Brazilian airline Azul to equip its fleet with Michelin PresSense tires

Sao Palo, Brazil – The Brazilian airline Azul has chosen the PresSense connected tire and its pressure measurement system to equip its fleet of Airbus A320s and A321s, and Embraer 195-E1s and 195-E2s, i.e., nearly 110 aircraft.

The result of a partnership between Safran Landing Systems, the world leader in landing systems, and Michelin, the world leader in the mobility sector, PresSense is intended to simplify airline maintenance operations.
PresSense allows for remotely measuring aircraft tire pressures, just 45 minutes after landing. In comparison, most operators still perform these mandatory daily maintenance checks manually, using a pressure gauge positioned on the valve. However, in order to be performed in complete safety, the operation requires waiting for the tire to cool, i.e., at least 3 hours after landing.

PresSense comprises an electronic pressure measurement sensor, developed by Safran, integrated into a tire designed by Michelin. To check the tire pressures, maintenance agents simply need to place an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader in front of the tire. The information is read instantly on a smartphone app and sent to a database. This offers airlines the option of performing subsequent analyses, intended, for example, for predictive maintenance operations, whereas the manual pressure measurements are not kept.

By reducing the downtime of aircraft on the ground by over 2 hours every day, PresSense allows airlines to optimize the availability of their fleets and thus gain in competitive advantage. At fleet level, it also offers them the opportunity to reduce their operating costs, as the maintenance operations only take a few seconds.

PresSense has been the subject of several successful operating tests with various airlines, allowing Safran and Michelin to now offer a mature solution. Michelin has been entrusted with marketing this innovative digital solution.