NAVBLUE wins Aviation Technology Award in Innovation

Air Transport World (ATW) has honoured NAVBLUE with the Aviation Technology Achievement A ward as part of their 2017 Annual Airline Industry Achievement Awards. The Award is one of the most coveted awards in the aviation industry.

NAVBLUE has been nominated by a prestigious ATW editorial board of judges for its N-Flight Planning Solution. This award is given to a breakthrough system, technology or process that advances safety and efficiency in the global commercial airline industry.

NAVBLUE’S N-Flight Planning solution uniquely allows airlines, with its integration of a flight planning route optimization algorithm and Schneider Electric’s flight hazard forecast model, to operate more safely and efficiently – flight crews get advanced warning of areas to avoid that may contain turbulence, icing or storms – correspondingly offering greater customer and crew comfort along with a cost optimized route of flight.

Karen Walker, ATW Editor-in-Chief, noted that, “It is this type of innovation that “falls behind the scenes” but can make a huge difference in day-to-day operations for the airline, its crews and its customers. Passengers hate turbulence and flying through bad weather; here is a technology that airlines can use to mitigate the discomfort. Crews can make informed decisions in their route planning that can both help avoid “hazards” such as storms and save fuel. This is a technology that is a win for everyone.”

Shawn Mechelke, VP-N Software Services at NAVBLUE, is the author of the detailed nomination for the ATW Award and has also been involved in developing this technology and flight planning automation over the past six years. Mr. Mechelke commented that, “We are very excited to finally bring the vision of integrating NAVBLUE’s N-Flight Planning Solution with the industry’s leading aircraft specific turbulence, icing, and thunderstorm forecast model. Both Dispatchers and Flight Crews can now automatically plan routes of flight using very precise and accurate flight hazard forecasts that did not exist in the past. The days of looking at paper charts and manually adjusting routes of flight are now a practice of the past.”

The ATW Airline Industry Achievement Awards recognize excellence across a broad range of airline operations and are widely considered as the most coveted in the aviation industry. The awards will be presented at the 43nd annual ATW Airline Industry Achievement Awards at a gala dinner on March 28 at the J.W. Marriott Essex House in New York.