Fuel efficiency software company OpenAirlines secures investment to expand its global coverage
Wed 17 Jun 2015 – Toulouse-based fuel efficiency software provider and consultancy OpenAirlines has secured €1 million ($1.1m) in funding from French investment fund Alter Equity3P to help it expand its sales and marketing resources. The company, which founded in 2006, says this will allow it to open subsidiaries in Asia, the Middle East and the USA over the next 18 months. It carried out five years of research and development in its formative years, including involvement with an EU Clean Sky project called CARING (Contribution of Airlines for the Reduction of Industry Nuisances and Gases). Since 2013, OpenAirlines has developed and commercialised SkyBreathe, which uses complex algorithms to automatically analyse the huge amounts of data available in flight data recorders to assess the fuel efficiency of flights and make it possible to reduce up to 5% of fuel consumed on a flight.
Initially, the company provided consulting and business services to airlines and aircraft manufacturers, notably Air France and Airbus, and now SkyBreathe is in service or in the process of being implemented by 10 airlines around the world, including Air France subsidiary Transavia. Other clients include France’s second biggest airline Aigle Azur, Turkey's Onur Air and Polish charter carrier Enter Air.
The company claims that while other fuel efficiency solutions use simplified statistical parameters, its software uniquely integrates actual flight conditions – for example, payload, weather conditions, trajectory and air traffic control constraints – enabling airlines to implement the most effective best practices to reduce their fuel consumption. OpenAirlines also offers software solutions to help airlines prepare and pre-verify their EU ETS reports and also to aid crew and fleet management.
The company’s turnover in 2014 amounted to €1.1 million, a 30% growth over the previous year. Launched in 2013, Alter Equity3P supports companies that have achieved a turnover higher than €1 million under a strategy based on long-term social responsibility, profitable growth and sustainable development.
“SkyBreathe is right in step with the Alter Equity3P philosophy by empowering airlines to lower their fossil fuel consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions,” said OpenAirlines.
The company is exhibiting at this week’s Paris Air Show (Hall 2A).
