Page 47 - World Airnews Magazine January 2021 Edition

AVIONICS NEWS

FUTURE BUSINESS

JET AVIONICS

By Kelsey Reichmann

HOW EBOLA MEANT AFRICA

WORLD AIRLINES WAS

READY FOR COVID-19

By Sumit Singh

with a large or ultra-long range aircraft.” 300 aircraft, the Challenger 350 aircraft, COVID probably deserves to go out of busi- PPE and sanitizer to all of its stations within

In terms of advanced avionics devel- Gulfstream G280, and the Embraer Legacy ness anyway due to sheer negligence.” 48 hours of initiation.

oneywell Aerospace President opments, Honeywell will be working on 450/500 aircraft. And there are different he global health crisis has rocked OTHER FACTORS

Hand CEO Mike Madsen discussed open software architecture flexibility and options there I think you'll see those kinds Tthe aviati on industry across the ACROSS THE COMPANY
of things, all-inclusive maintenance plans,"

interconnectivity, Madsen said. This would
some of the new avionics and engine tech- be something similar to what the military is Madsen said. continents this year. As a result, airlines Mendis also highlighted recent aspects that There were also public awareness

nologies the company is developing during doing with the Future Airborne Capability In 2021 Honeywell will also introduce have been seeking ways to adapt to the helped AWA prepare for the pandemic. He campaigns along with internal advances. For
said that the airline became aware of what
a virtual press event as part of the Virtual Environment (FACE). a new lightweight micro-power unit challenging conditions that have arisen. subsequently became COVID-19 in late instance, the airline launched a comprehen-

sive communications plan called “Fly Safe,
NBAA Business Aviation Conference and “The way we're thinking about this is to mechanical system for smaller business However, some carriers were able to re- 2019 due to intelligence received from its Fly Confident!” This project includes an

Exhibition held last year. think about core features that are tied to aircraft that do not come equipped with spond more swiftly than others, thanks to shareholder, HNA Group. Therefore, the ongoing social media campaign, along with

Honeywell Aerospace is focusing on sup- our fundamental aircraft performance and an auxiliary power unit (APU), and they will their previous experience. company had already begun to institute an information tab on the top of the carrier’s

porting new and next generation business safety features, those things being sort of also be releasing updates to their RDR 7000 Former Africa World Airlines (AWA) COO pre-screening programmes by January 2020. website to provide the latest updates.

aircraft by innovating with propulsion and hard-coded but functionality, that's tailor- weather radar system. The avionics maker Sean Mendis spoke about how the carrier Features included identifying interline Notably, the airline ensured that its

avionics systems, Mike Madsen, the presi- able wrapped around that,” Madsen said. will also be developing new compact fly was able to prepare for the pandemic due to passengers traveling from early coronavirus management team was also visible on the

dent and CEO of Honeywell Aerospace, said. “We want to make that available to the by wire systems not only for business and previous Ebola outbreaks in Western Africa. hotspots such as China and Italy and devel- front lines to set an example, as well as to
Madsen discussed the current climate of operators and to the airframers. It gives general aviation, Urban Air Mobility (UAM), oping a multi-level containment plan that monitor the protocols implemented. Men-

business aviation and a long-range forecast them a chance to make the aircraft a bit and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). LEARNING FROM THE PAST was subsequently rolled out as the situation dis said that he personally visited every one

for the industry as well as Honeywell’s plans more be-spoke to that brand, or even to The impact of COVID-19 is likely to still Mendis emphasizes that the Accra-based developed. The company was also identify- of the company’s stations multiple times

to address both topics during the webinar. the operator that owns the aircraft. We have consequences on the business avi- carrier took note of previous experiences in ing potential suppliers for PPE requirements during the pre-pandemic and pandemic

Madsen said Honeywell will continue to think that's going to be absolutely required ation industry through 2022, however, in the middle of the 2010s. Altogether, in case and increasing onboard provision of prod- period. This approach helped to get feed-

upgrade the HTF engine family and create in going forward.” five years Madsen said he sees the industry there was a similar situation, local aviation ucts such as sanitizers, gloves, and masks. back from the frontline staff and ensure

an entirely new engine centre line for larger Another area where Honeywell sees in- growing again. The five-year purchase plans bodies launched programs to be ready for Local health authorities also instituted everything was going according to plan.

and super midsize aircraft. terest is in connected offerings like satellite Honeywell is tracking for aircraft have been next time. thermal screening for all international arriv- The global impact of the virus is far from

“We're working on product improvement connectivity for cockpit and maintenance largely unchanged, he said. “AWA’s preparation for a pandemic dated als, along with contact tracing forms by over. However, following the temporary

upgrades and technology assertions for the applications. He said the connected main- “We're expecting some strong growth, back to well before COVID-19. Lessons the end of January. By February, AWA had suspension of operations in April, AWA re-

HTF 7000 series engines," Madsen said. tenance plans would be offered in con- really growth in every segment, but the were learned from the West African Ebola instituted escalated precautions such as sumed domestic passenger services from

“We are also working on a new centreline junction with maintenance service plans strongest segments for growth over the outbreak in 2014-15 and indeed, Ghana mandatory hand sanitizer usage for passen- the beginning of May after the expiry of

engine that I will just say will be larger than already offered. next 10 years will we expect to see in the Airports Company Limited conducted a gers in areas such as boarding. inter-city movement restrictions. More-

the HTF engine and more to come on that. Among the connected aircraft applica- super midsize and large cabin aircraft, full-scale pandemic response simulation Then by March, the airline had a system- over, the airline instituted phased resump-

You know when you're in the engine busi- tions under development are methods for Madsen said. exercise in December 2018 as part of the wide mask usage mandate for all cus- tions of international flights from Septem-

ness, you never get out of the game. You're automatically downloading engine data, “I think it's an evolving situation, the routine preparedness, for which AWA con- tomer-facing staff. Therefore, by the time ber. Nonetheless, during the downtime, it

constantly investing in these products. Wi-Fi auto-billing and continuous engine buyers of super midsize and large cabin tributed an aircraft and crew,” Mendis said. Ghana recorded its first case that month, continued to operate repatriation flights.

They have a long life, but they do need to health diagnostics, according to Madsen. aircraft continue to rate operating costs, “The risk of a pandemic, whether COVID the carrier was already in a position where Altogether, the airline would be confident

be refreshed occasionally and we do see “Honeywell has introduced in a cell direct operating cost, and cabin size, either or something else, was a constant reality it knew what steps had to be taken, and it in handling the global situation heading

this general migration toward larger air- maintenance service plan for each for its first and second or vice versa.” Q not just for AWA but for all operators in was just a case of implementation. into 2021. Q

craft and the need and desire to be able to HTF family of engines that now includes the region. I have said multiple times that Subsequently, the firm successfully rolled

do with a mid-size airplane or a super mid- the new cell system and the components. Article courtesy: https://www. any African airline who did not have some out its “Level 2” containment plan, which Article courtesy: https://simpleflying.com/

sized airplane what today can only be done This is for the Lombardi A Challenger aviationtoday.com/2020/12/02/ sort of pandemic preparedness plan before included shipping supplies of items such as africa-world-airlines-ebola-covid-19/

World Airnews | January 2021 World Airnews | January 2021
— 44 — — 45 —