Overview

AvFinity offers a number of services for use with the ÆON™ Cloud and ÆON™ AIRS™ products. These services are often used by airlines on a one-off basis— for instance, needing a primary connection to file APIS with CBSA for a new route into Quebec. The individual services also are used as a backup for airlines that have their own direct connecdtions or as a primary connection when direct connections are not desired. This option is particularly well-suited for airlines with limited IT staff or resources needed to manage equipment or connections.

AvFinity provides its single-service customers access to the AvFinity Network and its documented 99.9% uptime through the choice of a single box solution with AIRS™, direct connections or almost any other option available to airlines.

AvFinity technology can handle any communications protocol, so an airline is functioning with its desired service without investing time or incurring the cost of adapting to a new system. Most commonly selected protocols include:

AvFinity’s individual services include:

Flight Plan Direct

ICAO flight plan filings that are sent in a legacy message format make up a high percentage of total data traffic and annual messaging outlays. AvFinity’s Flight Plan Direct™ provides a robust and highly efficient way to reduce this legacy messaging bill by sending flight plans directly through flight authorities like the FAA to AFTN for global reach.

Here are the benefits of using AvFinity’s Flight Plan Direct:

APIS Navigator

It’s a priority, for both commercial and general aviation, to comply with passenger and crew data submissions known as Advance Passenger Information System (API or APIS). Unlike legacy provider approaches that use existing data switching networks to send this prioritized information, AvFinity’s APIS Navigator™ solution offers a direct connection to border authorities, with assured delivery and confirmation.

AvFinity has the distinction of being the first provider in the world authorized by CBP to file APIS via an IBM WebSphere MQ direct connection for both commercial and private aviation. Our expert knowledge of WebSphere MQ and its application to aviation means APIS data flows from the airline or commercial flight department to CBP over a cost-effective, robust, high-speed, high-security APIS messaging network with zero chance of getting lost.

Here’s what APIS Navigator can do for aviation companies:

APIS Navigator benefits include:

APIS Navigator provides today’s aviation companies with the advanced tools needed to comply with increasing and evolving government regulations. Only AvFinity can offer the flexibility, robustness and reliability you need to take control over your communication systems.

NOTAM Express

At AvFinity, we know that becoming more efficient and simplifying processes are important to you. One of the ways we help you achieve these cost-saving results is to provide solutions to update your company’s legacy software for receiving NOTAM feeds, which incorporate the efficiencies of TCP/IP and flat fee pricing.

Customers using AvFinity software technology to receive feeds benefit from receiving:

The NOTAM feed can be internalized by the airline company’s software for cataloging. The result is a high-efficiency NOTAM system utilizing TCP/IP, which replaces costly legacy network technology incurring monthly character costs.

Weekend pilots can also utilize AvFinity’s NOTAM Express through a web interface on the AvFinity web site. Individual users must set up an AvFinity account to use the service.

WeatherSign

AvFinity offers cost-effective options for airlines, corporate flight departments and individual pilots that provide weather information necessary for generating and filing flight plans. We maintain a direct connection into the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for feeds of the Aeronautical Information Data Access Portal (AIDAP)replacement for the legacy FAA604 weather data circuit.ThunderStorm
As with all AvFInity services, aviation companies have many technology alternatives for accessing these feeds in either XML or FAA604 format.

Airlines and flight departments can choose any of multiple options to access this information for generating and filing flight plans:

• The AvFinity Integrated Services Router™ (AIRS™) provides AvFinity’s patent-pending connectivity software technology on a Cisco Integrated Services Router. AIRS is a plug-and-play appliance that offers seamless access to weather and NOTAM feeds.
• The AvFinity Web Services provide machine-to-machine access to the AvFinity Secure Messaging Suite (ASMS™) using the traditional AvFinity network. The Web Services option (using AvFinity’s SOAP interface and XML) provides easy access to weather without added investment in technology or development time.
• The AvFinity Socket Application Interface facilitates weather and NOTAM feeds with or without a virtual private network (VPN). A network socket efficiently provides aviation companies with high volume data needs and high levels of security through the VPN.
• The AvFinity Web Site (www.avfinity.com) serves as a handy, low-cost tool for private pilots who are infrequent users of weather. By simply setting up an AvFinity account, individual users can gain access to METAR and TAF weather information.
• Users may access information from the AIDAP replacement for the FAA604 weather data circuit in either XML or legacy format. This is an important option for aviation companies that are not equipped to receive XML weather data and do not wish to incur new technology or development costs.

WeatherSign™ can easily be bundled with the AvFinity NOTAM Express™ or any other service. This provides a cost-effective means of gathering all information necessary for flight plan filing from a single, efficient source.

Passenger Service Solution and Partner Connections

Flight only becomes possible when an airline successfully communicates vital data. For decades, airlines had to use legacy providers and their closed proprietary networks to exchange information. With the arrival of TCP/IP, technology opened up new ways to exchange data ranging from email to direct connections.

The dilemma is how to embrace modern technology knowing that data may be from a legacy network using older formats and protocols. AvFinity solves that problem with its software technology that routes, manages and converts messages from legacy systems. And it delivers the data to partner airlines or to Passenger Service Solutions such as HP Shares without needing to go through a legacy third-party network.

Through direct connections to GDSes and companies like HP Shares, AvFinity increases the efficiency of data flow to these vital agencies. And with AvFinity’s EZ Customization scripting engine, changes in format (from Type B to XML) or destination (from queue to printer) can be done on the fly.