Re: WESTJET PARTNERS WITH FLYHT AND NOAA... Today's news was predicated by a news release dated September 12, 2023.
link Today's release (September 19, 2024) contains awaited details - the airline, the plane types. It doesn't mention "an additional US$2.8 million in options" that are mentioned in the 2023 release.
WestJet's fleet is already outfitted with the AFIRS 228 SatCOM.
Today: "
WestJet Airlines has agreed to collaborate with Flyht Aerospace Solutions Ltd. and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and the prediction of localized severe weather in North America. The partnership with WestJet will focus initially on providing NOAA with additional humidity, temperature and wind observations in the data sparse regions over the Pacific where the airline flies routes.
As the airline partner to this important NOAA weather program, WestJet will install Flyht's weather solutions on three Boeing 737 MAX and two Boeing 737-800NG aircraft flying Pacific routes. Each installation will include a package of Flyht-WVSS-II atmospheric water vapor sensors to continuously monitor environmental conditions around the aircraft during flight. The sensors will be fully integrated with Flyht's Edge multichannel WQAR and Certus SatCom for real-time in-flight communication and data transmission. Thereafter, the aircraft-based observations (ABO) data will flow through the National Mesonet Program to provide NOAA with en-route data as well as vertical profiles of wind, temperature and moisture.
The readings will provide NOAA with valuable atmospheric data to fill in coverage gaps provided by other observing systems. One such gap is the geographic region off the West Coast of the United States and extending westward and southward into the central tropical Pacific Ocean -- an area well known for the Atmospheric River phenomena which can occasionally result in flooding rainfalls and heavy mountain snows in the Western United States. Quantifying the amount of moisture in the atmosphere will result in better forecasts that will be of great value for public safety and water resources communities.
"We're honoured to welcome WestJet as the airline partner for Flyht's expanded weather program with NOAA," commented Murray Skelton, vice-president of business development and weather solutions. "WestJet is a forward-thinking organization that flies routes over data sparse regions of the Pacific Ocean, making them ideally suited to capture the coverage gaps that exist with the current humidity observations being provided to NOAA. We're excited to move this initiative with NOAA forward and expand our relationship with WestJet."
"WestJet is proud to partner with Flyht and NOAA, as we leverage their innovative solutions to improve our weather forecasting accuracy, which further enhances our ability to increase safety and improve fuel efficiency through optimized flight planning," said Scott Wilson, WestJet, vice-president, operations.
Said Curtis Marshall, PhD, director of the NWS commercial data program and chair of the WMO expert team on aircraft-based observations, "We are pleased to partner with Flyht and WestJet for the installation of water vapor sensors on aircraft, the first such installations in a decade on aircraft to provide meteorological observations to NWS, and in this data void region of the Pacific where we expect additional observations to improve our forecasts."
The initial hardware installs are expected to commence in early 2025 and are being funded with FY 2023 appropriations of $500,000 (USD) that Flyht was awarded in September, 2023."