Honeywell's inertial navigation system selected as standard equipment on Airbus

Honeywell (NYSE:HON) announced today that its Air Data Inertial Reference System (ADIRS), which provides navigational data, has been selected as the standard inertial reference system for the Airbus A320, A330/A340 and A380 family of aircraft.

The ADIRS provides critical flight control and navigation information to multiple aircraft systems by autonomously tracking aircraft motion. ADIRS' advanced navigation accuracy is a key component for next-generation air traffic management capabilities, enabling more direct routing and flying precise satellite-based navigation approaches to airports to reduce flight delays and fuel costs.

"Airbus operators can save more than $15,000 per aircraft annually in maintenance and fuel costs with Honeywell's ADIRS," said Justin Ryan, vice president of Airbus, Honeywell Aerospace. "When compared to competing systems, Honeywell's ADIRS has more than two times the reliability, averaging 40,000 hours of service, and weighs 39 pounds less."

Three Air Data Inertial Reference Units (ADIRUs) each comprise three ring laser gyros and three quartz accelerometers to accurately sense aircraft position and attitude. By integrating data from the inertial sensors and Global Positioning System (GPS), ADIRS provides automatic initialization, faster align times and 100 percent availability of Required Navigation Performance approaches.

Honeywell is the world's leading supplier of high-performance laser inertial products for commercial aviation with more than 60,000 units delivered. Today's systems utilize advanced software features, digital ring laser gyros, and quartz accelerometers to provide high accuracy attitude, heading, velocity, flight vector, and other critical information to aircraft systems.

Additional Honeywell equipment available on Airbus aircraft include electronic fuel controls, auxiliary power unit, mechanical components, electric power, communication, navigation and information management, surveillance, flight management system, environmental control system, wheels, brakes, lighting and displays.