EUROCONTROL PURCHASES AVIATION SIMULATION SOFTWARE FROM BOEING SUBSIDIARY THE PRESTON GROUP

The Preston Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, has sold five Total Airspace & Airport Modeller (TAAM) licenses to EUROCONTROL.

TAAM is a fast-time gate-to-gate simulation tool used by civil aviation authorities, aviation research establishments, airlines and airports worldwide to analyze operations, redesign airspace, optimize the use of existing facilities and plan for the future.

The TAAM licenses will be used both at the Airport Operations unit of EUROCONTROL's headquarters in Brussels and at the Bretigny Experimental Center near Paris, which carries out research and development in air traffic management and air safety. Future plans include its availability at the Central European Air Traffic Services Research and Development Center in Budapest.

According to EUROCONTROL Simulation Service Manager Nigel Sylvester-Thorne, "TAAM will become an integral part of a comprehensive modeling environment to meet the needs of EUROCONTROL's ATM 2000+ strategy."

Boeing Vice President - Information Services Dr. Stephen Gumley commented that the EUROCONTROL decision was positive news for achieving the triple goals of increased capacity, reduced industry costs and increased levels of safety.

"EUROCONTROL is one of the two summit organizations in world civil aviation management, with the other being the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, and it's great that they have bought into the extraordinary power and flexibility of the TAAM simulation engine."

EUROCONTROL, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, oversees and coordinates air traffic control in the upper airspace of its 29-member states and works to develop a coherent air traffic system in Europe.

The Preston Group provides leading simulation, decision support and scheduling systems for the global aviation industry. It has developed advanced optimization and visualization technology, as well as industry expertise, to meet the needs of its customers through innovative software systems and services. Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, the company also maintains offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and London.

The Preston Group is a unit of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, which offers the industry's most complete selection of aviation support products and services.