BrazilGerman Aerospace Center teams up with Lufthansa Consulting
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has formed a strategic partnership with Lufthansa Consulting, the management consulting wing of German national carrier Lufthansa.
Founded in 1969, the Cologne-headquartered German Aerospace Center (DLR) is the country’s national research center for aerospace, energy, space and transportation. On behalf of the German federal government, the publicly-funded institution also supports the technical and organisational implementation of specialised projects in the field funded by a number of federal ministries.
In a bid to bolster its technical expertise in the aviation industry, the institution has forged a collaboration with Lufthansa Consulting, the consulting arm of Lufthansa. The consulting firm provides in-house consultancy to Group divisions in Germany and internationally, and provides services externally to airlines, airports, public authorities and related private sector companies.
The aim of the cooperation is according to Bernd Knabe, Lufthansa Consulting's Head of Corporate Office, to help the German Aerospace Center with “translating new technologies and promising innovations into marketable and practical solutions, products and services.” Leveraging Lufthansa Consulting’s large footprint, such commercial propositions can then rapidly be brought to market.
Rolf-Dieter Fischer, a Director at the German Aerospace Center, pointed at the benefits of collaborating on major aviation themes: “Concrete practical problems come face-to-face with research and development and lead to new solutions through intensified exchange.”
One area which the duo will venture in is airport optimisation. Air traffic in winter is such an example. Heavy snowfall deregulates operations, and typically leads to delays for airlines and passengers. The German Aerospace Center is, together with a range of partners, working on an approach that helps airports with better responding to adverse weather conditions.
Another example is enhancing the security of airports. To keep their premises and planes secure, airports run all kinds of security checks on passengers, yet the downside is that it slows the throughput speed of passengers during check-in processes, which for many airports is a major bottleneck. DLR and Lufthansa Consulting have announced plans to jointly develop a laser system for non-contact detection of explosives, meaning that passengers can be checked for bombs remotely, improving better safety while allowing a smoother passenger journey.
Bolstering airline operations is another area the two are expected to delve into, with Lufthansa Consulting able to provide deep first-hand experience in how processes such as planning, flight operations and maintenance can be run smoothly.
