Azul Linhas Aéreas, which operates 900 flights daily from bases all over the country and abroad, has always been concerned with improving its landings and takeoffs. And the company's initiatives to achieve this involve more than just ensuring punctuality and safety.
ed by the expertise of its Network teams and the Operations Control Center (CCO) and also with the approval of the Department of Airspace Control (DECEA), the company seeks to shorten the ascent and descent distances of its most frequent routes, to make each flight even faster, more efficient and more economical. With this, last year alone, Azul managed to save 15,6 million liters of fuel – the equivalent of two years of the Rio-São Paulo air shuttle, for example.
From now on, thanks to a technology developed by a specialized partner of the company, and unprecedented in national Aviation, these route shortenings can also be made along the flight path, and in a more dynamic way, with the aircraft in the air, without any risk to the safety of Customers and Crew.
This is a software application adapted to a tablet that works like those traffic assessment apps on streets and highways. Based on obstacles and congestion points reported along the way, it evaluates and redefines the best route for the driver. In the case of flights, the history of aircraft flying the same route at other times will serve as a guide for the pilots to define a new route – within the possibilities and permissions of DECEA – in order to shorten the arrival time at the destination and, therefore, reduce fuel consumption.
According to Daniel Tkacz, Azul’s Vice President of Operations, this new feature, which is already in operation, will provide further to operations, as it will allow for real-time adjustments to flight planning and should therefore generate savings of almost R$29 million for the company this year. In addition, the executive says that there is another tool under study that will work in a similar way to this shortening tool, but to avoid turbulence based on other aircraft that have ed through the region. “This new feature will allow the next flight to identify, even before taking off, the best route to avoid the air current and continue its journey without any problems. This is good for the company and even better for the comfort of our customers,” he says.
