Daily Times

KARACHI: The ailing national carrier Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) has decided to hire third party vendor to manage its fuel efficiency program by software solution.

Keeping in view the importance of fuel savings for PIA, the management has decided to review the fuel efficiency methods and implement initiatives to control the cost of fuel for the airline with the integration of modern software solutions.

For this purpose, PIA seeks to hire the services of a consultant to provide/recommend the appropriate software solution and services to manage the fuel efficiency program.

The PIA said that fuel efficiency software program and its implementation will include all aircrafts of PIA fleet and not limited to any single region of destinations.

The fuel efficiency consultant shall be responsible for performing the tasks which includes review and recommend changes in corporate fuel process of the PIA, the consultant will lead an ongoing process to identify initiatives, prioritize, develop and review of all operational areas. It will establish preliminary savings targets and engage executive management support to build a high level case to amend policies and procedures that will enhance the savings and curtail the cost of fuel. Devising and implementation of fuel efficiency program and offer and implement software solution for fuel efficiency program, define Job Description of staff to be involved in fuel efficiency program and perform benefit/effort analysis.

The software will provide flight planning solutions to measure the impact on fuel consumption of various operational areas and effectively report on them to devise strategies for controlling it. “It should be capable of effectively and accurately collect any relevant data from the airline’s operational areas and evaluate it for reporting to the relevant management. Any reports generated or recommendations made should be easily accessible and interpreted by the relevant management officials”.

According to the PIA, the software will be able to optimize the cost by incorporating the best industry practices. It will help establish potential preliminary savings targets and ensure data quality. The software will be able to optimize En-route overflying charges by calculating lowest amount.

PIA wants software to determine the optimal solution on a flight-by-flight basis based such as fuel conservation, time, and revenue. Integrating with industry standardized meteorological and navigational data, aircraft situational display and airspace flow control.

“It would be expected that this software may also account for non-flight operations e.g. engineering action, APU utilization and Commercial Activities (e.g. Luggage, Catering etc.). Software that caters for the 4-D cost optimization functionality, route, altitude, speed and time simultaneously analyzed to create an optimal flight path that accounts for fuel costs, CO2 emissions and delays”, PIA added.

The Software must also offer reliable after sale support and services. Using cost index-based flight planning solutions used in conjunction with the onboard flight management computer to optimally calculate flying speed based on winds and aircraft weight.