Case Study: Lufthansa CityLine | Aircraft IT Operations ... - Pace

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8 | CASE STUDY: LUFTHANSA CITYLINE | AIRCRAFT IT OPERATIONS | SUMMER 2011 How to implement fuel savings linked to EFB With so many factors to consider, technology makes fuel efficiency decisions so much better, writes Capt. Joachim Scheiderer, Manager Flight Operations Engineering, Lufthansa CityLine FUEL EXPEnSES HAvE always represented a large proportion of total expenditure for an airline. In the past year, the price trend of crude oil and fuel prices associated with it demonstrated the need for airlines worldwide to act sustainably. And by ‘acting’, we understand, in this context, we mean finding fuel saving measures. Even though the low hanging fruits have already been harvested, there remains a possible measure with high savings potential that could be implemented in the regional airlines sector. That measure is the implementation of a new flight procedure on the basis of variable airspeeds which will entail turning away from the previous practice of a fixed airspeed, regardless of external parameters. Therefore it is necessary to be able to calculate and identify a speed that generates the lowest costs within the given time slot (block flying time) with due regard to a scheduled time of arrival. To achieve this, a company-specific cost index (CI) can be applied. This so called CI represents the ratio between event-related and flight time-dependent costs, and the fuel price. While the CI functionality is part of the standard equipment of every modern flight management system on Airbus and Boeing aircraft, it has not yet been established in the cockpits of regional aircraft. The question as to why has to be answered by the manufacturers of those aircraft in light of a changing sector. Regional air traffic is no longer a 20 minutes flight with a turboprop. All over the world, increasing numbers of regional jets are pushing forward into the medium haul range with aircraft of up to, and sometimes even more than, 100 passenger seats. The word ‘regional’ does not so much refer to the geographic operation radius, but rather to the size of the aircraft fuselage. The savings potentials, available with a change from fixed speeds to variable cost index based speeds are enormous. Fuel experts at IATA describe the savings potential in their ‘IATA Fuel Action Plan, Guidance material and best practices for fuel and environmental management’ as follows: “CI optimization of planned speeds will yield savings from 2 to 3 per cent and in some cases, as much as 10% when a flight is restricted to a low altitude or in unusually strong winds.” The following calculation outlines the size of the savings potential: Fuel consumption of the Canadair and Embraer fleet of Lufthansa CityLine amounted to 195,000 tons of kerosene in 2010. A supposed fuel saving of 3% leads to reduction in use of more than 5,800 tons of Kerosene. Furthermore a supposed fuel price of euro/ton 744 would lead to a savings potential of more than 4.3 million euro and reduced emission of 18,400 tons of CO2. PACELAB CI OPS In order to use the cost index effectively for the fleet of Lufthansa CityLine, a cost index operations optimization software was developed by PACE, a Berlin based company for aerospace engineering and information technology. Supporting the strategic flight planning process and on-board tactical economic decisions, Pacelab CI OPS significantly reduces fuel consumption and the emission of CO2 and other pollutants. Compared to constant Mach speeds, CI operations reduce fuel burn and harmful emissions by at least 2%, and even up
to 10% in adverse conditions. Until now the flight planning system used fixed published speed schedules and was not capable of calculating a CI based flight plan due to the missing respective Time/Fuel/Distance data. Pacelab CI OPS enhances existing flight planning systems with supplementary CI performance data for the climb, cruise and descent flight phases. As well as calculating the optimum flight plan, it also allows on board tactical economic decisions in response to in-flight changes such as delay or early arrival, ATC cleared unplanned flight level or ATC requested speed change. Flight crews are able to recalculate and update planned trajectories whenever there are deviations from the Operational Flight Plan (OFP). APPLICATIOn OF CI OPERATIOnS Cost index operation is based on a two-stage optimization approach: strategic planning, made in advance of the flight and tactical planning, for inflight corrections to the flight plan. Strategic Planning Provision of CI performance data for climb, cruise and descent for improved OFPs Cost Index Performance Data for Your Flight Planning System Tactical Planning Support of in-flight economic decisions on board following OFP deviations of any kind Electronic Flight Bag Paper Booklet Strategic planning in the context of cost index operations means the calculation and creation of the OFP. This forms the basis for the planned flight and further tactical optimizations. Tactical planning follows strategic planning. It allows for continuous checking and optimization during flight. The crew is then in a position of being able to react to any unpredicted changes during the flight. The tool for tactical planning is the Pacelab CI OPS software. The following example indicates the necessity of tactical planning. The crew receives and OFP from A to B which contains a taxi-out time of 10 minutes and a taxi-in time of six minutes with a block time of 100 minutes. According to the previously optimized OFP, the flight time is 84 minutes. Due to a high traffic density in A the 10 minute taxi time becomes 18 minutes before lineup. The time window for the flight is therefore reduced by eight minutes – only 76 minutes are available. How can the trajectories be changed in order to achieve an optimum ratio between flight time and fuel burn, i.e. cost? The main options are changing the climb speed, the (optimum) flight level or the cruise speed THE ECOnOmIC FLIgHT PROFILE Discounting external influences such as wind, it is generally possible to say that flights at high altitudes use less fuel than those at low altitudes. Normally, only the cruise segment is optimized. However, as part of a total optimization, this is not enough. In short-range flights, the horizontal segment is often only a small part of the overall flight profile. The figure above shows that a high indicated airspeed in the climb segment (i.e. higher cost index) leads to a gentler climb angle. The cruise altitude is SUMMER 2011 | AIRCRAFT IT OPERATIONS | CASE STUDY: LUFTHANSA CITYLINE | 9 CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTwARE DETAILS AnD FOR A DEmO Fuel Efficiency Reduce your fuel costs Analyze fuel consumption More than 100 innovative analyses give you the power to thoroughly understand your fuel consumption. Discover savings Next step is to identify potential savings. The Aviaso software not only shows in what areas to save but also quantifies how much you can save. Monitor progress Once the targets are set, concrete improvement initiatives can be started. Aviaso monitors the progress “day by day” and “flight by flight”. Communicate results Communication to your stakeholders is crucial. Aviaso provides sophisticated dashboards which can be configured according to your target group. Aviaso connecting aviation and software www.aviaso.com Aviaso Inc. · Huobstrasse 10 · CH-8808 Pfaeffikon · Switzerland Phone: +41 55 422 0000 · www.aviaso.com · info@aviaso.com
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