A commercial operation contract was concluded with Belavia, a Belarusian national airline

Photo: Belavia — Belarusian Airlines

Infocom-Avia (included in Rostec’s Azimuth) has concluded a contract with Belavia, a Belarusian national airline, for commercial operation of a national digital aircraft-ground data communication service (ACARS). This is the first foreign airline connected to the Russian system. 

ACARS has been developed by Infocom-Avia and Azimuth to replace similar foreign services that are not available any longer due to sanctions. The domestic solution replaced foreign products and provided a considerable increase in aircraft fleet utilization efficiency and also a decrease in airline expenses.

The operator has established a ground station network for the main flight directions: north—south and west—east, and organized a data processing center in Russia. 

The Russian ACARS system is used to transmit real-time remote measurement data from an aircraft to the airline control center. Digital communication is used to exchange weather forecast data, other necessary information and instructions with aircraft crews, in particular, in critical situations. 

Leading Russian airlines such as Aeroflot and S7 are connected to the service. The number of users is growing continuously. About 2/3 of the Russian aircraft fleet performed data exchange via this system last year. The plans include extension of the service provision area and user pool.