GE Aviation Provides Flight Management Upgrade for Southwest Airlines' B737.GRAND RAPIDS Grand Rapids, city (1990 pop. 189,126), seat of Kent co., SW central Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1850. The second largest city in the state, it is a distribution, wholesale, and industrial center for an area that yields fruit, dairy products, farm produce, , Mich. -- GE Aviation has been awarded a contract from Southwest Airlines This article is about the American airline. For the former Japanese airline, see Japan Transocean Air. For the British airline, see Air Southwest. Southwest Airlines Co. to provide the flight management system upgrade for 200 Boeing 737 Classic aircraft. Deliveries will take place in 2008 and 2009. The system will be designed and manufactured at the GE facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan “Grand Rapids” redirects here. For other uses, see Grand Rapids (disambiguation). Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 197,800. . John Ferrie, President of Systems for GE Aviation stated, "Our advancements in flight management technology for commercial and military aircraft are essential for the world's ever evolving airspace. Our system is a key part of our customer's plans to conduct Required Navigation Performance Required Navigation Performance (RNP) is defined by ICAO as "a statement of the navigation performance necessary for operation within a defined airspace". Part of a broader concept called "Performance-based Navigation," RNP is a method of implementing routes and flight paths that (RNP RNP abbr. ribonucleoprotein RNP see ribonucleoprotein. ) operations, and allows them to realize significant cost savings with lowered fuel consumption while simultaneously benefiting the environment with reduced emissions." GE's flight management system controls the aircraft track to an accuracy of 10 meters and the time of arrival to within 10 seconds to any point in the flight plan. Benefits include the ability to fly shorter flight paths and idle-thrust descents which reduces fuel consumption, thereby lowering emissions and community noise levels. Software and hardware updates provide the latest technology to continue to meet the needs of the world's evolving airspace, offering safe and efficient improvements to aircraft operations. "Southwest is pleased to select GE to provide this key capability to our Classic aircraft, which will enable our entire Boeing 737 fleet to operate more efficiently in today's air traffic environment," stated Mike Van de Ven, Executive Vice President and Chief of Operations. Enhanced GE flight management computer system capabilities enable Southwest Airlines to take full advantage of state-of-the-art navigation procedures being designed with the support of Naverus for greater safety, efficiency and reduced community noise. The flight management computer is provided through the Systems division of GE Aviation, formerly Smiths Aerospace. GE Aviation, an operating unit operating unit A type of operating company that engages in transactions with outsiders and that is owned by another business. For example, in 1995 the stockholders of Capital Cities/ABC approved a $19 billion merger with the Walt Disney Company, whereupon of General Electric Company (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :GE), is a world-leading provider of commercial and military jet engines and components as well as integrated digital, electric power, and mechanical systems for aircraft. GE Aviation also has a global service network to support these offerings. For more information, visit us at www.ge.com/aviation. |
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