Astronautics and Nova Systems partner on C4IR system: Astronautics Corporation of America and Nova Systems are partnering on an airborne C4ISR mission systems solution which will enter initial operational service with AW139 helicopters deployed on a search and rescue and airborne law enforcement role with a European customer. Astronautics’ AeroSync Max wireless airborne communication system will provide avionics and mission data routing, and security controls for managing data between the mission system and the aircraft avionics. Astronautics’ AeroSync Max is a secure and integrated wireless data transmission system that automatically provides high-speed data connectivity, securely enabling flight, mission, and maintenance data gateway applications for both new and retrofitted aircraft. AeroSync acts as a secure data gateway between mission systems and avionics. In addition, an optional wireless access point with internet access is available to support mission-related use cases.
GE Aerospace announces next-gen rotor analysis tool: GE Aerospace announced testing of the next generation Rotor Analysis Diagnostic System (RADS) for civil and military operators. The RADS-NG (next generation) will reduce pilot time and save fuel by enabling operators to complete rotor track and balance operations and diagnostics in fewer flights. Testing on major OEM rotorcraft begin in Q2 with procurement to start in Q4. “The upgraded Rotor Analysis Diagnostic System allows operators the ability to complete their rotor track and balance operations and diagnostics in fewer flights while significantly reducing flight and pilot time and saving fuel,” said Steve Schoonveld, product director of Connected Aircraft at GE Aerospace. The RADS-NG will replace the RADS-AT (Advanced Technology) and the RADS-AVA (Aviation Vibration Analyzer) as GE’s portable vibration diagnostics solution for vehicles where permanent installation is not practical or to supplement existing systems.
Dubai Air Navigation Services and DFS Aviation Services sign ATC contract: Dubai Air Navigation Services (dans) and Germany’s DFS Aviation Services (DAS) have signed a deal for the supply of Air Traffic Control systems that will enhance the capabilities and quality standards at the city’s airspace. To handle the exponential growth of Dubai and the need for state of the art systems to cope with the high requirements in Air Traffic Management, dans is keen to continuously develop its air traffic control and management infrastructure to partake the foresighted demand. It has increasingly been deploying cutting-edge and advanced technologies to enhance the efficiency and capacity of the air space. The flexible and scalable digital platform that provides tower and approach controllers with a comprehensive set of tools to safely and efficiently manage traffic flow at Dubai and the Northern Emirates airspace. The platform supports sequencing of departing aircraft. The deliverables include a test and validation platform, as well as a contingency and an operational system for each airport.
Air NZ Cargo chooses CargoAi as first strategic partner: CargoAi onboarded its first Australasia carrier with Air NZ Cargo’s capacity now live on CargoAi’s digital marketplace (CargoMART). Air NZ Cargo will be offering its capacity from USA and Canada into New Zealand and Australia. “We are proud to be the marketplace of choice that Air NZ has chosen to commence its digital offering with. With our shared vision in transforming the air cargo landscape, we are looking forward to bringing the best digital booking experience that CargoMART offers to our joint customers.” says Matt Petot, CEO of CargoAi. Freight forwarders in USA and Canada can book General and Express cargo instantaneously on all Air NZ Cargo routes. Users of CargoMART benefit from searching for real-time schedules, bulk quoting, e-Booking, the ability to Track and Trace each shipment, as well CargoAi’s Cargo2ZERO sustainable features to support the air cargo industry’s decarbonisation mission. Following the successful pilot launch, Air NZ Cargo will expand its offering on CargoAi on a global scale. This will allow the full visibility and booking of all its routes to more than 9,000 freight forwarders across 105 countries who regularly use CargoAi’s marketplace, CargoMART.
Ontic signs radar deal with Honeywell: Ontic has signed three new license agreements with Honeywell to deliver a range of radar system and navigation and communication product lines. Ontic will take on the P440/660/880 Primus weather radar system, and the former-BendixKing’s Gold Crown, Multi-Hazard product lines, as well as a range of heat exchangers, valves, actuators and oil coolers for commercial and military customers. The Primus system consists of numerous components and is used to detect hazardous weather including turbulence and wind-shear. Similarly, the RDR2000/2100 series and gold crown product line assists navigation, communication, radar, and safety systems, enabling ‘air to ground’ and ‘air to air’ communication, identification and navigation. The incorporated ‘multi-hazard’ safety sensors perform TAS (Traffic awareness) or TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance) and/or enhanced ground proximity warnings (EGPWS). All of these systems are used across a range of aircraft, including business jets, single engine aircraft and helicopter markets, which have an active installed base of over 10,000+ platforms.
VAS Aero Services buys Airbus narrowbody airframes from Avolon: VAS Aero Services announced it will acquire two additional Airbus narrowbody airframes from Dublin, Ireland-based Avolon Aerospace Leasing, LLC, a leading international aircraft leasing company. VAS will manage the teardown of both airframes and the subsequent residual parts harvesting and marketing through its global aftermarket parts marketplace. This agreement represents an expansion of the January 2022 consignment agreement between the two companies under which VAS acquired three Avolon A320 family airframes for teardown. The two additional airframes include an Airbus A319-100 (MSN 2362) and an A320-100 (MSN 2299). The Used Serviceable Materials (USM) from both teardowns will augment VAS’s widely accessed aftermarket parts inventory, distributed through the company’s worldwide airline operator customer base. The teardown of both aircraft will be performed at Hondo, TX, in early 2023.
Nominations open for 2023 IATA Diversity and Inclusion Awards: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the opening of nominations for the 2023 IATA Diversity and Inclusion Awards. Nominations will be accepted from all individuals or organizations working in the aviation value chain and will close at 23:59 CET on 19 April 2023. The annual awards program recognizes excellence in diversity and inclusion in three categories: Inspirational Role Model Award: Recognizes a woman holding a senior position within the air transport industry who has had a significant impact on the aviation agenda through her strong contribution to business delivery, as well as her ongoing support for the diversity and inclusion agenda. Nominees are welcome from across the aviation industry; High Flyer Award: Recognises a woman aviation professional under the age of 40 who has demonstrated leadership through concrete action in favour of diversity and inclusion, making a positive impact on the industry. Open to all women professionals in the aviation industry; Diversity & Inclusion Team Award: Recognises an airline that has seen measurable positive change in diversity and inclusion as a result of the work it has been doing in this area. Open to all IATA member airlines. Each award winner will receive $25,000 (payable to the awardee or their nominated charity for diversity and inclusion activities) thanks to the generous sponsorship of Qatar Airways.
GOL Linhas Aéreas launches Sabre Ancillary IQ: Sabre Corporation and GOL Linhas Aéreas, Brazil’s largest domestic airline, announced the carrier’s successful implementation of Sabre Ancillary IQ, a computer-based solution designed to help create personalised offers for travellers and drive incremental ancillary revenue opportunities for airline customers. Ancillary IQ supports airline retailing strategies by dynamically pricing individual ancillaries and enabling the creation of ancillary bundles. This solution uses machine learning to identify ancillary buying patterns in real time and optimize pricing to increase conversion and ensure that travellers can easily book the experience that they want. The initial implementation of Ancillary IQ with GOL will focus on seats with additional ancillaries becoming available later this year. Headquartered in São Paulo, GOL began operations in 2001 and has quickly grown to become one of largest airlines in South America, with over 80 destinations in Brazil, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States.
IDEMIA launches new contactless on-the-move biometric devices: IDEMIA announced the launch of two new biometric terminals aimed to speed up traveller identity verification processes. Building on more than 50 years of expertise in creating disruptive technologies and in developing accurate and fair matching algorithms, IDEMIA is committed to continuously improving its solutions. Both OneLook Gen2 and MorphoWave TP take advantage of this know-how and are designed to provide a faster, more secure, and barrier-free biometric verification. OneLook is the best-in-class multibiometric identity verification solution. It offers accurate, from-a-distance face and iris capture and biometric matching in a single device. Committed to continuous improvement, IDEMIA has developed the second generation of OneLook device. Organisations can now benefit from even faster walk-through capture with outstanding image quality, offering greater matching accuracy. The MorphoWave technology is a fingerprint solution for frictionless processing at land, air and sea borders. MorphoWave TP offers contactless, on-the-move ten-fingerprint capture, four fingers simultaneously and a thumb, in any direction. The unique touchless biometric solution of its kind, MorphoWaveTM TP produces high-quality fingerprint images in less than one second, with a simple wave of the hand. Compatible with existing contact databases and traditional contact scanners, it is suitable for a wide range of use cases such as border control.
Chapman Freeborn announces partnership with Tour Lad Fah: Chapman Freeborn, the global aircraft charter specialist and part of Avia Solutions Group, has partnered with major Thailand-based tour operator, Tour Lad Fah. Tour Lad Fah, headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, was established in 2018 and operates to Georgia, Japan, South Korea, India and Turkey. The new partnership will see Chapman Freeborn providing charter solutions for the operator, sourcing appropriate aircraft to support the surge in demand that Tour Lad Fah has seen for travel post-COVID. Chapman Freeborn, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is optimising on growth in the Asia Pacific region, developing and implementing products and services in this comparatively untapped geography. Paul Tsang, Vice President Passenger Solutions – Asia Pacific at Chapman Freeborn, said, “Our passenger charter department is relatively new to the APAC region, and this partnership is a major boost for our presence. We are delighted to assist Tour Lad Fah, but also to show our prospective clients, not just in Thailand but across the whole region, that we are able to find them the ideal solution when they need us.”
Propeller advance paves way for quiet, efficient electric aviation: Electrification is seen as having an important role to play in the fossil-free aviation of tomorrow. But electric aviation is battling a dilemma: the more energy-efficient an electric aircraft is, the noisier it gets. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a propeller design optimisation method that paves the way for quiet, efficient electric aviation. In recent years, electrification has been described as having an important role in reducing emissions from future aviation. Due to the challenges posed by longer ranges, interest is chiefly focused on electric propeller planes covering shorter distances. Propellers connected to electric motors are considered the most efficient propulsion system for regional and domestic flights. “We can see that the more blades a propeller has, the lower the noise emissions. But with fewer blades, propulsion becomes more efficient and the electric aircraft can fly for longer. In that sense, there is a trade-off between energy efficiency and noise. This is something of an obstacle for electric aircrafts that are both quiet and efficient,” explains Hua-Dong Yao, Associate Professor and researcher in fluid dynamics and marine technology at Chalmers University of Technology. But now, Hua-Dong Yao and his research colleagues may be one step closer to a solution. They have succeeded in isolating and exploring the noise that occurs at the tip of the propeller blades, or “tip vortices”, a known but less well-explored source of noise. In isolating this noise, the researchers were able to fully understand its role in relation to other noise sources generated by propeller blades. By adjusting a range of propeller parameters, such as pitch angle, chord length and number of blades, the team found a way to optimise the propeller design and even out the trade-off effect between efficiency and noise. The method, described in the study published in the journal Aerospace, can now be used in the design process of quieter propellers for future electric aircraft.
Rotortrade delivers 3rd Airbus helicopter to Air Greenland: Rotortrade has announced the successful delivery of the third Airbus Helicopter to Air Greenland. This time, the H155B1 will help Air Greenland fulfil its mission requirements, following the previous delivery of two Airbus H225s. The H155B1 is a highly versatile and reliable aircraft, well-suited to meet the needs of Air Greenland. It is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics and safety systems, as well as advanced technologies that enhance operational efficiency. “We are honoured to have been chosen once again by Air Greenland to deliver this third Airbus Helicopter,” said Raymond Lubrano, EVP Business Development of Rotortrade. “We are confident that the H155B1 will prove to be an excellent addition to their fleet, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Air Greenland.”
Embraer, ITA, and FAPESP open engineering research centre: Embraer, ITA (Aeronautical Technological Institute), and FAPESP (São Paulo State Research Support Foundation) recently held the inauguration ceremony of the Engineering Research Centre (CPE), dedicated to the Air Mobility for the Future studies. The initiative in Brazil in the field of Air Mobility for the Future was announced last year and brought together representatives from the scientific community and professionals from the aeronautical industry in activities based on three pillars: low-carbon aviation, autonomous systems, and advanced design and manufacturing. The goal is to find innovative technological solutions that will enhance the sustainability and competitiveness of the global innovation ecosystem. The CPE counts on a shared investment of around US$ 10 million over the next five years to purchase research equipment, research grants, and administrative support. Called FLYMOV, the applied research environment favours constructing and disseminating knowledge, training highly qualified human resources, and producing high-impact scientific and technological results. The CPE is expected to bring together about 150 professionals among professors, research fellows, and experts from the aeronautics industry who seek innovative technological solutions. This partnership enables the conditions for technology transfer between industrial, public, and third-sector players, enhancing the competitiveness of the Brazilian and global innovation ecosystem.
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