NOTAM reader & Route finder (airway)

[GVA Dispatch]

Hi all,

I'm trying to find out if there is any practical use of a NOTAM reader, if available? We would like to see if there is a way to directly insert NOTAM details into our scheduling software. Assuming that most NOTAMS are build according to a fixed string with ICAO, date, etc.

Second question is related to Sales and flight quotations. When quoting a flight we would like to make sure that the quoted flighttime is as close to the actual one. Not already taking into account the windfactor, but first of all the ATC routing to be followed which is most of the time longer than the great circle routing. We could of course take some margin, but is there software available to quickly calculate the most likely ATC routing and use this as input for the quoting system?

Many thanks in advance!

Ciao,

GVA Dispatch

[Grasscarp]

Estimating new route time/fuel burn

If your routes are in Europe and your quote is for some time ahead it would not be possible to predict the exact route which would be available. As you know the RAD changes every 28 days. The best that you can do is to run a flight plan on the current routing with, if you have the option, statistical weather for the month or quarter that you are interested in. This should be close enough in terms of fuel burn and time.

[GVA Dispatch]

Running a flightplan first is something we would like to prevent. With a lot of quotes per day, it's too much time consuming to ask the dispatch department to run a flightplan to get some accurate flight times. I agree that for some reason it's necessary, transatlantic, etops, etc. But for 'simple' routings inside Europe there should be an easier way, hopefully....

Thanks,

GVA Dispatch

[Grasscarp]

I really cant imagine any other way to calculate what you want without running a flight plan. All the airlines I have ever worked for or visited (in my current capacity of flight plan provider) use this method.

[stokieboy]

Likewise guys, cant' see any other option. We use Jeppessen and we get a fair few requests each day for leg times and max payload etc. In Europe, use Optomized Jet Airways, historical met and enable for max payload. This gives a fairly good representative plan but you'll have to accept the various restrictions of IFPS, ie a plan run on a wednesday for a trip on the weekend may well be different due to CDRs, noise abbatement procedures and the like. We operate C130s which mooch around european mid- level and the lower end of the high level airway structure which can prove a challange. Having said that, takes me no more than 5 mins a plan so you must be very busy!!
On an aside if anyone knows of any jobs darn sarff I'd be very intrested!!