Southwest Airlines is rolling out Honeywell’s SmartRunway and SmartLanding software across its entire Boeing 737 fleet, boosting the carrier’s runway safety systems.
Honeywell disclosed the partnership on 16 June at the Paris air show, revealing that more than 700 aircraft have been activated. Southwest operates an all-Boeing fleet of more than 800 737s.
The runway safety systems build off Honeywell’s Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System already installed on Southwest’s aircraft. They are designed to increase situational awareness during taxi, take-off and landing phases with aural and visual alerts.
Honeywell says pilots are notified “when they are moving too fast, fly too high or are directed toward the wrong runway, helping break the chain of events that may lead to runway accidents”.
“Today’s pilots face increasing challenges including unpredictable weather and dense traffic in limited airspace, forcing them to make split-second decisions during take-off and landing,” says Jim Currier, chief executive of Honeywell Aerospace Technologies. “Fortunately, as the challenges evolve, so does the technology that provides the information they need in real time.”
Honeywell Aerospace Technologies is currently developing the company’s next-generation runway safety system, known as Surface Alerts, which it expects to certificate for transport-category aircraft in 2026.
