With some airlines even charging for peanuts to offset sharply higher fuel prices, a Seattle-based company wants to rescue struggling carriers by lowering jet fuel costs through more efficient landings.
"We're out to save 10 percent of the world's jet fuel," said Dan Gerrity, CEO and co-founder of Naverus.
The savings come from a navigation system called Required Navigation Performance (RNP), which reduces fuel usage by lopping several nautical miles off the end of a flight. It uses global-positioning satellites and on-board computers to guide planes on autopilot along precisely plotted, imaginary highways toward a runway -- a job traditionally done by pilots looking out their windshields and air traffic controllers.
Computers take into account airport features, the surrounding terrain and the density of air traffic to calculate the shortest and safest landing route. The more direct route also shrinks the airspace a plane requires when landing, thus making room for more planes in the sky.
Alaska Airlines first developed RNP procedures in the 1990s to help navigate planes across difficult terrain. Naverus co-founder and former Alaska Airlines pilot Steve Fulton was part of the team that used this advanced procedure.
Although RNP was created to promote efficiency, Naverus has recently changed its sales pitch to highlight that cutting distance by as many as 20 miles can save a lot of fuel.
"Saving money is sexy, efficiency is not," said Steve Vassallo, a partner at Foundation Capital, a Silicon Valley company that recently led a USD$10 million round of financing for Naverus.
A March study by Airservices Australia found RNP approaches saved 200,000 kilograms of fuel at one airport last year, a total saving of about 10 percent on fuel.
Globally, airlines are struggling under the burden of USD$3.46-a-gallon jet fuel, a 78 percent increase over last year's average price, according to the International Air Transport Association. This year's average fuel price will push up the total fuel bill for airlines by USD$61 billion, the IATA estimates.
US airlines are looking at various partnerships and mergers, raising fares and even charging more for extra legroom to cover fuel costs, which make up as much as 14 percent of an airline's total operating costs.
"The theory behind RNP systems should allow more efficiency in the airport operating environment," said John Armbrust, chairman of Armbrust Aviation Group, an industry consultant.
Planes could save significantly on fuel burn by taking off quicker, circling the air less when landing and flying the most direct route.
"It could prevent them from raising fares by 10 dollars," he added.
Naverus tailors RNP procedures for several international carriers, including Qantas, the Australian national airline, Canada's WestJet, Air New Zealand and Air China. The latter often flies planes over difficult terrain into airports that have poor navigational expertise.
Last May, Southwest Airlines became the first US carrier to sign on Naverus after the US Federal Aviation Administration designated the five-year-old start-up the first RNP consultant for US airlines, airports and other third parties.
On Monday, Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen, which is developing a similar tailored-RNP system, also received FAA approval to provide RNP consultant services.
The FAA, which is itself testing RNP technologies as part of its next-generation air traffic system, is expected to grant full commercial approval for private companies by year-end, said Jeppesen spokesman Eric Anderson.
Mike Van de Ven, Southwest's executive vice president, said the company hopes to reduce fuel burn, lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce landing delays using Naverus.
Naverus currently employs 60 people worldwide and expects to touch USD$100 million in revenue by the end of 2010, said Gerrity, who eventually, hopes to take Naverus public.
