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Another winter is bound to come

Everyone is familiar with the situation: fog and bad visibility, early morning snowfall, black ice - and inevitable flight delays. Flight delays or even cancellations appear on the agenda of an airline. Due to the irregularities caused in their operations, airlines experience a revenue loss each and every year. Wouldn't it be great if the airlines’ Operations Control Center (OCC) were "weatherproof"? To support airlines in being one step ahead of a problem on the day of ops is the objective of Lufthansa Systems’ NetLine/Ops solution. It offers a technical answer to this demand, which is easy to articulate but difficult to realize.

The solution uses information from the ops control, crew tracking and departure control systems and condenses it into a clear, multi-dimensional overview of the problems and risks to be expected over the course of the day. The head of operations can use this so-called problem tree to identify the dependencies between different events and thus determine the entire cause-and-effect chain. In addition to that, the system displays a warning as soon as a delay has an effect on other aircraft rotations. Warnings also appear if slots are missed, night curfews or airport opening times are not observed, checks are approached too late or crew working hour regulations are violated. The head of operations can now eliminate these problems ahead of time thus saving the airline a great deal of money.

In addition, NetLine/Ops gives the head of operations early weather warnings, allowing him to react to them in time before the start of a planned flight. For example, if he is notified that fog is predicted for the next morning at Munich Airport, he can foresee that another landing category will be required for the morning flights. This gives him the opportunity to react in time. In this example, he can ensure that the pilots for the morning flights are actually authorized to fly this landing category. If this is not the case, he will still have enough time to change the crew. In doing so, he would avert the capacity bottleneck and costs involved for the morning flights.


Alternative flight paths ensure smooth flights at all times

Safety is the top priority in the airline business. What makes things especially complex is the fact that no two flights are the same. They can differ in terms of passenger number and total weight, weather conditions or airport restrictions, for instance. This is why dispatchers must calculate flight path data individually for each flight. This data is then optimized with regard to flight time, fuel consumption and costs. Thanks to its outstanding expertise in airline operation processes, Lufthansa Systems can provide solutions which help dispatchers not only calculate the ideal scenario, but also alternative scenarios ensuring that flights continue and safely even if things get technically bumpy.

It is always assumed, of course, that the take-off, landing and flight itself will run according to plan. However, in addition to the ideal flight scenario, emergency flight paths are also calculated and given to pilots for the briefing. There are two different types of emergency flight paths in the airline industry: EOSIDs (Engine Out Standard Instrument Departure Routes) and drift-down scenarios.

EOSIDs are special departure routes which are used if an engine fails during take-off, for example, and the aircraft must continue flying with a reduced rate of climb or low visibility. EOSIDs ensure that a plane can keep flying safely with less thrust or can land without colliding with obstacles.

Drift-down scenarios come into play if a pilot is unable to maintain the cruising altitude during a flight because of a loss of pressure in the aircraft, for instance. The pilot must then be able to bring the plane to an altitude with sufficient oxygen. This situation is not critical if there is enough clearance between the terrain being flown over and the so-called level-off altitude, the altitude which can be maintained with one remaining engine. A critical situation may arise when flying over high mountains, however. Drift-down scenarios are calculated by taking obstacle clearance into account, giving pilots a valid alternative flight path for each point along a route.

As a provider of aeronautical services, Lufthansa Systems is responsible for developing and implementing worldwide drift-down scenarios and EOSIDs in accordance with FAA and JAA regulations for over 1,400 airports.