OMNI Air Taxi selects Honeywell's radar system for helicopter fleet upgrade
RIO DE JANEIRO - OMNI Air Taxi in Rio de Janeiro, a commercial helicopter operator, sought to update the weather radar systems on its fleet of Leonardo AW139 rotorcraft. They found their solution from Honeywell in Phoenix.
OMNI chose Honeywell’s IntuVue RDR-7000 Weather Radar System. The RDR-7000 is a fully-automated advanced flight technology that allows pilots to assess weather in advance to help enable a safer flight trajectory.
The radar system upgrade will enhance navigational capabilities for OMNI’s fleet while also reducing pilot workload. Honeywell also says the technology suite will also help OMNI decrease maintenance and operational costs, while increasing helicopter availability because it offers higher reliability than legacy radars.
The RDR-7000 is a fully automated weather radar system that offers helicopter and business jet customers the ability to remotely enable advanced software features to provide them with the clearest view of weather conditions around common routes. The advanced flight technology also supports Honeywell’s alignment of its portfolio to three compelling megatrends, including the future of aviation and automation.
“Any gaps in helicopter availability can negatively impact operations,” said José Vinicius Martins, regional sales manager, Honeywell Aerospace Technologies. “By reducing delays and downtime caused by weather incidents and windshear, the integration of Honeywell’s reliable RDR-7000 radar system will enable OMNI operators to lower operational costs.
“In tandem, pilots will be able to make quicker decisions before flying in challenging environments because they’ll no longer need to manually upload weather conditions or adjust the antenna tilt,” Martins added.
OMNI provides a myriad of services in its AW139s, including air transport across Brazil, as well as cargo and aeromedical transport. OMNI has a fleet size of 71 aircraft and is a leader in the Brazilian offshore sector. The company performs about 700,000 passenger journeys and has accumulated 650,000 flight hours with 5 million passengers transported.
“In line with Omni’s constant search for state-of-the-art solutions that provide maximum safety for our customers, having the opportunity to upgrade our AW139 helicopter fleet weather radars with Honeywell’s, starting with nine aircraft in 2024, is a great technological achievement. With this decision, we hope to further strengthen this lasting partnership between the two companies,” said Roberto Coimbra, CEO, OMNI.
