Tablets easing the pressure onboard

Airlines are finding that personal electronic devices, such as iPads, can bring huge benefits to their operations, both on the flight deck and in the cabin

by CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, TOM BALLANTYNE  

October 1st 2012

Print Friendly

Last month, 300 pilots and cabin crew at Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) began a three-month trial using iPads. Read More »

All Nippon Airways: all 2,500 of its flight and cabin crew to be supplied with iPads on board

It won’t end there. From February next year, the carrier will begin providing all its 2,500 crew with the tablet device, a move the carrier says will reform the way it works, cutting costs and improving the quality of its operations.

And in Seattle last month, Boeing announced Australia’s Qantas Airways would be the launch customer for its Onboard Performance Tool (OPT) for iPads.

The OPT will give pilots the ideal speeds and engine settings for any aircraft, in any weather, on any runway and, according to the U.S. manufacturer, help create gains in efficiency, range and payload.

These moves are typical of a growing trend among airlines to utilize tablet devices, which are lightweight and pack as much punch as a laptop computer.

ANA said the iPads will allow its flight crews access to weather and other flight-related information wherever they are, helping pilots choose the route and altitude with the least turbulence and help ensure operations run on-time. They will have constant access to the latest passenger reservation information and cargo volume information, helping optimize the fuel load for each flight.

The airline said paperless manuals would reduce printing costs and streamline the distribution and updating of manuals that can run to several thousand pages in a year. The iPads will also allow ANA to provide voice and video-based training and educational materials.

Qantas will deploy the OPT for iPad on 130 of its Boeing aircraft before the end of the year, using it as a standalone solution or backup to Class 2 or 3 Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) applications.

“The Boeing OPT is very well aligned with our flight deck mobile strategy. We especially appreciate the OPT’s flexibility, which allows us to define unique policies and configurations to suit our needs,” said Capt. David Oliver, head of flight technical for Qantas.

Since Boeing offered the OPT for iPad in July, more than 80 airlines have requested more information about the tool. “We have been very successful in the marketplace with our existing OPT application, but our customers told us they wanted a version for iPad,” said John Maggiore, director of airline performance management at Boeing.

At a recent aviation conference in Brussels, IT provider, SITA, said there had been a significant increase in the number of airlines looking at how tablets could be used for crew, passengers and customer service.

SITA’s portfolio director mobility, Paul Boyle, said key drivers included improving on-board passenger experience and increasing crew morale.

“The plans of many major airlines to give tablets to cabin staff will empower them to service customers proactively. At the same time, pre-flight preparations and post-flight reporting will gain from a more productive and flexible way of working.

“Early pioneers cite real-time insight into customer preferences across a range of areas, from meal requests to onward travel plans.”