Boeing and United Airlines have conducted flight tests to evaluate a modernized data communication system designed to improve information flow between the flight deck, air traffic control and airline operation centers.
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With a United 737-8 jet serving as Boeing’s 2025 ecoDemonstrator Explorer, the airline’s pilots conducted test flights to assess Internet Protocol Suite (IPS) standards. The internet-based communications aim to enhance operational efficiency and flight safety while reducing air traffic congestion, fuel use, cost and emissions.
The 2025 Boeing ecoDemonstrator Explorer began flight testing in late October for about two weeks, with U.S. flights based in Houston and European flights based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Since 2012, the Boeing ecoDemonstrator program has accelerated innovation by taking new technologies out of the lab and testing them in an operational environment to help solve real-world challenges for airlines and passengers. The ecoDemonstrator program has tested more than 250 technologies to enhance safety, reduce fuel use, emissions and noise and improve operational efficiency and the passenger experience.
Participants in the ecoDemonstrator Explorer project also include:
– Collins Aerospace, Honeywell, SITA, Thales, Viasat,
– European Space Agency (ESA), Federal Aviation Administration, NASA Air Traffic Management – eXploration Project
– Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
“Data communications are essential to the safety and performance of tomorrow’s aircraft,” said Nate Boelkins, president of Avionics at Collins Aerospace. “Our work with the ecoDemonstrator Explorer program advances performance-based connectivity and interoperability, helping create more reliable, secure and agile operations across global airspace.”