printNews Archive

Being held for the 10th time, the event was attended by delegates of the following airlines: AirTran Airways, Atlas Air/Polar Air Cargo, Etihad Airlines, Kenya Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, SN Brussels Airlines, South African Airways, and Swiss International Airlines.

In his opening speech, FuelPlus' Managing Director Klaus-Peter Warnke welcomed the delegates and described FuelPlus' statement of direction for the years 2009 - 2011. According to Warnke, fuel management must be seen in a broader context which includes not only fuel supply and fuel accounting, but also efficient fuel usage. Warnke announced FuelPlus' support for IATA's fuel efficiency initiative and the availability of related FuelPlus IT solutions for August 2010.

Due to the recent inclusion of aviation into the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), one main focus of the meeting was on FuelPlus solutions assisting airlines in preparing monitoring plans, defining and documenting fuel related processes, and monitoring and reporting emissions related data.

The meeting started with a demonstration of FuelPlus' Emissions Module, whose first release will be available in October 2009. This module, which can be installed as a standalone solution or in tandem with existing FuelPlus software, assists airlines in monitoring emissions and tonne-kilometre data and preparing reports for competent authorities according to the EU ETS regulations.

In a second session, Lufthansa described its experience with verifier and competent authorities made during the preparation and filing of its monitoring plans. Furthermore, Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) described the steps taken in the positive assessment of the FuelPlus Emissions Module, which was conducted in September to verify compliance with the EU ETS regulations.

Another highlight of the meeting was the presentation of the greatly enhanced FuelPlus Contract Management Module, which is available since release 4.3.1. The improved functionality allows to capture even highly complex fuel supply scenarios including multiple contracts for fuel supply, into-plane service, airport infrastructure, and consortium fees. Additional reports allow to review the different supply scenarios set up per location and to identify incorrect or missing contract allocations.

The afternoon of the second day was filled with in-depth discussions on further product enhancements. As in previous years, the participants shared their suggestions and ideas, and many of them were met with approval by the FuelPlus User Group and will find their way into the product.

In addition, a live demonstration of the new FuelPlus Report Layer was given, which allows users to create customized reports. Also the current version of FuelPlus 5.0. was presented to show the development progress and to give the participants an impression of the new GUI's look-and-feel.