BOSTON, July 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClimaCellⓇ, the microweather™ technology company that finds and forecasts location-specific, short-term weather that others can't see, launched today a new Aviation version of its HyperCast™ software. The product has all of the weather measurement and forecasting capabilities of ClimaCell’s cross-industry HyperCast product that is used by major sports teams, construction companies, drone companies, and ride-sharing companies, but with additional features designed specifically for airline and airport operations teams. ClimaCell also announced that JetBlue Airways has implemented HyperCast Aviation across its largest cities, after a successful pilot program at Boston’s Logan Airport.
Accurate weather forecasting is essential in aviation, primarily for safety, but also to avoid unnecessary delays and cancellations that inconvenience passengers and inflate costs. HyperCast Aviation is the first weather software that leverages new hypersensing technologies including wireless networks, proprietary IoT sensors, and other stealth technologies to monitor microweather conditions for more precise forecasting. That means that unlike other weather software solutions, HyperCast Aviation can track and predict microweather that is low to the ground and in a specific location. While a typical radar can only sense precipitation above roughly 1,000 feet up in the atmosphere, ClimaCell technology senses weather that is both above and below 1,000 feet.
“We’ve personally witnessed ClimaCell pick up ground-level weather systems that no one else could observe,” said Ian Deason, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at JetBlue. “Since we’ve put the ClimaCell tool in the hands of our Boston managers, we get non-stop requests from other leaders who want access. From the operations teams keeping the planes moving to de-icing and ground operations crews who are outside ensuring safe and on-time departures, this tool was designed with an understanding of the decision-making pressure airport leaders face every day. JetBlue is looking forward to expanding our use of ClimaCell’s solution.”
JetBlue started using HyperCast Aviation in June 2017 for its operations team at Boston Logan Airport, one of its most congested, weather-affected airports. The JetBlue operations team immediately started seeing weather patterns that weren’t being tracked by traditional forecasters, and started using HyperCast Aviation to support on-the-ground decision-making around their de-icing operations and to better predict runway configurations and flight delay and cancellation timing.
HyperCast Aviation has become an indispensable source of operations information for the JetBlue team in Boston, with a permanent spot on one of the overhead screens in the operations room - visible to the entire team. As a result, JetBlue has expanded its implementation of ClimaCell to all of its largest airports. JetBlue estimates that ClimaCell’s technology has the potential to save the company tens of thousands of dollars per month in operational disruption costs at each of its largest airports. JetBlue saw enough potential in ClimaCell’s global microweather forecasting technology that its investment arm, JetBlue Technology Ventures, is now one of several investors in the company, participating in ClimaCell’s recent Series A funding.
“As a former pilot, I have a great appreciation for the impact of microweather on safe flying, and the critical nature of accurate forecasts. We are very happy to introduce a new kind of weather solution for aviation that focuses on making ground operations both safer and more efficient,” said Shimon Elkabetz, CEO and co-founder of ClimaCell. “And we’re thrilled to be working with JetBlue on this major rollout of HyperCast Aviation across all of its top airports.”
HyperCast Aviation is also in use at other major airlines and airports. Major benefits include:
- A Nowcast platform that gives minute-by-minute predictions for the next six hours so that decisions can be made around timing of delays/cancellations/de-icing, etc.
- Ability to track low-altitude weather conditions to guide take-off/landing decisions
- Ability to zoom in on weather down to a street level (a 500-meter space) vs. only seeing weather at the ‘city’ level like other solutions
- Flight-tracking capabilities to aid in decisions around which flights may be diverted because of weather
For more information on HyperCast Aviation, visit https://www.climacell.co/.
About ClimaCell®
ClimaCell is the first and only microweather™ technology company, using hypersensing technologies to track location specific, short-term weather that no one else can see. While traditional weather companies use public data sources that can only deliver forecasts at the city level, ClimaCell combines public sources with newer sources like wireless networks and IoT devices to forecast at the street-level. ClimaCell provides granular weather data to airlines, drone companies, ride-sharing companies and other weather-dependent businesses in the form of its HyperCast HD software and Microweather™ API and provides life-saving information and forecasts to communities across the globe. Visit https://www.climacell.co/ or follow @WeatherRevealed.
Media Contact:
Kerry Metzdorf
kerry@big-swing.com
+1 (978) 463-2575
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2efde7cd-8aaf-4a72-9b5f-32f2ace05a44