Singapore Airlines expands use of its Lufthansa Systems route planner

LUFTHANSA Systems says Singapore Airlines (SIA) will continue to use the flight planning solution Lido/Flight, which uses a variety of factors to calculate the optimal route for an aircraft, after signing a new eight-year agreement.

SIA also expanded use of the Lido/Flight modules, adding aircraft performance assessments and route planning which has been also deployed by the airline's subsidiaries, Singapore Airlines Cargo and SilkAir.

The route planning system cuts fuel costs by up to five per cent, a statement from Lufthansa Systems said.

The system is designed to automatically calculate the best route, taking into consideration all current flight-related information such as weather data or aeronautical restrictions to calculate flight time, fuel consumption and/or the cost of each flight.

SIA uses the Lido/Flight Traffic Flow Restrictions (TFR), InflightMonitor and FreeFlight modules, among others. While Lido/Flight TFR opens up a host of new route options by considering time restricted airways, Lido/Flight InflightMonitor automatically informs the dispatcher about all notifications relevant to flights which have been calculated but not yet completed.

It is described as being the first solution to calculate flight paths using geographical coordinates instead of waypoints. This makes it an efficient planning solution for air spaces without a finely meshed network of airways.

During a demonstration green flight, carried out under the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE) programme from Los Angeles via Tokyo to Singapore that was planned with FreeFlight in 2010, Singapore Airlines was able to cut its flying time by 30 minutes compared to a regular flight and lower its fuel consumption by five tons.