insight newsletter - September 2009

Malaysia Airlines started flying with navigation charts from Lufthansa Systems at the end of August this year. Malaysia’s national carrier recently signed a five-year agreement for the use of the Lido RouteManual. The airline will introduce the electronic version of the charts, Lido eRouteManual, at a later date. Malaysia Airlines will receive around one million charts in its first delivery.

Lido RouteManual includes precise charts for every phase of a flight, from push-back to landing. Pilots can quickly find their way around the charts thanks to the true-to-scale topographical data, which is especially helpful in key phases like take-off and landing. Lido RouteManual makes it easier for airlines to subsequently migrate to the electronic Lido eRouteManual solution since the organization and structure of the paper charts are identical to those of the electronic charts.

Malaysia Airlines serves over 70 destinations worldwide with a fleet of more than 80 short and long-haul aircraft. Over the years, Malaysia Airlines has been recognized many times for its outstanding service, and its cabin crew has been voted the world’s best on numerous occasions.

Lufthansa Systems has taken a further step in enhancing its presence in Australia and the Pacific by winning Virgin Blue Airlines as its latest customer. Both companies signed a long-term contract for the implementation of LoadControl, one of the world’s leading weight and balance solutions at the airline. After the implementation, Virgin Blue will benefit from lower fuel consumption in its daily flight operations.

LoadControl optimizes the load planning of an aircraft, resulting in an increased payload available for additional passengers, baggage or cargo. Proven with major airlines, this both generates additional revenue potential and reduced fuel consumption of up to 0.5 % per flight. Its “Auto Load Planning” capabilities and the fully automated “Time Driven Mode” also reduce process costs and improve reliability.

Virgin Blue is Australia’s leading major airline for service and on-time performance and was the catalyst for the low fare revolution in the Australian market when it launched in 2000. Virgin Blue Group has four airlines, including Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue, Polynesian Blue and the recently launched three-class long haul airline, V Australia, another Lufthansa Systems customer. With more than 31 per cent of the domestic market and a modern fleet of 81 aircraft, Virgin Blue Airlines currently operates to 27 Australian and 15 international destinations.

TACA is the first airline worldwide to optimize its pricing processes and increase its revenues by using ProfitLine/Yield Dynamic Price Engine (DPE). Now that Lufthansa Systems has implemented its next generation revenue management solution, the leading Latin American airline can evaluate booking requests in real time and respond with the optimum price.

With its DPE, Lufthansa Systems has developed an innovative tool that enables network airlines to improve their position when competing directly with low-cost carriers. Network carriers traditionally use a static price concept with strictly defined booking classes, while low-cost carriers work with a simple staggered price model. By deploying the DPE airlines can combine both models. As soon as they arrive, all booking requests are evaluated in real time on the basis of various criteria, including the point of sale, the requested travel route (origin & destination) and the prices of the competitors. Then the system automatically responds to each request using either traditional booking classes or a low-fare model.

Since 2005, TACA has been using an extensive package of IT solutions from Lufthansa Systems to handle its core processes. The Central American airline optimizes its revenue management and pricing (ProfitLine), crew und fleet management (NetLine), flight planning (Lido/Flight) and passenger management with IT from Lufthansa Systems. We operate all systems in our own data center.

Lufthansa Systems and Cargoitalia announced that they have signed five-year contracts to provide the Italian air cargo carrier with integrated solutions from the IT provider's Airline Operations portfolio. This includes the Lido RouteManual navigation charts and Lido FMS data to optimize Cargoitalia's flight operations processes. The airline also opted for Lido Topas and Lido Landing Performance, Lufthansa Systems' solutions for performance data analysis.

All innovative Airline Operations solutions from Lufthansa Systems are based on the Lido navigation database. The Lido RouteManual charts are generated directly from this database and meet the highest standards of precision and quality. They support visual thought with clear color-coding and self-explanatory symbols and thus enable pilots to see all relevant information at a glance. For the Italian cargo airline, the around-the-clock accessibility of Lufthansa Systems' helpdesk was another key factor that supported its decision to implement the solution.

Lufthansa Systems' performance solutions enhance take-off and landing procedures, save maintenance expenses, improve aircraft utilization and payloads, and reduce fuel consumption. The access to data of roughly 1,600 airports in Lufthansa Systems' database was another decisive factor for Cargoitalia's decision.

The optimal take-off data depend on numerous variables, including take-off weight, runway length, Engine Out Standard Instrument Departures (EOSIDs), obstacles around airports, and the weather conditions. Lido Topas takes all relevant factors for the take-off into account in order to determine the optimum take-off thrust, speed, and the runway length required, which results in less fuel burn. The implementation of Lido Topas is the first step to a paperless cockpit as it runs on electronic flight bags (EFB) and replaces Runway Weight Charts. Until the Italian Authority ENAC approves the sole use of the Lido Topas solutions on board, Lufthansa Systems also provides Cargoitalia with Runway Weight Charts. In addition, the airline selected the Lido Landing Performance application which calculates the actual landing distances.

The dispatch process is a fundamental part of any airline’s flight operations. Our state-of-the-art flight planning solution Lido/Flight provides dispatchers with a host of optimization options regarding fuel consumption, costs of each flight or flight time. This leads to fuel savings of up to five percent. But that's not all: with every ton of kerosene saved, CO₂ emissions are cut as well.

The saving potential is available from the first day an airline uses Lido/Flight in its flight operations department. This makes our solution even more attractive to airlines looking for possibilities to reduce costs quickly.

Most benefits are already available with the standard implementation of Lido/Flight. Just think about different wind speeds and altitudes that will affect fuel consumption and flying time. It can also reduce overflight fees by evaluating the charges levied by various ATC units for airspace usage.

• Each calculated flight plan is checked against all incoming NOTAMs, weather messages, etc. This ensures that the operational flight plan is always up to date and reliable for crews.
• Basing each calculation on the individual performance correction factor of the specific aircraft enables airlines to conduct their operation in an efficient and ecological way and reduce costs even further.
• Airlines find the most effective combination of airway segments with our TFR module. It takes all Traffic Flow Restrictions into account and automatically considers partly restricted airways, suggesting by-passes where legally permitted.

Learn more about the possibilities that our flight planning solution Lido/Flight can bring to your airline. All benefits can be available to you within just a couple of months.

Lufthansa Systems offers its customers not only proven applications such as LoadControl or Lido/Flight, but also infrastructure services.

Besides its established hosting models, Lufthansa Systems has added attractive operation models based on IT industry standards such as ASP (Application Service Providing) and SaaS (Software as a Service) to its service offering. By using these models it is possible to customize the operation on any airline business process and to create a significant cost advantage.

By choosing our flexible payment models, airlines are debited only for the amount of transactions, e.g. number of passenger check-ins or quantity of online bookings. In times of low business activities this is a real saving program. As one of the leading IT service suppliers for the airline and aviation industry Lufthansa Systems provides extremely high availability, secure operation of airline applications, and a smooth migration.

With more than 470 participants from about 120 airlines, this year’s Airline Forum at the new Lufthansa Training & Conference Center in Seeheim was bigger than ever before. The motto of the conference was “A jump ahead!”, and its popularity was due above all to the topical issues covered and the speakers who discussed the current economic situation.

The event revolved around innovative products and solutions like the IOCC Platform, several new-generation optimizers, our ProfitLine/Yield Dynamic Price Engine and the Market-Sensitive Forecaster. Displaying these state-of-the-art solutions, Lufthansa Systems encouraged customers to embrace new technologies in order to gain a competitive edge.

The IOCC Platform took a prominent position at the event. Experts explained the significance of this groundbreaking platform and its current development status, and particular attention was paid to project reports on the successful introduction of the first release of the IOCC Platform at one of our customers.

Following its great success last year, there was once again a central marketplace offering extensive insight into the Lufthansa Systems portfolio. Users also had ample opportunity to view product demonstrations or share their experiences with others. A variety of workshops gave our customers the chance to have a hand in shaping tomorrow’s solutions.