Azul has chosen the Safran’s PresSense connected tire and its pressure measurement system to equip its fleet of Airbus A320s and A321s, and Embraer 195-E1s and 195-E2s, nearly 110 aircraft.
PresSense is intended to simplify airline maintenance operations by allowing for remotely measuring aircraft tire pressures, just 45 minutes after landing. Many operators perform these mandatory daily maintenance checks manually, using a pressure gauge positioned on the valve. However, in order to be performed in complete safety, the operation requires waiting for the tire to cool, i.e., at least 3 hours after landing
Commenting on the first deal for PresSense, Safran Landing Systems Chief Executive said: “This milestone marks the completion of several years of work between our teams to refine this innovative, reliable, and high-performance solution, proven by multiple test flights. In particular, PresSense will allow our customer to optimize the downtime of its aircraft and may be used for predictive maintenance purposes.”
Sophie Brechoire, President of the Michelin Group aeronautic activities commented: “The selection of PresSense by Azul, a major player among the South American airlines, validates the relevance of our technical choices when developing this innovative technology. Azul will therefore be able to take full advantage of all the benefits linked to this solution: safety, digitization, and efficiency in its maintenance operations. A service offering that meets our customers' needs.”
PresSense comprises an electronic pressure measurement sensor, developed by Safran, integrated into a tire designed by Michelin. To check the tire pressures, maintenance agents simply need to place an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader in front of the tire. The information is read instantly on a smartphone app and sent to a database. This offers airlines the option of performing subsequent analyses, intended, for example, for predictive maintenance operations, whereas the manual pressure measurements are not kept.
By reducing the downtime of aircraft on the ground by over 2 hours every day, PresSense allows airlines to optimize the availability of their fleets and thus gain in competitive advantage. At fleet level, it also offers them the opportunity to reduce their operating costs, as the maintenance operations only take a few seconds.