ARINC Direct SM now supporting 2,000 business aircraft geared up to support the next generation bizjets | Press Release

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Press Release

Issued by Collins Aerospace ARINCDirect.

October 6, 2008

ARINC Direct SM now supporting 2,000 business aircraft geared up to support the next generation bizjets

ARINC DirectSM is at NBAA in Orlando (6-8 October, 2008) with a bolstered worldwide customer base covering more than 2,000 business aviation aircraft. Testimony to the growth of business aviation activity in Europe and the Middle East, its UK-based EMEA division is now supporting 170 business aircraft, 100 more compared with September 2007 and that number continues to grow steadily. Furthermore, highlighted James Hardie, EMEA Business Manager, ARINC Direct, the organization has all the infrastructure and systems in place to support the new business jets coming on to the market within the next few years.

ARINC DirectSM is unique in being the only service provider that is inter-operable with every avionics type available on business jets. It offers a one stop shop for integrated solutions for business aviation flight planning and communications – integrating cockpit, cabin and ground operations via an easily accessible web based interface. "Many decades of experience and technical expertise has made ARINC Direct one of the leading growth areas in the organization and owners, the Carlyle Group, are keen to see the continued growth of this business as ARINC prepares to mark its 80th birthday next year," Hardie noted.

ARINC DirectSM is prominent in satcom cabin services, flight planning (including wireless mobile flight planning using BlackberryTM (or other personal handheld devices) and cockpit data link and at NBAA this year it will be highlighting the addition of a weight and balance function to its constantly evolving online flight planning solutions . This additional tool has been developed in cooperation with service partner Aircraft Performance Group who already provides a popular integrated Runway Analysis feature for ARINC Direct customers.

At NBAA it will also be talking with customers about ARINC''s newly launched onboard internet (Oi) via personal laptops, a development initially developed for commercial airlines that was featured at the WAEA in Long Beach, California (8-11 September).

The emerging Very Light Jet (VLJ) market is one which ARINC is following very closely. "We believe we are very well placed to support OEMs and operators," said James Hardie. "VLJ aircraft are attracting interest from owner/operator pilots who will benefit greatly from the accessible and comprehensive planning support functions which we offer. Likewise, charter operators and air taxi operations can benefit from our integrated solutions within their own flight department, whatever the size of aircraft they are operating. Our communications solutions can help them operate efficiently the increasingly busy and complicated airspace systems to optimize use of their aircraft."

For example, ARINC Direct SM has been helping to maximise flight operations of Spanish and European operators flying in Spain working in close collaboration with Iberia. The national carrier's flight plans are shared with ARINC business aviation users via datalink. ARINC's modular approach allows it to offer its own flight planning solution or delivery via its datalink connections of third party flight plans in an approved format, enabling three way messaging. Flight planning data is uploaded automatically from Iberia to ARINC which stores it in a server. Bizjet users are notified of a flight plan and allocated a unique number available for uplink. As soon as the aircraft connects to the network it gets a message uplinking its flight plan, as well as all other flight critical information such as DATIS, Weather, and NOTAMs. Flight departments benefitting include, Gestair, Executive Airlines and TAG Espana.