage both companies’ expertise to deliver next generation software for airlines and aircraft operators across the globe.”

“This partnership is the natural conclusion of the great work we have already done together”, said Julian Stourton CEO of Rusada. “Both companies strive to deliver the highest quality services in our respective fields and together we present an unparalleled offering to aviation companies across the globe.”

Norderstedt, January 29, 2019 – Heidi Brockmann is taking over the newly founded Flight Operation Solutions division at Lufthansa Industry Solutions with immediate effect. The computer scientist has been working at Lufthansa Industry Solutions for 20 years, starting out in the field of software development and working in customer support in the technical documentation department, followed by periods as project leader, product manager as well as change and risk manager, before taking over program management for the product suite Flight Operations in 2011. In her new position, Heidi Brockmann will report directly to Oliver Albers, Vice President of MRO & Hospitality.

In this new division, Lufthansa Industry Solutions offers airlines software solutions developed specifically for their flight and ground operations needs. The content management system Electronic Flight Operations Manuals (EFOM) enables airlines including Deutsche Lufthansa, Eurowings, Swiss International Air Lines and Brussels Airlines to optimize their technical documentation for flight and ground crews. For example, new documents can be integrated at any time, regardless of the format and manufacturer’s system, and audits can be conducted much more efficiently as an integrated business process.

With DocSurf Mobile, users from MRO and Flight and Ground Operations can access and use the manuals they need at any time and from all computers – from classic desktops to mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. The Library Viewer continuously updates the documents in the background so that they always provide the latest information.

Oliver Albers: “By founding the new division we are taking account of the dynamic development in the airline market. We will expand our range of offers and satisfy our customers with future-oriented offers and quality. Heidi Brockmann has played a major role in the development of LHIND’s Flight Operations division, and will now provide us with crucial support in our strategic restructuring.”

Lagos, NIGERIA / Chennai, INDIA – February 10, 2020 – Global aviation software provider Ramco Systems today announced the successful implementation of its Aviation Suite V5.8 at Aero Contractors Company of Nigeria Limited, a state-controlled Nigerian airline company, for its MRO operations, thereby automating manual work execution processes and enabling organization-wide visibility.

With modules for Planning, Work Execution, Stores, Procurement, MRO Sales and billing process, Ramco’s integrated Aviation M&E MRO Solution automates and optimizes Aero Contractors’ MRO Services. The solution would help the organization optimize employee utilization and improve efficiency and accuracy in billing processes.

Captain Ado Sanusi, CEO, Aero Contractors Company of Nigeria Limited, said, “Aero is known for its scheduled operations and reliable services. To keep up with the market demand, we needed a technological partner who would be with us in every step of our digital journey. Ramco’s next-gen, integrated Aviation suite has helped streamline our maintenance processes, thereby giving us a bird’s eye-view of all our operations and enabling digital transformation.”

Virender Aggarwal, CEO, Ramco Systems, said, “The African Aviation industry has been expanding rapidly. We are thrilled to have partnered with Aero Contractors Company of Nigeria Limited and support them with a comprehensive and enhanced platform with latest tech tools. As we continue to develop more innovative solutions, this association will be a door opener to the major untapped aviation market in Africa. We look forward to our journey with Aero.”

Ramco Aviation Software is trusted by 22,000+ users to manage 4,000+ aircraft globally. Accessible on cloud and mobile, Ramco Aviation Software continues to innovate with ‘Anywhere Apps’, significantly reducing transaction time both during aircraft-on-ground (AOG) conditions and critical aircraft turnarounds. Ramco is changing the paradigm of enterprise software with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based solutions, powered by cool new features such as voice-based transactions on *Google Assistant or Alexa, chatbots, mail bots, HUBs and cognitive solutions. With 75+ Aviation leaders onboard, Ramco is the solution of choice for several large airlines and top heli-operators and multiple MROs around the world.

At a glance

• Exceptional number of new customers signing on AMOS
• Almost 60 new employees joined the Swiss-AS team
• Office space will be doubled in early 2020
• Lufthansa German Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo implementing AMOS
• Evolutionary architectural upgrade of AMOS

Record-breaking number of new AMOS customers

In 2019, business has once again been thriving for Swiss-AS, the result being an impressive 17 new customers having joined the AMOS community. Amongst them, renowned carriers such as Air Arabia, Gulf Air, Gulf Helicopters, SunExpress, Air Vistara and HK Express. Swiss-AS was also able to further extend its footprint among the pure MRO providers by closing deals with HAECO, TAP M&E, Sapura Technic and Nayak LM. With all these new customers, Swiss-AS is asserting its position as one of the leading MRO software suppliers worldwide.

Staff growth continues

This continued success allows Swiss-AS to press ahead with its expansion path and further invest in the future of AMOS. As part of this investment, Swiss-AS welcomed close to 60 new employees (around 30% of its overall manpower) in the company, thereby reinforcing every team and department. The company will continue to substantially increase its workforce in 2020.
To accommodate this growing number of employees, Swiss-AS will double its office space at its headquarters in Allschwil / Switzerland. The extensive renovation work is scheduled to be completed in Q2 2020 and will offer Swiss-AS’ staff modern workplaces and state-of-the-art facilities including a large lounge area, activity-based creative zones and relaxation space.

Lufthansa joined the AMOS community

In 2019, Swiss-AS were able to announce that tier-one Lufthansa German Airlines –  operating close to 300 aircraft – and Lufthansa Cargo had signed for AMOS. This now brings all members of the Lufthansa Group together using AMOS. Both carriers will implement AMOS including AMOSmobile for their line maintenance and CAMO activities. With a strong focus on driving innovation within the group, we are confident that this complex digital transformation project will be successfully completed and will have its positive effect on the whole group.

Looking into the future, the close cooperation of the members of the Lufthansa Group will be further supported by AMOScentral, a cloud-based message broker that enables the exchange and synchronisation of data between AMOS instances while nevertheless allowing each group member to keep control over their individual AMOS environments.
Swiss-AS continues to work on the development of AMOScentral and the first use cases will be field-tested by the end of 2020 in close dialogue with AMOS customers. Upon completion of the field tests, AMOScentral will be made available to the AMOS community allowing them to collaborate seamlessly using this powerful communication platform. The potential of having the ability to share data such as stock, or engineering data cannot be underestimated.

AMOSup / Architecture upgrade

Swiss-AS continues to constantly review and assess AMOS and all of its individual components, and this year Swiss-AS will turn its attention to the architecture itself.
To ensure that addresses future information security requirements, the investment in the architecture will ensure that whilst our customers have a software capable of handling the ever-growing complexity required, the foundation will be upgraded to combine a strong JAVA back-end architecture with state-of-the art future-proof front-end technology. This will also ensure that our customers will continue to benefit from the usability and intuitive functionality that they appreciate. Additional benefits that the customer can expect from this project are better integration possibilities into the existing IT landscape, more possibilities for the automation of business processes and for our cloud-hosted customers improved network latency.  
This initiative, combined with a modularisation of the server itself, will support Swiss-AS’ ambition to equip the large AMOS community with the best possible platform for their digital TechOPS transition.

AMOSmobile extended with offline capabilities

The overall strategy of Swiss-AS for AMOSmobile is and always has been to support multiple types of OS-platforms (iOS, Android, Windows) – thereby not limiting our customers in their choice of device. Due to the lack of a suitable development framework when AMOSmobile was conceived, off-line capabilities were not supported. With the arrival of mature development toolkits that combine multi-platform support with off-line capabilities, Swiss-AS is able to take the next big step in the evolution of AMOSmobile. Today’s technologies allow Swiss-AS to create native apps with great user experience from one single source for all OS-platforms. AMOSmobile/STORES will be the first suite to have off-line capabilities by the end of this year followed by the existing AMOSmobile/EXEC suite being enhanced with off-line capabilities.

Thank you

Swiss-AS would like to take this opportunity to thank our active customer base, partners and supporters all over the world for the excellent cooperation in 2019 and we look forward to continuing the teamwork with you again throughout 2020.

The Paris based company dgBirds, a subsidiary of Air France, has expanded its customer base. Beside the already existing Documentation and Mission/Briefing services, dgBirds has also successfully launched a new function: Mission/Reports.

Charter Jets, the Lithuania based airline (www.charterjets.aero) subscribed the Documentation and Mission/Briefing services.

From their iPads, Charter Jets Pilots will be able to easily access technical manuals and company referential but also, receive flight folders and, once flights are completed, send these documents back to their Dispatch with all needed and regulatory information. Darius Poplavskij, Charter Jets Pilot and Manager Flight Operations says: ”With dgBirds, we are now moving to the world of paperless cockpit and, for us, this is major step towards higher safety and efficiency for our flights”.

New features: dgBirds is further expanding its portfolio with the launch of the Mission/Reports service.

Thanks to the Reports service, dgBirds customers are now able to make available, for their mobile users (e.g. Pilots and Cabin Crew) all needed form templates. Thanks to a very agile and user-friendly form builder, operators can create safety and quality forms (e.g. Air Safety Report, Captain Report…). Once created, forms are distributed from the Administration platform and, from their iPads, mobile users access these forms. When events occur, mobile users can report them by filling the ad hoc form: this action can even be done offline, when no network connection is available. As soon as the iPads are connected, reports are sent to the operators’ back office. All reports are stored, available at any time and data can be used for analytics purposes.

This Reports service is therefore an additional function that enriches dgBirds multi services EFB as a Service platform.

dgBirds now supports the mission of your crews, by bringing not only their reference manuals and their rosters of activities including all relevant information to prepare and follow their missions, but also by allowing them to report any occurrence that may happen.

Norwegian continues to reduce emissions with new technology and new aircraft. The upgraded weather service provided by AVTECH Sweden AB, can reduce CO2 emissions by an additional 10,000 – 15,000 tons per year. In the past few years, Norwegian has taken several steps to contribute to a more sustainable aviation industry and when combined these initiatives contribute to an annual CO2 reduction of up to 200,000 tons.

The weather service by AVTECH provides Norwegian’s pilots with advanced data, enabling them to optimize the flight paths for improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions.

Norwegian has reduced 16,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year since the cooperation with AVTECH started in 2018. The company’s latest product, Aventus Cruise Optimizer, can further reduce CO2 emissions by 10,000-15,000 tons per year. The fuel saving measures that Norwegian has adopted combined with utilizing the latest technology in flight planning and operations has reduced the company’s annual emissions by up to 200,000 tons.

“During the test project there was a marked efficiency improvement in the planning of flight paths which resulted in further fuel- and emissions reductions. Each kilogram of fuel saved makes a difference. At Norwegian, we’re actively working to implement new technology in our modern and fuel-efficient fleet to continue reducing emissions,” says Stig Patey, Manager Fuel Saving at Norwegian.

The new and upgraded Cruise Profile Optimizer has been developed to further optimize flights and analyzes more data than the previous product. The optimizer calculates the most fuel-efficient altitude depending on the prevailing winds and aircraft performance, including analyzing the number of passengers, distance, altitude and speed. In short, the more data thatis provided, the more fuel-efficient flight paths can be flown, which in turn produces less emissions. In addition, the pilots receive real-time information which makes it possible to adjust the altitude if the weather conditions change during the flight.

The upgraded weather service has already been implemented on Norwegian’s Boeing 737-800 fleet.

By the end of 2019, Norwegian implemented SkyBreathe which is another fuel- and emission reducing tool. The SkyBreathe application leverages Big Data algorithms developed through an EU-funded Clean Sky Project. Norwegian reduces emissions by 140,000 tons per year with SkyBreathe.

“We’re very pleased that our cooperation continues to benefit Norwegian by reducing both fuel consumption and emissions. We look forward to future cooperation with more innovative projects,” says David Rytter, CEO of AVTECH Sweden AB.

Group agreement signed with Lufthansa Systems for innovative operations management within the Lufthansa Group

Raunheim, February 6, 2020 – Lufthansa Systems today announced that it won the contract to implement its NetLine/Ops ++ operations management system as a strategic IT partner to the Lufthansa Group. The airline IT specialist came out on top against the competition in a multi-stage bidding process. Now that the multi-year agreement has been signed for the use of NetLine/Ops ++, the migration will soon begin to the operations control platform developed by Lufthansa Systems. To start with, six group airlines – Lufthansa, Lufthansa CityLine, Lufthansa Cargo, Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Edelweiss – will benefit from extensive functionalities and harmonized processes that reduce costs and ultimately improve the passenger experience.

“I was especially delighted that Lufthansa Systems’ product impressed us in the bidding process as the leading solution in the market not only in terms of its functionality but also because of its cost-efficiency,” said Bardo Werum, the Lufthansa Group’s Head of IT Domain Hub Airlines Operations & Passenger Service Systems. “What is more, using a product solution allows for rapid roll-out and avoids the risks that potentially come with a development project.”

One major advantage of NetLine/Ops ++ is a platform architecture that enables integrated management through multiple Operations Control Centers (OCC) within the Lufthansa Group. “With NetLine/Ops ++ from Lufthansa Systems we can respond to irregularities across the Group and create the conditions necessary for quickly and flexibly restoring passenger connections in the event of cancellations,” said Wolfgang Diefenbach, Head of Operations Planning & Steering of the Lufthansa Group airlines. “The implementation of NetLine/Ops ++ will thus help us become one of the world’s most reliable airline groups.”

NetLine/Ops ++ makes it possible to evaluate data intelligently in order to predict potential operational restrictions on the day of operations. The solution proactively suggests countermeasures to minimize the effect on operations. Following the principle of “airline operations ahead of time”, forecasting systems are used to calculate potential disruptions, simulate various solutions and help operations controllers make fast, cost-efficient decisions.

“Lufthansa Group airlines have been successfully using many of our solutions for years. As a competent IT partner, we have become a key pillar in the Group’s digital strategy,” said Dr. Thomas Wittmann, CEO of Lufthansa Systems. “In addition to the NetLine product family, the Lufthansa Group airlines are using flight scheduling and navigation solutions as well as the revenue accounting solution from Lufthansa Systems.”

NetLine/Ops ++ is currently the most comprehensive operations management tool on the market. The solution continues to be enhanced and refined based on the comprehensive monitoring of new trends and technologies in airline operations management and the incorporation of new user needs. As a result, NetLine/Ops ++ has evolved into a new-generation operations control system that adapts to the continually changing business requirements of airlines and enables the use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and cloud platforms.