Large computer monitors show Lufthansa Systems' Lido Flight 4D for Lufthansa.

Press Release: Lufthansa Systems, Lufthansa celebrate ATM milestone

Rotation

Press Release hub banner blue with title in red white and blueLufthansa Systems celebrates a significant milestone in the Air Traffic Management (ATM) domain, together with the Lido Flight 4D customer, Lufthansa. Lufthansa is the first airline in the world to file an eFPL (extended Flight Plan) for an operational flight with Air Traffic Control (ATC). This makes Lufthansa Systems the first flight planning service provider, and Lido Flight 4D the first solution that supports this new format in operation.

Flight LH2070/DLH5RM – MUC to HAM, departing on Dec 15 at 15:10 local / 14:10 UTC has been filed with EUROCONTROL Network Manager.

For more than a decade the existing ICAO 2012 flight plan format has its limitations and constraints, and that a new flight plan format will be required to introduce future ATM concepts like TBO (Trajectory Based Operations). Sharing a flight trajectory in a collaborative environment is a prerequisite, and a key enabler to optimize flights during every phase of flight. This should result in significant benefits to all airlines in the long-term, such as bringing the planned trajectory closer to reality, thus creating more efficiency in the airspace, resulting in more sustainable flight execution and fewer regulations and delays by ATC.

The foundation for this, according to ICAO, is known as Flight & Flow Information for a Collaborative Environment (FF-ICE); an extended flight plan format that can be exchanged in the context of System Wide Information Management (SWIM) based on the Flight Information Exchange Format (FIXM) as a new standard.

Rotation

Lufthansa Systems has been developing this new functionality for Lido Flight 4D IFS for quite some time, as part of a SESAR Deployment Manager initiative. This has transpired in close collaboration with Air Navigation Service Providers like DFS Aviation Services, the EUROCONTROL Network Manager, Air France and Lufthansa. There is a lot more hard work ahead to complete the vision towards a collaborative and dynamic ATM environment, but today the first step was taken, and a very promising one at that. 

“Lufthansa is very happy to be the first airline using Lido Flight 4D for eFPL filing. We see this as a great start in getting everyone onboard for further improvements in the ATM world. If the EUROCONTROL Network Manager and all Air Traffic Control units have a higher degree of transparency of the planned flight trajectory, we expect major benefits in airspace usage and flight efficiency”, said Marcus Schnabel, Senior Vice President Flight-/Ground Operation & Security Lufthansa Group.

About Lufthansa Systems

Lufthansa Systems GmbH & Co. KG is a leading airline IT provider determined to shape the future of digital aviation. It draws its unique strengths from its ability to combine profound industry know-how with forward-looking technological expertise and has lived by its slogan “We’re into IT” for more than 25 years. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, the company offers its more than 350 customers an extensive range of successful IT products and services for the aviation industry, many of which are market leaders. Lufthansa Systems’ pioneering portfolio covers all of an airline’s business processes – in the flight deck, in the cabin and on the ground. As a tech company and airline IT provider, Lufthansa Systems is committed to identifying its own environmental footprint and improving that of its airline customers across the globe. Headquartered in Raunheim near Frankfurt/Main, Germany, Lufthansa Systems employs around 2,400 people at its locations in 16 countries.

Featured image credited to Lufthansa Systems