Back to Air Transport IT Review - Issue 2, September 2010
Cockpit office meets back office: FedEx
Peter White*
Manager Air Operations Technology
FedEx
Aircraft manufacturers talk about the great things we can do with their 787s or A350s or A380s, but most of the airlines we know will be keeping their aircraft a lot longer. Airframers and suppliers must work with airlines to find economical solutions for legacy aircraft with 20-30 year life spans in the new digital world.
So what are my recommendations?
If you're going to move towards a digital aircraft, form a steering committee to establish a strategy and then pursue it. Include your partners, such as IT, engineering, flight ops and ground ops. Maybe also include your air traffic control team as well as regulatory people.
Make sure your strategy evolves as your corporate IT solutions evolve, so you can take advantage of some of those technologies. The key to success is the creation of a roadmap. We didn't have that originally and we paid for it.
Make sure you cover cost in the roadmap, because you must have the finance people on board. They have to understand your roadmap and where you're taking this multi-million dollar asset that's flying around the world.
Improve - continuously
Improve your processes. And not just one lean exercise - it's a continuous improvement. As you implement new technologies, go back and rationalize processes around them or you'll never get the optimizations you're seeking. It just won't happen. It's a good idea to invest in a first-rate Business Process Management (BPM) tool, to manage the process changes over time and allow for modelling.
Crucially, be sure you have the communications bandwidth to support your strategy - otherwise you'll find it difficult to keep your aircraft merged or linked up with your ground systems.
Finally, pick your partners well. That includes regulatory people because, as you introduce new technologies such as e-log book, it takes a lot of regulatory approvals. Importantly, spend time making sure that your back office systems keep up with your aircraft technology strategy.
"And also, ask yourself: "Do I want the best or will I be satisfied with adequate? Do I want something in between? How much am I willing to pay for what I need for this phase of the roadmap? Are my IT people fully on board?"
* Based on a presentation to the Digital Aircraft Industry Insight Session at the 2010 Air Transport IT Summit.
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