Norwegian Carrier Future Proofs Dash 8 Fleet

Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, known otherwise as Widerøe Airlines, is a Bodø-based Norwegian air-carrier and the largest regional airline operating in Europe’s Nordic countries. The airline operates a fleet of 44 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft and serves over forty domestic and international destinations.

In October 2023, Widerøe Airlines selected Universal Avionics (UA), the Tucson, Arizona-based technology concern with primary foci in Flight Management Systems (FMS) and cockpit instrument displays for private, business, and commercial aircraft, to retrofit its fleet with Universal’s Connected Flight Management Systems. The upgrade, which comprises supplementary iPad applications, will increase the safety and efficiency of Widerøe’s flight operations.

Widerøe Airlines Chief Pilot Ole Støre stated: "The solution from Universal will help us streamline pilot workflows from briefing to reporting post-flight across our diverse flight and maintenance ops, enabling seamless information exchange between our back-office operations and the flight management system on the aircraft. This will alleviate pilot workload by reducing data-entry requirements such as flight-plans and aircraft performance. In addition to benefits derived from flight data reporting, it will increase safety by allowing them to focus on departure and arrival tasks.”

Universal Avionics CEO Dror Yahav set forth: “We are pleased to provide Widerøe with a package that will connect their operation to the information they need, when they need it. We are helping regional airlines like Widerøe increase efficiency with our connected aircraft technologies.”

On 24 April 2023, Universal Avionics announced it had successfully completed Technical Standard Order (TSO) certification for its Connected FMS. The effort validated the cloud-based Connectivity Ecosystem's maturity, robustness, and compliance with applicable cybersecurity requirements.

UA’s Connectivity Ecosystem offers comprehensive, connected flight management system (FMS) capabilities with FlightPartner, which supports weather-driven smart flight planning, two-way flight-plan exchanges in-flight and on-ground, and seamless interaction with third-party applications. The architecture also delivers safety and performance insights with FlightReview, a cloud-based, automated FMS and aircraft data collection system. Pilots’ workloads are streamlined by virtue of reduced entry times and seamless database updates. What’s more, optimizations to the system’s flight time, fuel planning, and flight data reporting features improve efficiency and may be used as part of a flight department’s Safety Management System (SMS).

Universal Avionics is positioned to offer its Connectivity Ecosystem to aircraft manufacturers and operators, thereby enabling the aforementioned to leverage the latest technological advancements to optimize day-to-day operations and maintenance. The solution is powered by the Solid-State Data Transfer Unit Plus (SSDTU+), which secures wireless interactions between tablets and FMS utilizing unique low-power Wi-Fi access controls (patent pending). The new solution provides an easy, direct upgrade to UA SSDTUs currently in service.

Canard Aerospace is providing the FMS installation kit and Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) by which Widerøe Airlines will install the requisite Universal equipment into its aircraft. Subject STC is currently in progress and is expected to be complete by 2024’s third-quarter.

Universal Avionics is a subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd., an Israel-based defense manufacturer of  aerospace, land, and naval systems; Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions; Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS); advanced electro-optics; electronic warfare suites; SIGnal INTelligence (SIGINT) systems; data links and communications systems; and radios.

FMI: www.usac.com