Skybus Airlines, an
upcoming low-fare airline based in Columbus, OH, has selected
Wingspeed Corporation's XLLink Flight Information Architecture
(XFIA) to manage automated paperless operations, voice and
messaging on its fleet of Airbus A319 aircraft.
Wingspeed's XFIA combines hardware and software in an integrated
airborne network platform that enables each aircraft to stay
connected to the airline's ground network through a range of
sub-networks such as VHF, the Iridium Satellite Network, Wi-Fi and
cellular. XFIA manages these sub-networks automatically to
establish the most cost-effective means of data transmission.
"Wingspeed is an essential part of the Skybus team," said Skybus
President Ken Gile. "Their XFIA system is cutting-edge technology
that will keep each of our aircraft connected continuously to our
operations center. Eliminating the need for traditional paper
processes used by most airlines, this will enable Skybus to
reliably maintain short gate times and high asset utilization. In
addition, electronic distribution of every Skybus document via XFIA
will allow intrinsically lower costs."
Dave Borkowski, Wingspeed's Vice President of Sales, noted
"Skybus is a forward-thinking airline that understood from the
beginning that high asset utilization was necessary to sustain
their low costs. Our XFIA airborne network platform is perfectly
suited for their needs, and will literally make every one of their
aircraft a node on the Skybus network."
At Skybus, Wingspeed's XFIA platform will communicate with
Rockwell Collins' eFlight ground messaging software through
Wingspeed's XLLink global communications network. The XLLink
network will provide full message assurance, data encryption and
compression. In addition to the XLLink network, Wingspeed will
provide Skybus with host processing facilities, integration
services and help in building out its information technology
infrastructure. Skybus is scheduled to launch in early 2007.
Wingspeed partner
Aircraft Management Technologies (AMT) and its Flightman family of
software enable the synchronization of data between the XFIA
airborne server and the airline's various ground systems, providing
XFIA with a common workflow-oriented user interface.
Wingspeed Corporation, headquartered in Concord, MA, is
dedicated to providing automated, paperless operations and
end-to-end communications solutions for commercial and corporate
aircraft. Additional information on the XLLink Voice and Data
Communication System and the XLLink Flight Information Architecture
is available at