Latam Airlines Group, a Chilean airline holding company, has adopted the Amadeus Altéa Departure Control Flight Management solution, to optimise fuel consumption and operational efficiency.

After suffering a recent setback of an indefinite strike (more than two weeks) last month, causing the cancellation of around 2,000 flights, the region’s largest carrier looks to move forward with a new solution from the global IT group, Amadeus.

For an airline business such as Latam Airlines, optimising fuel consumption and maximising operational performance would be a much-needed uplift to its operations. And with this need, Latam is the latest airline to implement Amadeus’ Altéa Departure Control Flight Management solution, designed to improve productivity, automate load planning, promote operational efficiency and optimise fuel consumption.

The move is simply the right strategy, given that the strike cost the company an estimate of US$1-1.5 million per day.

The platform automatically – and in advance of every flight – analyses the passenger and cargo load to determine the optimal aircraft load distribution and calculate the quantity of fuel required.

“Flight management is a complex task with teams of experts handling sophisticated calculations,” explained Vicky Huertas, commercial vice president, Airlines, Latin America & Caribbean, Amadeus. “The modular nature of Altéa means that airlines such as Latam can benefit from the solutions they choose, as it provides a high level of integration with existing systems.”

The automation and precision of Altéa Departure Control Flight Management will greatly improve the airline’s productivity. In addition, the Flight Management mobile ramp application, a new capability the solution brings, means that Latam can communicate with its staff while in the aircraft.

“The flight management solution is helping us to optimize the use of aircraft capacity, by providing full visibility of available space in real time and predicting the underload of a flight accurately. We are already benefiting from being able to determine exactly how much extra cargo we are able to load and communicate this to relevant areas in a timely manner,” said Jorge Ihnen, VP operations, Latam Airlines Group.

“We have successfully implemented this technology across the airline group and were well supported by Amadeus’s project team from start to finish.”