Service Available At No Extra Cost
ARINC
Direct announced Thursday it will add computerized ETOPS route
planning to its portfolio of flight support services for business
aircraft. The new service will be available by midyear at no extra
cost.
ETOPS (Extended Operations) conformance will help ARINC's
European customers meet their current JAROPS requirements, as well
as enable US operators to meet new FAA requirements by February
2008.
"Our US and European customers have asked for an ETOPS
capability, and we are pleased to deliver it," stated Steve
Corfman, ARINC Direct Manager of Flight Planning. "This new
automated service will greatly simplify ETOPS planning and
compliance for our customers."
ETOPS rules ensure that multi-engine aircraft traveling on
routes over water-such as the busy North Atlantic routes-will
remain within range of alternate destination airports for safety in
case of the loss of an engine. US commercial carriers have met
ETOPS requirements for years, and the FAA has now extended the
rules to apply to corporate jets operating under Part 135 as
well.
Manually preparing an ETOPS-conforming flight plan can involve
long calculations of fuel ranges, plus trial-and-error plotting of
flying times on a route map. The ARINC Direct automated ETOPS
service will eliminate this tedious work.
"ARINC Direct will provide operators with routes marked in
conformance with ETOPS requirements," continued Corfman. "This
enhancement will be extremely helpful to all our customers who fly
long range and remote area missions."
ARINC's new ETOPS service is expected to appeal to charter and
air taxi operators as well as private business jet operators. The
addition of automated ETOPS planning puts ARINC Direct on an equal
footing with long-established providers serving Part 121 operators
and commercial aviation.
"We launched ARINC Direct with the intention of providing the
best value services in the business aviation market," said Bob
Richard, Senior Director, ARINC Direct. "We have achieved this by
listening to our customers and responding to their needs. It is one
more reason ARINC Direct is regarded as an essential partner of
business aviation."
ARINC Direct, the business aviation arm of ARINC Incorporated,
has charted strong growth in Europe since its official launch of
service at EBACE 2006. The company has added many of Europe's
private and VIP Charter operators to its established North American
customer base, and now provides flight support services to more
than 1500 aircraft.