Southwest Airlines Selects Honeywell Cockpit Technologies For Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft

New Honeywell products pioneer efficiencies in navigation and aircraft performance

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Apr 29, 2015, 10:00 ET

PHOENIX, April 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell Aerospace's (NYSE: HON) full suite of cockpit technologies has been selected by Southwest Airlines for its future fleet of Boeing 737 MAX and existing fleet of Boeing 737NG aircraft. The selection will provide Southwest with cockpit technologies that offer enhanced navigation capabilities and prepare the airline to meet future government-mandated flight safety regulations.

Southwest Airlines NextGen fleet to take to the skies with Honeywell cockpit technologies

As the world's largest operator of Boeing 737s, Southwest Airlines selected Honeywell's advanced cockpit technologies to ensure Southwest planes continue flying the safest and most efficient routes well into the future. Honeywell will provide Southwest Airlines with its Integrated Multi-Mode Receiver (IMMR), IntuVue RDR-4000 3-D Weather Radar, Aspire satellite communications systems, and other safety, communication and navigation technologies. Southwest will be the first airline to integrate Honeywell's IMMR into its fleet, providing the airline with enhanced landing and routing performance.

"We are proud to extend our 30-year relationship with Southwest Airlines by supporting its next-generation 737 MAX aircraft and current fleet of 737s," said John Bolton, president, Air Transport and Regional, Honeywell Aerospace. "This full-suite selection of Honeywell's cockpit technologies will not only give Southwest the industry's most advanced fleet of 737s, it will ensure Southwest flies with exceptional levels of reliability and efficiency, helping to keep passengers and planes safe and on time."

"The fleet decisions we make today are ensuring our ability to offer the safest, most customer-friendly experience to the flying public well into the future," said Craig Drew, vice president, Flight Operations, Southwest Airlines. "As we add more international destinations to our flight schedule, our fleet will take to the skies with the most advanced communication, navigation, weather and cockpit technologies available. Our relationship with Honeywell confirms our commitment to the performance, productivity and reliability for which Southwest is known."

The Honeywell technology upgrades and installation on new aircraft will also outfit Southwest Airlines with the necessary equipment to meet current and upcoming NextGen regulations mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), such as the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). This system provides an accurate and more complete assessment of an airplane's location to air traffic control and other airplanes, enhancing pilots' situational awareness.

Honeywell Cockpit Technologies Onboard Southwest Airlines

Key Honeywell technologies onboard Southwest Airlines' new suite of cockpit technologies on the 737 MAX fleet and existing 737NG fleet include the:

Integrated Multi-Mode Receiver (IMMR), which provides the latest navigation capabilities such as satellite-based augmentation system and Ground-Based Augmentation System landing systems, which are more accurate than current landing systems. Southwest Airlines will be one of the first adopters of Honeywell's next-generation navigation receiver, the industry's first all-digital navigation receiver that integrates multiple regulatory requirements into a single receiver, which also reduces size and weight up to 50 percent compared with current solutions.
Aspire satellite communications system, which is Honeywell's family of next-generation satellite communications systems that enables concurrent voice and data communications to and from the cockpit over the Inmarsat and Iridium satellite networks. Honeywell reduced the size of the system which provides significant weight savings over current-generation satellite communications systems and is designed to potentially replace high frequency (HF) radio communications in the future.
IntuVue RDR-4000 3-D Weather Radar, which is the first and only automatic, commercial radar to accurately depict weather in the flight path of an aircraft; provide turbulence detection up to 60 nautical miles ahead — 50 percent farther than any other system; introduce predictive hail and lightning capability; and differentiate and display both on-path and off-path weather.
Quantum Line Communication and Navigation Sensors, which are a proven range of communication and navigation radios. They have been significantly refreshed and upgraded with new technology that meets future needs while reducing weight and increasing reliability. They include an upgraded radio altimeter featuring new digital processing technology and a new VHF data radio.
SmartTraffic (Traffic Collision Avoidance System), which provides the industry's longest-range surveillance capability, plus automatic dependent surveillance via ADS-B In functionality. The traffic collision avoidance system coupled with ADS-B is an advanced hybrid system that offers the pilot exceptional situational awareness of traffic. The SmartTraffic system includes Honeywell's next-generation transponder to meet FAA NextGen requirements.
Mode S transponder, which broadcasts information to other aircraft and air traffic control about aircraft speed and position and complies with all current and anticipated ADS-B Out mandates worldwide.
Mark II+ Communications Management Unit, which manages two-way data link communications between the aircraft and the ground via HF and VHF radios, as well as satellite communications. The system enables the real-time transmission of aircraft health and position data and provides a communication link between the pilots and the airline's operations center to transmit and receive information such as in-flight weather reports.
Flight Data and Cockpit Voice Recorders, which store mandatory voice and data information from an aircraft's most recent flight activity. This will be Honeywell's fifth-generation solid-state Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder.

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Honeywell Aerospace products and services are found on virtually every commercial, defense and space aircraft, and its turbochargers are used by nearly every automaker and truck manufacturer around the world. The Aerospace business unit develops innovative solutions for more fuel-efficient automobiles and airplanes, more direct and on-time flights, safer flying and runway traffic, along with aircraft engines, cockpit and cabin electronics, wireless connectivity services, logistics, and more. The business delivers safer, faster, and more efficient and comfortable transportation-related experiences worldwide. For more information, visit www.honeywell.com or follow us at @Honeywell_Aero and @Honeywell_Turbo.

Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; turbochargers; and performance materials. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywellnow.com.

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