Back to Air Transport IT Review - Issue 2, September 2010

Optimizing electronic flight bags: AMT

Joe McGoldrick*
CEO
Aircraft Management Technologies (AMT)

As an airline, you have a technically sophisticated asset using leading-edge technology. But as far as operation of the aircraft is concerned, you're dealing with paper.

A typical airline has silos of information with very little flow of data across the silos. To compound the situation, the users of that data are interacting with the systems using paper. So user and management decisions rely on late, unreliable and also potentially poor quality data.

And of course it never gets to the cockpit. There's no flow. Somebody delivers it, somebody takes it away. The aircraft is not connected to back office systems. This results in major operational inefficiencies, poor turnaround times, poor on-time performance and poorer customer service, at a time when there is more competition for the customer.

Let the data flow

Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) give you the ability to remove paper from the equation and start the data flowing. You can close the loop between your back office systems, the aircraft and back out to your back office systems. That has a number of very significant operational benefits.

We've modelled in excess of 200 processes across flight operations, cabin operations and engineering. On average, with the introduction of EFBs, we've seen:

  • A 77% improvement in process elapsed time
  • A 42% reduction in working time
  • A 41% improvement in real value added as a percentage of labour
  • A 54% reduction in direct process cost

Typically that translates to a saving per aircraft of about US$ 200,000 per year.

EFBs enable the 'leaning' of business processes. You can eliminate waste and duplication from the processes that are present today. Using an open IT platform, you can deploy 'best of breed' applications and harmonize processes across all your aircraft.

And by putting in a connected aircraft infrastructure, you can incrementally roll out and implement different processes as you move forward, saving costs, enhancing compliance and helping generate increased revenues.

* Based on a presentation to the Digital Aircraft Industry Insight Session at the 2010 Air Transport IT Summit.

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