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Flexibility is key in challenging times
Challenging times provide opportunities – opportunities to tread new paths and to gain vital competitive advantages through greater flexibility. All airlines are
focusing more than ever on the issue of cost management. At the same time,
there is also enormous market pressure to keep the offered route network stable or even expand it.
To achieve this balancing act, airlines optimize their
flight schedules and form alliances with strong partners.
Lufthansa Systems provides innovative solutions and qualified services that
cover all aspects of airline resource planning and control.
Extensive experience, profound process knowledge, state-of-the-art technological resources, and the trust earned as an able partner to the airline industry:
These are the defining
strengths of Lufthansa Systems. Let us put them to work for you.
NetLine/Sched increases revenues by up to 5%
One of the first steps airlines need to take is to improve the overall profitability of their flight schedule, as this promises direct savings potential in the short and intermediate term.
At the same time, airlines need to maintain operational integrity constantly. This makes schedule management a very complex process.
These challenges call for a state-of-the-art scheduling system that provides the best possible support for
the development, management and implementation of alternative network strategies.
NetLine/Sched, for example, is the optimal solution for airline network management.
In fact, NetLine/Sched increases revenues by up to 5% with efficient aircraft resource management.
By using NetLine/Sched, airlines can increase their revenues substantially due to rapid and flexible capacity adjustments. In critical situations in the past, our customers saved millions of euros by adjusting their operations within just a few days. The solution optimizes an airline’s load factor by swapping the aircraft type assignment for a limited number of flights while considering operational restrictions and user-defined constraints.
NetLine/Sched is used every day by more than 40 airlines around the globe, ranging from small to large carriers and using different business models.
SchedConnect generates new market potential and sales
The concept of codesharing is another case in point. In partnership with other carriers, airlines are still able to offer a wide range of destinations even if they do not physically fly there. Codesharing implies cost sharing, a valuable aspect in today’s economic environment.
Promising as it is, codesharing increases complexity in the day-to-day operations of an airline because flight schedules need to be coordinated among partners.
With
SchedConnect, Lufthansa Systems offers airlines of all sizes the most efficient codeshare management and schedule data exchange system in the world.
SchedConnect determines the best possible codeshare connections in an agreement. In doing so, the system not only optimizes the existing network at a very high level, but also generates new potential in terms of codeshare connections – and therefore more sales.
More than 200 airline customers rely on Lufthansa Systems
Providing solutions that meet your needs in today's environment and help you to become even more competitive has resulted in a steadily expanding customer base.
More than 200 airline customers currently rely on the know-how and
technologies of Lufthansa Systems.
News
Air Berlin flies with electronic navigation charts from Lufthansa Systems
Lufthansa Systems has expanded its successful cooperation with the Air Berlin Group. Following just a three-month implementation phase, the airlines in the Air Berlin Group are now flying with the
Lido eRouteManual
electronic navigation charts. The five-year contract also covers the use of the
FMS database
from Lufthansa Systems.
The route charts from Lufthansa Systems contain true-to-scale topographical information such as the height of mountains and the course of rivers. This enables pilots to calculate exactly the time needed to complete certain flight sections and takeoff and landing procedures. The Lido eRouteManual includes airport taxiway charts, approach and takeoff charts, and a seamless worldwide route chart. The Air Berlin Group is using the Lido eRouteManual as a Class 1 solution on notebooks.
One benefit of the Lido eRouteManual is that its charts can be updated more quickly and easily than paper charts, since updated charts no longer need to be printed out and distributed to each cockpit. The solution also optimizes cockpit processes. Cockpit crews can determine the level of detail presented by the charts. Depending on the zoom step selected, information can be shown either in detail or reduced to key aspects. As a result, pilots always have all the necessary route information at their fingertips.
KLM cityhopper and Lufthansa Systems extend cooperation in crew management and operations control
KLM cityhopper will continue to optimize its crew management and operations control using
NetLine/Crew
,
NetLine/Ops
, and
NetLine/Ops Maintenance Control
from Lufthansa Systems for another three years. A contract to this effect was recently signed between the two partners. This agreement extends the good, trust-based cooperation between the Dutch airline and the IT provider which started in 2001.
NetLine/Crew covers all aspects of crew management and ensures the efficient use of crew resources. KLM cityhopper uses NetLine/Ops and NetLine/Ops Maintenance Control in order to optimize day-to-day operations, giving consideration to aircraft utilization as well as maintenance issues. The integrated use of the NetLine products allows the Dutch airline to gain flexibility in its operations and to explore additional cost-saving potential. KLM cityhopper will be able to quickly and reliably run through various scenarios, generate plans, and make decisions. This is made possible by the high degree of automation and the flexibility of our solution which has secured a leading position in its segment.
Ten-year contract for leading dispatch solution from Lufthansa Systems
Tunisair, Tunisia’s largest airline, will be using the flight dispatch solution
Lido Operations Center (Lido OC)
from Lufthansa Systems for the next ten years. The airline’s IT subsidiary, AISA, and Lufthansa Systems concluded the landmark contract which will enable the carrier to realize significant efficiency gains by optimizing flight routes and saving fuel and emissions.
Lido OC fully meets the requirements for safe and reliable flight operations that are at the core of any airline's operations. Beyond this basic prerequisite, the solution delivers utmost flexibility and opportunities to reduce costs. With its modern technology and user-friendly architecture, Lido OC covers all aspects of flight planning and the associated follow-up processes. Drawing on its own database, Lido OC automatically calculates the ideal route between two airports and creates reliable and easy-to-understand briefing documents for each flight. Crews can access the briefing documents provided by the Lido Briefing module over the Internet using a PC or laptop and a Web browser.
Trends
Lifting weight & balance into the future
Lufthansa Systems is taking an important step towards more flexible aircraft ground handling. We are launching the development of a new weight and balance IT solution dubbed LoadControl 2.0 . Its aim is to cater to the changing needs of airlines around the world. The first implementation of the system is scheduled for early 2010.
LoadControl, the current weight and balance solution, has been used by major airlines such as Lufthansa, Air Canada, Austrian Airlines, and LOT for over 10 years. While still one of the leading applications in its area, evolution of business models and operational constraints call for a completely new solution for the next decade. Cost pressure and quickly changing business rules need to be addressed. The new solution will offer all these options as LoadControl 2.0 will be based on the latest hardware and software technology. It will also offer simpler connectivity to neighboring systems in order to provide an integrated approach towards departure control. Fast implementation cycles, scalability, and easy customization to specific airline requirements will be some of the key aspects of the new development.
Safe take-off with Lido Obstacle Data
Do your Runway Weight Charts take into account that the trees are growing? Pilots use Runway Weight Charts to calculate the take-off speed and thrust setting of aircraft. When calculating the exact take-off procedure the obstacles around the airport must also be taken into consideration: The infrastructure as well as the natural surroundings of airports all over the world change daily. New office buildings are constructed or electricity pylons erected. In addition, trees grow and landslides can also alter the elevation conditions around an airport.
You are now probably wondering how the topographic conditions of airports around the globe are determined? We regularly analyze official topographic data worldwide. Furthermore, we use entries from AIPs (aeronautical information publications) published by aviation authorities all over the world. All kinds of chart material, including hiking maps of particularly inaccessible areas, are taken into consideration in the obstacle database of Lufthansa Systems.
And how can you receive our data? Just as you prefer, we will send you the updated information once a week – in electronic or printed form. Our database contains information on 1,600 airports and their obstacles worldwide, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. And now you can decide whether we should analyze further airports and their surroundings for you.
IT from Lufthansa Systems improves weather forecasts for airlines
Data for forecasting the weather are collected using established measuring methods such as satellites, weather stations, radiosondes and... aircraft. Yes, that’s true!
European airlines such as Lufthansa, British Airways, and Air France have been collecting weather data since the mid-1990s. The information acquired on the wing increases the accuracy of the weather forecasts by five to seven percent. And the more precise the weather modules are, the more this also benefits the flight path planning of the airlines and passenger comfort during the flight.
But how does airborne measuring work? The measurement instruments required to ascertain the AMDAR (Aircraft Meteorological Data Reporting) data are already in place on board the aircraft as pilots also need information in the cockpit on barometric altitudes, air temperature, air pressure, and wind conditions.
How are the data acquired?
First of all, the meteorological service specifies a particular measuring profile. Options include, for example, hourly measurements at an airport, measurements taken during climbing, descending or cruising, as well as the time gap between the measurements, the measuring frequency. It is not until the weather data are transmitted that we at Lufthansa Systems come into play.
The specific requirements are transmitted to Lufthansa Systems' E-AMDAR Data Optimization System (E-ADOS). Of the available flights, the system then selects the one
which corresponds to the requirement profile. This prevents multiple responses. The measurement is activated on board via an established data interface and the weather data are transmitted from the air to the ground. The bundled individual messages are then transmitted to the German Meteorological Service, or DWD, in anonymous form.
The DWD uses these data to calculate the weather forecasts and also forwards them to the ICAO World Area Forecast Centers in London and Washington. The ICAO World Area Forecast Centers produce the weather forecasts worldwide – from here all airlines can obtain global weather data at different flight altitudes for calculating the optimal flight plan.
