Brazil airline opts for Rockwell Collins

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SAN JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Latin America's largest low-cost airline GOL has opted for Rockwell Collins' advanced avionics for its brand-new fleet of 20 Boeing 737NG aircraft.

Neither side discussed the deal's financial details as they made the announcement.

The Rockwell Collins win is an indication that despite Brazil's great strides in developing its own aviation and defense industries, U.S. manufacturers maintain a competitive edge in a key avionics sector.

The Rockwell Collins deal follows several other avionics and component supplier contracts between Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer and U.S. and European plane makers.

Embraer is emerging as a major aviation rival to North American and European aircraft manufacturing giants.

GOL selected the full suite of Rockwell Collins' advanced avionics, including its GLU-925 Multi-Mode Receiver and MultiScan Threat Detection system, Rockwell Collins said.

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes is the largest low-cost and low-fare airline in Latin America, offering around 810 daily flights to 62 destinations in nine countries in South America and the Caribbean under its GOL and VARIG brands.

The avionics will be installed on GOL's 20 new Boeing 737NG aircraft due for delivery from 2014 onward.

"We're pleased to bring GOL a reliable suite of offerings that will deliver high levels of situational awareness, as well as highly efficient and predictable operations," Rockwell Collins Vice president and Managing Director for the Americas Thierry Tosi said.

He said GOL's operations will benefit from local support through Rockwell Collins' Sao Jose dos Campos service center. The facility is staffed by "factory-trained technicians that specialize in avionics work for a full range of aircraft," Tosi said.

Rockwell Collins is the latest U.S. aviation and avionics firm to gain a foothold in Brazil, seen by the industry as one of the world's largest and fastest growing aviation segments.

Boeing has sealed partnerships with several Brazilian firms both in civilian and tactical transport sectors and in various defense and security fields.

Rockwell Collins says its GLU-925 MMR enables airlines and operators to take advantage of evolving Required Navigation Performance, Area Navigation and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast capabilities.

The manufacturer says the GLU-925 fulfills the requirements for aircraft navigation position source, Category III Instrument Landing System, Category I Global Positioning Landing System, accessing RNP/RNAV airspace -- down to RNP Authorization Required 0.1.

The system also meets the GPS position and availability requirements for ADS-B Out mandates, says the company.

Rockwell Collins' MultiScan Threat Detection System is a fully automatic airborne weather radar system. More than 4,100 units of the system are in use by more than 145 airlines.

The company says MultiScan combines the latest weather science with advanced engineering concepts to identify and analyze thunderstorm cells and display the actual weather threat. The end result is reduced pilot workload, enhanced safety, and greater passenger comfort due to minimizing unexpected turbulence encounters.

The latest version of MultiScan features many new capabilities that enable the prediction and display of hail and lightning potential, thunderstorm-related clear-air turbulence potential and different levels of turbulence.

Rockwell Collins has headquarters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and employs 20,000 people worldwide.