Airbus Industrie has awarded Sextant Avionique a contract to be sole supplier of flat-panel liquid crystal displays (LCD) for the new A340-500/600 and for all the production fly-by-wire Airbus types from mid-2000. The move comes in the face of requests from airlines to be allowed a choice of supplier, for the LCDs, which will replace the Sextant supplied cathode ray tube (CRT) suite currently installed.
Airbus selected Sextant over Rockwell Collins, which had been shortlisted after the elimination of bids from Honeywell and Smiths Industries (Flight International, 17-23 June).
Sextant will also supply LCDs for the retrofit of in-service A320 family aircraft, A330s and A340s. Six LCDs will replace a similar number of CRTs. The contract does not extend to the A3XX.
The new displays are scheduled to be certificated in the middle of 2000, with the first delivery being on a US Airways A320 shortly afterwards.
Sextant senior vice-president Jean-Paul Lepeytre says the six displays plus computers is worth Fr1-1.5 million ($164-246,000) per aircraft to the French avionics company, a subsidiary of Thomson-CSF. He adds that the main advantage of the displays will be in reduced maintenance cost, weight and volume.
Source: Flight International
