A New Level of Efficiency and Accuracy in the Airline Industry

In the airline industry, every second is measured. Small efficiency improvements can make big differences in operational performances. Because of this, the industry is using technology to move quicker, move more consistently and most importantly, move more safely.

Technological advances in aircraft have taken some manual, tedious work away from humans, resulting in fewer human errors, better quality control and stronger compliance factors. Taking the human out of these repetitive tasks allows humans to address the issues, focus on strategy or digest and analyze data that is collected through the planes and programs like AHEAD-Pro.

AHEAD-Pro is a program by Embraer that monitors trends of failures on the Embraer 175 and sends data after every single aircraft arrival. This data eliminates some of the guesswork by maintenance technicians and maintenance operations control professionals and enables them to dig right into the issue rather than spend time diagnosing it.

With a technology-advanced fleet like the Embraer 175 aircraft, data can be pulled for every aspect of the machine to be analyzed and translated into what continues to go right and where improvements can be made.

The avionics sensors in the aircraft send information that can be analyzed for every single flight. With a large data bank, it becomes possible to forecast trends, good or bad, leading to increased efficiencies. Because of this, forecasting has become a buzzword of sorts in the airline industry.

Having the capability to predict chronic aircraft issues leads to less guesswork and an opportunity to collaborate with various departments to ensure aircraft are repositioned in a proactive, efficient manner rather than unnecessary ferrying that takes days off the productivity of the aircraft, which in the airline business, that could be a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that’s just one example of ways forecasting improves operations. 

Introducing new technology to MRO operations always comes with a risk, but not embracing innovation could be a greater gamble because of the high likelihood of human error. The pace of technology makes it nearly impossible to keep up with all the opportunities to introduce change, so when making a decision to bring new technology into MRO, it’s important to ensure the technology will provide an ongoing impact to streamline operations. The internal buy-in must be communicated throughout the business as well. Change is not easy, but it’s much easier if everyone understands the benefits that will come from change.

As technology continues to evolve, it’s imperative that the aviation industry keeps up with the pace but must do so without compromising safety for the maintenance teams, the crew members and the passengers. Innovation and technology changes should always have safety as the forefront and productivity as a byproduct. The best business change will make the business safer and in turn make the business more efficient as well. While productivity may drive revenue, an entire business can be destroyed if safety is not paramount.

While the rapid changes can be intimidating, technology advancements have enabled the aviation industry to be safer than ever. Digesting the continuous flood of data can be exhausting, but we’re more informed than ever before, allowing us to make smarter, more proactive decisions. When airlines embrace innovation despite the challenges it may bring, that’s when we’re really able to takeoff.