Airline operations and management software specialist Lufthansa Systems has announced that Emirates has committed to using its LIDO operations centre (OC) flight-planning solution for a further five years. And the company is optimistic that the carrier may also adopt a recently introduced new functionality designed to minimise fuel burn and CO2 emissions.
“We’re very pleased that Emirates has decided to continue using LIDO OC,” says Marc Szepan, Lufthansa Systems SVP airline operations solutions. “They were one of the first users outside the Lufthansa Group, and now things look good for their adoption of the new traffic flow restriction management (TFR) module.”
The effectiveness of a flight-planning system is measured by its ability to produce optimum routes within the constraints of air traffic management (ATM) and other factors such as weather, with the aim of minimising fuel costs and emissions. “LIDO OC is the industry leader in this respect, and TFR is designed to boost its effectiveness by helping help airlines to factor complex ATM provisions into their flight plans,” says Szepan.
TFR takes account of publications such as Eurocontrol’s route availability document (RAD). “This started off as a couple of A4 pages - now it’s a stack of paper 2in thick,” says Szepan. “It’s impossible for the individual dispatcher to work out the most efficient possible flight plan in relation to the RAD, weather and other factors. TFR automates this decision-making and makes it much more rigorous than human seat-of-the-pants judgement.”
A recent benchmarking exercise showed that TFR would help one European carrier operating 100-plus aircraft on short/medium-range routes to achieve annual fuel savings worth low double-digit millions of Euros. “And of course there are environmental implications,” says Szepan. “Burning one ton of fuel generates up to three tons of CO2 - LIDO OC in general and TFR in particular will help airlines to comply with any future CO2 emissions rules,”
TFR is currently in daily operation with three carriers – one large network operator, a regional and a freight carrier – and work on adding to it is under way. “We’re developing enhanced functionalities for optimisation and reduced fuel burn,” says Szepan. “We expect to release details in the first half of next year.”
“We’re very pleased that Emirates has decided to continue using LIDO OC,” says Marc Szepan, Lufthansa Systems SVP airline operations solutions. “They were one of the first users outside the Lufthansa Group, and now things look good for their adoption of the new traffic flow restriction management (TFR) module.”
The effectiveness of a flight-planning system is measured by its ability to produce optimum routes within the constraints of air traffic management (ATM) and other factors such as weather, with the aim of minimising fuel costs and emissions. “LIDO OC is the industry leader in this respect, and TFR is designed to boost its effectiveness by helping help airlines to factor complex ATM provisions into their flight plans,” says Szepan.
TFR takes account of publications such as Eurocontrol’s route availability document (RAD). “This started off as a couple of A4 pages - now it’s a stack of paper 2in thick,” says Szepan. “It’s impossible for the individual dispatcher to work out the most efficient possible flight plan in relation to the RAD, weather and other factors. TFR automates this decision-making and makes it much more rigorous than human seat-of-the-pants judgement.”
A recent benchmarking exercise showed that TFR would help one European carrier operating 100-plus aircraft on short/medium-range routes to achieve annual fuel savings worth low double-digit millions of Euros. “And of course there are environmental implications,” says Szepan. “Burning one ton of fuel generates up to three tons of CO2 - LIDO OC in general and TFR in particular will help airlines to comply with any future CO2 emissions rules,”
TFR is currently in daily operation with three carriers – one large network operator, a regional and a freight carrier – and work on adding to it is under way. “We’re developing enhanced functionalities for optimisation and reduced fuel burn,” says Szepan. “We expect to release details in the first half of next year.”
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Source: Flight Daily News
