This document discusses how airlines can use software to save on fuel costs and improve transparency around fuel usage and emissions. It notes that fuel expenses account for 30-40% of airline costs. The document recommends that effective fuel efficiency programs have three key components: governance through a dedicated fuel efficiency manager, knowledge of best practices, and software to provide transparency into fuel consumption across the airline. It provides examples of airlines that use the Aviaso software to analyze fuel data, identify savings opportunities, and monitor initiatives to reduce fuel usage and emissions. The software allows these airlines to achieve fuel savings of 2-5% on average.

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Software saves on fuel costs
Growing numbers of airlines use software to save fuel and report emissions –
Jurgen Hild, Managing Partner of Aviation Competence explains why

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Operating in one of the most competitive
industries, airlines have a lot with which to
contend; from regulations and the cost of
their implementation to various charges and taxes that
regularly increase but never seem to reduce. The upshot
of all this is that airlines have to operate on very thin
margins which, in turn, means that cost pressures are
ever present and considerable. There are only really two
ways to tackle this challenge, either increase revenues or
reduce costs… or, preferably, both. The bigger challenge
is how to manage either of these in a business that is
already well organized, as most airlines are, running
with well-controlled overheads and with continual
programs to develop innovative revenue streams and to
reduce costs. What more can be done?
FUEL USAGE – THE NEED FOR CLARITY
There is one area in which even a typically cost-
conscious airline will often have a deficit in
understanding and that is with regard to their fuel bills
and what contributes to them. By and large, airlines are
good at negotiating good prices for the fuel they use
and in employing sophisticated financial techniques
such as hedging to better manage future costs. But
when it comes to fuel consumption itself, all too often
airlines accept this significant expense (30-40% of
an airline’s costs – even more for cargo carriers) in
their budgets without any question. They often have
no idea that it could be better managed, leave alone
improved upon. Behind this might be the fact that
most airlines enjoy very little transparency with regard
to their fuel consumption and some might ask whether
that is a problem. Most people involved with the sector
believe that it is because fuel costs are too significant
to be accepted without question. Plus, it is not that
complicated: transparency offers the key to really
understanding whether the millions of kilos of fuel
burned can be justified, whether there might
be ways to cut fuel costs and, if so, how much could
be saved.
“…airlineshavetooperateonverythinmarginswhich,inturn,meansthatcostpressuresareeverpresentandconsiderable.
Thereareonlyreallytwowaystotacklethischallenge,eitherincreaserevenuesorreducecosts…or,preferably,both.”

3. COMPONENTS IN A
SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM
In short, there are three
components essential to
any effective fuel efficiency
improvement program:
governance, knowledge, and
software.
No fuel efficiency program is
going to succeed or reach its full
potential without the full support
of and commitment from senior
management. This first component
can best be secured with the
appointment of a full- or part-
time (depending on the airline’s
size) fuel efficiency manager. He
or she, in turn, should have the
support of a team drawn from
across the airline in areas as diverse
as flight operations, dispatch,
ground operations, maintenance
and commercial. Team members
will pool the knowledge and
experience gained in their
respective areas towards fulfilling
their responsibility to identify and
implement fuel saving initiatives in
those areas.
A well-founded understanding
of fuel efficiency is the next
component and airlines have
available to them a great deal of
the information needed for this.
We always recommend customers
to read the Guidance Material
and Best Practices for Fuel and
Environmental Management
from IATA. Over and above that,
for most aircraft types, aircraft
manufacturers produce various
information offering plenty of fuel
saving ideas for their aircraft. And
fuel efficiency training as well as
consultancy can be procured from
a number of organizations.
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“Inshort,therearethreecomponentsessentialtoanyeffectivefuelefficiencyimprovementprogram:governance,
knowledge,andsoftware.Nofuelefficiencyprogramisgoingtosucceedorreachitsfullpotentialwithoutthe
fullsupportofandcommitmentfromseniormanagement.Thisfirstcomponentcanbestbesecuredwiththe
appointmentofafull-orpart-time(dependingontheairline’ssize)fuelefficiencymanager“
USING SOFTWARE TO
SAVE FUEL
Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, KLM
Cityhopper, Air Berlin and
several other airlines use
software from Switzerland-
based Aviaso to understand
how their fuel is actually used
and to highlight in which areas
their fuel consumption can be
reduced. The solution can also
be used to report emissions and
manage regulatory compliance
with the EU Emissions Trading
System EU-ETS.
THE BENEFITS OF
GREATER TRANSPARENCY
According to IATA, based on
an assessment of returns from
over 100 airlines the conclusion
was that average fuel savings
of 5% are achievable for most
airlines. Of course, many have
already established programs to
improve fuel efficiency which
means that some of the obvious
and easy-to-tackle initiatives are
already part of the company’s
processes. So they now need
to drill further into the data
to better understand their fuel
usage and better see where more
savings are possible. In order to
take this next step, some airlines
have already implemented one
of the fuel saving solutions
available from various software
houses. For example, fuel
savings between 2% to 5%
or higher have been realized
by airlines using the Aviaso
software, even though most
of these airlines had already
implemented the easy-to-tackle
initiatives.
WHAT SOFTWARE DOES
Software capable of drawing on data systems within the airline from which
to generate a transparent view of fuel consumption is the third component
in the mix. The software should help identify where savings can be made
and determine how big these potential savings are. It should also support
monitoring to determine whether a fuel efficiency program is meeting
its objectives and, specifically, measure whether savings that are achieved
exceed, match or fall short of what was planned.
Good fuel efficiency software should be able to use data from the
following data sources and airline IT systems:
• Flight schedule and operations system (OPS);
• Operational flight planning system (OFP);
• Flight data management/flight operations quality assurance system
(FDM/FOQA);
• Load information/departure control system (DCS);
• Aircraft communications addressing & reporting system (ACARS);
• Fuel accounting system;
• Tech log and/or electronic flight bag systems (EFB);
• Navigational database systems for trajectory analyses; and
• Weather information systems, etc.
A number of software providers, including Aviaso, ETS Aviation, GE, and
OSyS, offer fuel management packages, and airlines show great interest in
such software. For example, Aviaso has nearly doubled its client base from
10 clients in 2013 to 18 clients today.

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Author
JURGEN HILD
MANAGING PARTNER,
AVIATION COMPETENCE
Jurgen Hild’s
aviation career
spans 35 years. He
has held numerous
management
positions in the
head office and
abroad at Deutsche Lufthansa AG as
well as at Condor Flugdienst GmbH.
During this time he has acquired
extensive knowledge and practical
experience in the whole aviation
industry and has managed several
airline fuel saving projects.
In 2010 he started his own
consultancy Aviation Competence.
Mr. Hild holds a pilot license and an
MBA from the University of Chicago.
About
AVIATION
COMPETENCE
Aviation Competence
(www.aviationcompetence.com)
is a team of experts having
decades of hands-on experience
in top management positions
with regional, low cost, legacy
and cargo airlines. With their deep
understanding of the airlines’ needs
they have successfully supported
many airlines throughout the world.
Aviation Competence is committed
to delivering solutions for airlines by
mastering change through interim
management assignments or by
holistically supporting its customers
during the complete project
implementation processes.
AVIASO/FUEL EFFICIENCY SOFTWARE
• Started software development: 2009;
• Airlines using software: 18;
• Number of aircraft monitored: over 1100;
• Ready-made data import adapters for all major airline IT systems
and automatic data quality checks;
• More than 100 predefined analyses and initiatives and flexible
user-defined analyses;
• EU-ETS compliant emissions reporting; and
• Availability of fuel efficiency consulting.
BENEFITS OF USING FUEL EFFICIENCY SOFTWARE
• Transparency in fuel consumption;
• Discovery of fuel savings potential of up to 5% or higher;
• Accurate monitoring of fuel savings initiatives;
• Communication of information to various stakeholders; and
• Proactive management of flights.
Aer Lingus
Air Berlin
Air Transat
Belair Airlines
Cargolux
CityJet
Condor
Europe Airpost
Germanwings
KLM Cityhopper
LOT Polish Airlines
Lufthansa
Lufthansa Cargo
Monarch Airlines
NIKI Airlines
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium
Thomas Cook Airlines UK
AIRLINES USING AVIASO FUEL EFFICIENCY SOFTWARE
HOW SAVINGS CAN BE REALIZED
Any airline can achieve fuel savings as long as the right components are in
place. All concerned parties must not only understand the determinants
of current consumption but must also agree that savings can be achieved.
Fuel saving and improved efficiency cannot be a departmental matter
applying only to each ‘silo’ in the business: it must be a commitment across
the organization but with each department understanding the part it has
to play towards meeting the corporate goal. Over it all, there needs to be
a good software package not only to ensure transparency of current usage
but also to monitor progress of the fuel saving initiatives in place.
“Fuelsavingandimprovedefficiencycannotbeadepartmentalmatterapplyingonlyto
each‘silo’inthebusiness:itmustbeacommitmentacrosstheorganizationbutwitheach
departmentunderstandingthepartithastoplaytowardsmeetingthecorporategoal.”
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