Bombardier's Challenger 3500 Business Jet Reduces Carbon Emissions with SITA Solutions

2021: Business Jet with Carbon Solutions

September 20, 2021 SITA announced that the Bombardier Challenger 3500 business jet will work on software complexes eWAS Pilot and OptiFlight combined by the Canadian space the group into a single "-eco application." The eWAS Pilot and OptiFlight solutions improve aircraft efficiency and act as built-in business jet functions, helping pilots reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

The Challenger 3500 business jet, introduced in Montreal, is a super mid-size aircraft with an Environmental Product Declaration. Bombardier focused on improving the environmental performance of the Challenger 3500 business jet, reflecting its commitment to environmental protection and customer priorities.

Forecasting adverse weather conditions, saving aviation fuel and reducing CO2 emissions

The eco-application helps pilots optimize flight profiles to reduce aviation fuel costs, reduce carbon emissions and increase awareness of possible hydrometeorological phenomena for safer flight. The eWAS Pilot system offers 4D weather forecasts and real-time updating of geographic data from various sources. This is necessary so that the crew can receive up-to-date information about dangerous hydrometeorological phenomena: thunderstorms, turbulence, powerful gusts of wind, icing and even volcanic ash. Based on this information, pilots can envisage adverse situations and create safer and more efficient flight profiles with flexible capabilities.

The software package OptiFlight helps to reduce the cost of aviation fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions at all stages of the flight: during climbing, cruising and landing. As of September 2021, priority is given to the climbing phase (the most fuel-intensive stage) and cruising.

The software solution OptiFlight integrated into the eWAS Pilot system, which allows pilots to achieve significant fuel savings and reduce carbon emissions during the cruising phase of the flight. In particular, the program shows how the change in speed affects fuel consumption and arrival time at the destination so that pilots can land the aircraft at a minimum fuel consumption. The solution also offers short paths based on flight data and indicates possible fuel and time savings, taking into account wind speed and direction.

For the climbing phase, a machine learning model along with 4D weather data is used to predict an individualized change in speed under certain takeoff conditions. The program analyzes the fuel consumption process for tens of thousands of possible flight scenarios, and then in advance shows the pilots the optimal climb option.

Airline data demonstrate: fuel savings of 5-6% at the climbing stage are advisable on any flight without compromising the safety or comfort of passengers. On an annual basis, this would reduce harmful emissions by several thousand tons, and production costs by several million dollars, depending on the size of the fleet of aircraft. The company estimates that 5.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced if airlines around the world introduce a OptiFlight software solution.

"The Challenger 3500 was designed to meet the expectations of our customers from the business jets of this segment: the quality and reliability of the Challenger family of aircraft, cabin and environmentally friendly design," noted Elza Brunelle-Yeung, Senior Director After-sale , Service goods and Services, Bombardier.

According to SITA, 67,000 pilots of commercial airlines and cargo airlines use eWAS Pilot. The main stages of creating the system were locally concentrated in Barcelona, and some components of the software solution were developed in Montreal. In this Canadian city, SITA has created a Center of Excellence focused on creating intelligent solutions for the aviation industry using artificial intelligence.

"SITA aims to help customers reduce operating costs while reducing the environmental impact of the aviation industry. With the help of eWAS Pilot and OptiFlight we can achieve both goals and make flights safer and more comfortable. The release of business jets using these solutions underlines the importance of using technology to improve the environmental friendliness of flights and reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, " said Sebastien Fabre, head of SITA for Aircraft