LONDON, Monday, 31 March 2003: easyJet, the largest and most technically innovative low-cost airline in Europe, today announced that they are joining forces with AMT - Aircraft Management Technologies and Eland Technologies in the BluePath Consortium to engage in a European research and development initiative to revolutionise aircraft turnaround and related airport operations.
Graeme Clark, Strategic Projects Manager at easyJet says the airline is, “fully focussed on scaling up easyJet’s simple, innovative processes and ensuring integration across the airline and with service providers. AMT and Eland Technologies presented us with the opportunity to join the European initiative called BluePath Consortium, which will help us to further improve our airport operations.”
BluePath Consortium has submitted a proposal under the EU’s Sixth Framework Research and Development Programme . This proposal aims to deliver greater operational efficiency in the European air transport system by fundamentally re-examining existing processes and producing recommendations for system-wide improvements. AMT and Eland Technologies bring technical expertise and a wide portfolio of existing solutions in the areas of Aircraft and Airport Operations respectively. easyJet is the Airline Adviser to the consortium and Eurocontrol and Thales ATM will provide know-how in the area of Air Traffic Management. Trinity College Dublin will contribute research and development resources in process analysis and re-engineering. A number of European airports have also agreed to support the initiative.
Mr Bernard Hensey, Chief Executive of AMT, believes that the composition of the consortium provides the perfect balance of skills and knowledge in the areas of aircraft and airport operations including the air traffic management dimension: “This is an extremely powerful team with the right mix of experience, motivation, and technical capability to deliver efficiencies in the European air transport system.”
1To see more about the EU Sixth Framework Programme go to http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/index_en.html
ABOUT AMT
AMT, the award-winning, Dublin based provider of innovative aircraft operations and maintenance management technology, provides the complete solution for electronic data capture and management in the field of flight operations and maintenance. Their Flightman™ solution covers business processes, technical documentation, fuel and vendor management, onboard sales, weight and balance and performance calculations and flight plates. This technology, using XML and portable computing devices, allows pilots, cabin crew and ground engineers to capture and utilise operational information more efficiently, leading to greatly improved cockpit procedures and eliminating the inefficiencies of paper logs. AMT’s technology has been shown to result in cost savings of over US$100,000 per aircraft annually. AMT boasts an impressive customer portfolio of charter, commercial and cargo airlines, including Virgin Express, Atlas Air, DHL and Futura International Airways. For further information please contact: Patricia Fitzpatrick, Marketing Executive, AMT, 1 The Green, Malahide, Co. Dublin. Tel: 00353 1 806 1000 E-mail: info@flightman.com
ABOUT ELAND TECHNOLOGIES
Eland Technologies, also based in Dublin, is a leading supplier of state-of-the-art software solutions to airlines, airports, ground handlers and other travel service providers and has extensive experience in the design, development and deployment of mission-critical, high-volume transaction software for blue chip customers around the world. Eland Technologies’ integration middleware platform, Runway, provides applications with instant access to legacy systems (e.g. reservations, departure control, operations, cargo, frequent flyer etc.) encapsulating their complexity and proprietary nature. Eland Technologies customers include Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand, Star Alliance, United Airlines, Sabre, EDS and SITA. For further information please contact: Brenda Nelson; Tel: 353 1 663-7200; E-mail: bnelson@elandtech.com
ABOUT EASYJET
Since its first flight in November 1995, easyJet – Europe’s largest low cost airline - has grown from a Luton base offering two routes from Luton to Glasgow and Edinburgh, served by two Boeing 737 aircraft, to one that offers 100 routes from 36 European airports, operating 67 aircraft. The phenomenal growth of easyJet was boosted by its merger with of Go-fly in August 2002, making the combined company Europe's Number One low cost airline. To facilitate the airline's ongoing growth strategy it recently confirmed the purchase of 120 Airbus A319 aircraft for delivery over the next five years. For more information contact: Toby Nicol, Head of Corporate Affairs. Tel: +44 1582 525 339; E-mail: toby.nicol@easyjet.com
ABOUT BluePath
For more information please contact: Mr. Brian Heelan, Tel: +353 1 8061000; E-mail: brian.heelan@flightman.com
