V2.0 now supports Alphanumerical Callsigns

[AirNav Development]

We are happy to announce that we have just finished a change in our flight data server to enable alphanumerical callsigns to be properly decoded.

So from now on callsigns like EZY67HP will have their origin/destination retrieved from our server.

This is another feature requested by users and immediately developed by AirNav Systems.
Hope you enjoy it.

[tarbat]

That's excellent news - well done in getting this working!!

[Allocator]

Yes, that seems to be working - note the last 2 autopopulated routes :-)

[Deadcalm]

Hello, Airnav.  A leap in the right direction - thanks.
However, how consistent is this change?  I only ask because, again, the majority don't show the route, including current Easyjet flights on screen at the moment:
EZY605F, EZY271L, and TCX535K, TCX269K, etc., etc...

DC

[Allocator]

Give it time to autopopulate DC - it doesn't all happen at once.

[tarbat]

Not sure which providers Airnav are now using for routes, but this might help explain some of the problems with dealing with alphanumeric callsigns (it's a statement by the author of FD6 that I forwarded on to Airnav last month):

"For info FlightAware does not carry Ryanair, Easyjet or the other non-US low cost carriers. FS & FC do carry most low cost carriers but FS will only accept FlightIDs where the flight number part of the code is numerical so FS will return a route for EZY6521 but it will not return a route for EZY37FN as 37FN is not numeric. FC will accept both EZY6521 & EZY37FN so depending on the lookup site and the format of the flightID you may or may not get a match."

From what I've seen Airnav are doing everything they can to get this working reliably for the myriad of callsign formats, and are now making significant progress.

[Allocator]

Amongst other routes, I've got the following low-cost carrier routes autopopulated today:

EZY80FX EGGD EGPE
TCX104P EGKK EGCC
EZY18LM EGKK EGPH
RYN81LN EGGW EIKN

This is after a quick look at the routes table in Database Explorer, so it does look like they are being populated.

64 routes populated so far this morning :-)

[AirNav Support]

They are being popuplated, but please remember sometimes our source data does not have all the flights. There isn't a magical database out there with all of them so some will be missing :) But this is the closest we can get at the moment.

[CarlosAbreu]

This an excelent improvement for ANRB2009 however I would like to know if I can manually update flight codes.
I was using 1.5v with many routes manually updated, however due to a personal decision I decided to fully install the new ANRB version instead of the update because it gave me problems.
The new fully version works fine but after I looked the new route database I checked that many flights I had in my old one are missing.
I have a backup of my 1.5v data If you wish, under your instructions I can provide it for you to pick up missing flights.
These update flights were essencially from low costs and charters with origin/destination from Portugal and Spain and some cruise levels for North Africa an North/South America.

Brgds
CA

[Roadrunner]

Hi AirNav,

On a slightly different tack with route information. I note that the drop down lists available to select from or to airports for data use IATA 3 lettercodes but the data that is in the aircraft list and on the maps uses the ICAO 4 letter codes.

Would it be possible to have a choice as to whether IATA or ICAO codes are displayed in the list and on the maps.

Regards

[AirNav Support]

CarlosAbreu,

Contact support direct and we will see whether we can put those routes on the server. However as they won't be updated we probably need to look for a better start source.

You can update the route table if you like, the only difference now is that it has a date time stamp, if this is older than a month in then tries to get the route data again if is available.

Roadrunner,

Suggestion noted, although the drop down filter list can take both 3 and 4 code when entered manually.

[tarbat]

You can update the route table if you like, the only difference now is that it has a date time stamp, if this is older than a month in then tries to get the route data again if is available.

Can you please confirm how it handles all the routes that have NULL in the CH (date/timestamp) field.  Do these expire immediately?

[AirNav Support]

Yes, however expire is not a nice word.

They don't get removed from the database unless there is route in the online database.

[CarlosAbreu]

I have already contact Airnav Support and now waiting for a reply, however I would like to know if I must introduce a date value in the field CH on the manual updates.

Brgds
CA

[tarbat]

I have already contact Airnav Support and now waiting for a reply, however I would like to know if I must introduce a date value in the field CH on the manual updates.

Yes, I'd be interested in the "official" answer to this as well.  In the meantime, I've been using a date/timestamp (today) of "20080821000000".