Honeywell Engineers Help Airbus 300 Freighters Fly into the Future

Honeywell is a major supplier to Airbus providing equipment across all their aircraft types. In the commercial market, the partnering relationship dates back to Airbus’ first wide-body, the A300, with Honeywell providing the Flight Management Computer. For the few remaining “greybeards” from this era, it is gratifying for them to see the A300 cockpit modernized with the latest-generation Flight Management System (FMS). “The next-gen FMS is a central function in the Honeywell Primus Epic integrated avionics system. This system will give the A300-600, which first flew in 1983, a new lease on life. UPS indicated this upgrade is an enabler for them to extend the fleet to 2035,” said Allen Fenske, Honeywell Sr. Director of Airbus Programs.  

EASA certification was achieved on December 22, 2020. This is a significant milestone paving the path for UPS to upgrade their 52 freighters. “The program’s success in modernizing this 30-year-old aircraft required close collaboration between the three companies. Honeywell has decades of experience integrating new cockpits; however, this was our first with Airbus, working with their Upgrade Services organization,” noted Rey Trujillo, Sr. Program Manager who lead this project.

The upgrade includes replacing the current cathode ray tube displays with new multifunction LCD flat panel displays. Aside from significantly higher reliability and the larger format with sharper imaging, the displays have new features integrated in, including the traffic collision avoidance symbology and weather radar. The latter provides alerting for wind shear, turbulence, lightning and hail, enabling safer and more efficient navigating weather conditions.