AirBridgeCargo Airlines steps into 2021 with 100% running in-house weight & balance system

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), one of the leading all-cargo carriers and part of Volga-Dnepr Group, commences 2021 relying on its weight & balance system (ABC WBS). The platform, which was designed, tested and rolled out within the toughest months of 2020, is aimed to minimize ground flight operations time, maximize load control and ramp activities, as well as maintain on-time performance through automatic schedule monitoring.

ABC WBS makes all the calculation in an accurate and safe mode, eliminating the human error risk and producing the required Weight & Balance documentation for each flight, such as Loading Instructions (LIR), Report Forms, Loadsheets (LS), and Preliminary & Final Messages (PLI&CPM). The system is adjustable for various aircraft types as it uses the tabular data of the aircraft setup information - limits, aircraft decks layout, fuel and envelope scheme. At the moment ABC WBS is used for the company’s freighter fleet, consisting of Boeing 747-400ERF, Boeing 747-8F, and Boeing 777 F, with the plans to expand it for ATRAN Airlines’ fleet of Boeing 737-400SF and Boeing 737-800BCF as of February this year.

The system is part of Volga-Dnepr Ground Operation environment, located on the Group’s serves with access for all the specialists across the globe via desktop or MobApp which makes it a user-friendly tool under current remote working conditions. The project has been fully implemented within the record six months and has significantly enhanced the working process of the Operations department.

Nikolay Glushnev, General Director of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, comments: ‘Development of the in-house WBS is part of the digital transformation project within Volga-Dnepr Group. Despite the challenging 2020 working conditions we guaranteed that over 230 ABC specialists work efficiently in the system and succeeded in creating IT product which is competitive with other market solutions in this field. With training mode available in the system, new users could easily adapt to the new working platform and came on board smoothly. We are on the first stage of the system development with further plans to embrace ramp freighters within Volga-Dnepr fleet, electronic NOTOC functioning, W&B fuel efficiency monitoring, to name a few’.

ABC WBS functions within the Volga-Dnepr digital ecosystem integrating with other in-house or third-party suppliers’ systems and IT platforms to guarantee the company’s smooth and efficient operations worldwide.