Navtech software for SATA Air Acores

Navtech has signed an agreement with SATA Air Açores to provide flight planning and aircraft performance software for the carrier’s fleet of Bombardier Q200 and Bombardier Q400 aircraft.

SATA, whose Azores home is near Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean, is an island-hopping airline with destinations that include Corvo Island, Flores Island, Graciosa Island, Faial Island, Pico Island, Santa Maria Island, São Jorge Island, Terceira and São Miguel Island in the Açores. More recently, SATA Air Açores has started to fly to neighbouring archipelagos Madeira (to Portugal) and the Canary Islands (to Spain).

SATA recently announced that in addition to its traditional flights within the Azores, this coming summer 2010 SATA Air Açores will fly between the Azores and Madeira, between Madeira and Canary Islands and between Madeira and Algarve, the southern part of Mainland Portugal. 

“Navtech has built a reputation for working with its customers to create the best solutions for their unique situations,” remarked Mike Hulley, Navtech CEO. “SATA’s destinations certainly pose challenges with their short distances and tight runways, but we have tools that will enable them to deal with these conditions in a way that maximises safety and payload.”

SATA operates scheduled passenger, cargo and mail services around the Azores. Pilots typically land on runways as short as 800 metres, making adherence to flight plans especially important. Navtech Flight Plan (NFP) includes an updated browser-based user interface that will allow SATA users to easily operate dynamic route construction functions and optimization capabilities.

Optimisation of SATA’s trips will be further enhanced with Navtech Aircraft Performance software.  The system includes take-off weight calculations to maximise payload and enable optimal operation of an aircraft to meet company policies and aircraft specifications, particularly important for the tight runways at SATA’s destinations. Navtech is supplying customised electronic take-off and landing calculations, which feed additional data to pilots and airport crew, a modern feature not usually available for these aircraft types.

According to António Gomes de Menezes, CEO of SATA Air Açores, “the cutting-edge solutions brought by Navtech show our commitment towards an operation which is not only safe and reliable but also optimised in terms payload.”