Dufour and Assaia have won new customers for their efficient and ecological aircraft for patient and passenger transportation and turnaround solutions for real-time monitoring of critical processes at airports, respectively. In a recent project agreement, Swissto12 is furthering its partnership with Thales.
European Medical Drone, the Swedish drone operator focusing on connecting hospitals using drone transportation, and Dufour Aerospace have signed a development cooperation and purchase agreement for 11 Aero2 uncrewed tilt-wing aircraft. The deal includes the delivery of one Aero2 X2.3 prototype aircraft in 2024 and 10 serial Aero2 aircraft, with delivery starting in 2026. Savback Helicopters, the Swedish helicopter vendor and partner of Dufour Aerospace, is assisting with this transaction. The three companies will hence collaborate specifically to introduce the Aero2 uncrewed aircraft on the first routes between hospitals in Sweden. This work will include drafting the necessary concepts of operations, submitting the required documentation to the authorities, carrying out trial operations to identify the potential and limitations of operations and implementing use case-specific requirements into the aircraft.
Multiple customers for Assaia
Using cameras and computer vision technology, Assaia’s TurnaroundControl ensures real-time monitoring of critical processes, regardless of weather conditions. Any deviation from planned time stamps triggers automatic alerts, allowing swift intervention and resolution. The startup has so far had over 455,400 turnarounds monitored for 168 airlines at 13 airports. Recent additions to its customer base include the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), the first German airport to use an AI-based software solution to optimise its handling processes in order to increase service quality, punctuality and efficiency at the airport. It will deploy the solution to analyse handling processes on its 49 apron positions. The product will be introduced gradually over the coming months. Fraport Slovenija is also introducing Assaia's TurnaroundControl solution at Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU) to optimise turnaround performance and gain valuable insights for future deployments at other Fraport airports. The system will also assist LJU in accurately predicting off-block time, generating real-time alerts, and enabling proactive resource management for improved on-time performance and reduced ground delays. Ultimately, these enhancements will contribute to an improved passenger experience.
In Asia and the US, the startup entered a strategic partnership Marubeni Corporation, the joint owner of Swissport Japan and Alaska Star Ventures, the investment arm of Alaska Airlines, welcoming them to its Strategic Partner Community, a global network of aviation leaders, to exclusively bring ApronAI to Southeast Asia. Assaia received an investment from both companies as part of their agreement. Through their investment, Marubeni will expand the scope of its exclusive distribution rights for ApronAI to Southeast Asia for the first time since obtaining these rights for the Japanese market in 2019. ApronAI gives complete visibility of the apron events for airports and ground handlers.
Swissto12 and Thales extend collaboration
Swissto12, a leading manufacturer of advanced satellite payloads and systems, including the HummingSat - a small yet powerful geostationary telecommunications satellite, is collaborating with world-leading critical electronics company Thales on the development of Active Electronically Steerable Antennas (AESAs) for Satcom-on-the-move market, with a focus on airborne, land and maritime vehicles. SWISSto12’s AESAs will use innovative 3D-printed miniature horn antennas instead of traditional patch antennas because of their higher efficiency and overall performance (gain, axial ratio & bandwidth over scan volume). These features are crucial to maintaining wide-angle scanning capabilities in AESAs. This new product builds on the strong collaboration between SWISSto12 and Thales’ Microwave and Imaging Sub-Systems activities across various products and applications. In January 2023, the two companies signed a contract to develop solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) for Space applications, specifically for SWISSto12’s Hummingsat missions.
(RAN)
Photo from left to right: Michael Savbäck (Founder and CEO Savback Helicopters), Thomas Pfammatter (Co-founder and CEO Dufour Aerospace), Martin Braaen (Founder of European Medical Drone) and Jasmine Kent (Co-founder and CTO Dufour Aerospace)
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