Date: 7 October 2009
Location: Fornebu, Norway
Norwegian Air Shuttle today announced a five- year contract with air transport communications specialist SITA to provide ACARS (Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System) services for their new fleet of 58 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the last of which is due to be delivered by 2014.
SITA's AIRCOM service will allow Norwegian to meet the European Union's Single European Sky requirements for all new aircraft supplied after 2011 to be equipped with Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC).
Norwegian will use AIRCOM VHF Datalink and the AIRCOM Service Bureau messaging platform to provide a link between the cockpit and Norwegian's operations and technical centres. This will allow the carrier to record accurate aircraft movements, and react quickly in the event of diversions or unscheduled maintenance requirements. The aircraft will now also be able to receive up-to-date weather and Digital Automatic Terminal Information Services (d-ATIS) allowing the pilots to anticipate and plan for changing conditions.
AIRCOM will also provide automatic and accurate reporting of timings from landing through to take-off and this management information will be used by Norwegian to ensure their ground handling agents are adhering to agreed performance levels.
Tomas Hesthammer, Director Flight Operations, Norwegian Air Shuttle, said: "SITA's VHF coverage globally along with the superior message processing applications makes it by far the best option available to us. This and a highly skilled and responsive AIRCOM team convinced us that SITA is the correct long-term partner for Norwegian Air Shuttle."
Rob Watkins, SITA Regional Vice President for Northern Europe, said: "Norwegian was faced with the challenge of expanding their fleet at a time when regulations are changing. The last of their planes will be delivered after the 2011 deadline and the airline needed a guarantee that their AIRCOM services would meet both current and future regulations. SITA's services do just that and provide a smooth and efficient future-proofing option."
From early next year Norwegian plan to extend the use of AIRCOM to enable in-flight engine monitoring. This provides automated notification of abnormal conditions or incidents exceeding normal operational parameters and will allow ground staff to pro-actively schedule investigative work or maintenance activity while minimising any impact on aircraft utilisation.
SITA operates the most extensive worldwide network of ACARS VHF ground stations with over 1,250 located in more than 160 countries relaying in excess of one million messages per day.
