Digital Aircraft Operations is an IATA initiative, that supports airlines in identifying areas and implementing solutions for more efficient Technical Operations.
These operations include aircraft maintenance activities, parts supply chain and logistics, as well as the transfer of aircraft assets.
Digital Aircraft Operations vision and mission
Taking-off into the second hundred years of commercial flight, airlines must embrace the digital operation standards of an ever increasing fleet performance delivered by e-enabled and "connected" aircraft. The vision is to explore efficiencies and provide implementation guidelines to airlines in the area of technical operations.
With innovative technologies and improved processes, the aircraft should be able to “talk” to the operator about its history, airworthiness, technical condition and costs. Proficiency in this e-enabled language is the essential competitive advantage in building the airlines’ future.
Digital Aircraft Operations implementation
The series of airline technical operations’ benefits brought by the transition to digital operations were assessed both in terms of their potential impact and their immediacy. This generated a series of priority projects which IATA initiated or actively embarked on in the fields listed below (please note: the listing order is not intended to suggest any priority ranking of the areas included):
- Auto-ID / RFID aircraft parts tracking
- Digital signature and electronic maintenance record keeping
- Aircraft Health Monitoring
- Scheduled Maintenance Data Standard (SMDS) in S1000D
- Promoting Spec 2000 XML standards for aircraft configuration, electronic maintenance records, RFID, etc
- Aircraft e-enablement, connectivity, avionics software reliability and eTechLog
Initiative reports to Engineering and Maintenance Group within Safety, Flight and Ground Operations Advisory Council of IATA.
Digital Aircraft Operations, general:
- White paper: From Aircraft Health Monitoring to Aircraft Health Management (pdf) - 1st Edition (2022)
- Paperless Aircraft Operations: Business Case Support Template, November 2018 (xlsm)
- Paperless Aircraft Operations: Business Case Support Mindmap, November 2018 (pdf)
- IATA Guidance Material for the implementation of Paperless Aircraft Technical Operations (pdf)
RFID:
Maintenance Contract Templates:
- IATA Master Engine Maintenance Agreement (main section, rev. 2016) (pdf)
- IATA Master Engine Maintenance Agreement (fillable Annexes) (doc)
- IATA Master Airframe Maintenance Agreement (main section, rev. 2014) (pdf)
- IATA Master Airframe Maintenance Agreement (fillable Annexes) (doc)
Electronic Signature:
IATA Paperless Aircraft Operations Conference - 2018
Day 1
- Keynote on ‘Digital Aviation & DARTeC’ (pdf) - Cranfield University
- Overview – Paperless Operations Business Case Support Template (pdf) - Senior Consultant, IATA
- IVHM – a Key Enabler for Future Civil Aerospace (pdf) - Cranfield University
- FAA Perspective on Aircraft Health Monitoring Implementation (pdf) - Federal Aviation Administraion
- Maintenance of Tomorrow – The AHM Path from Airbus’ Perspective (pdf) - Airbus Operations GmbH
- The role of independent MRO’s in Component Maintenance Arising from Predictive Maintenance (pdf) - AJ Walter
- UAE GCAA – Go Paperless Initiatives (pdf) - UAE General Civil Aviation Authority
- Our Innovation Journey – a Paperless Operation (pdf) - EasyJet
- IT meets Aircraft – The Five Root Causes for Trouble and Excessive Cost with Airborne Software Maintenance (pdf) - Lufthansa Airlines
- What Does a “Connected” Aircraft Really Mean? (pdf) - Southwest Airlines
Day 2
- Democratising Data (pdf) - JetStar Airways
- Life Limited Parts Database Project (pdf) - Flight Global
- RFID at Delta Air Lines (pdf) - Delta Air lines
- RFID at United Airlines (pdf) - United Airlines
- Preparing for the Technology - Enabled Future of Aviation (pdf) - RFID Lab Auburn University
- Continuing Airworthiness Data Migration to Maintenance and Engineering Information System (pdf) - FL Technics
- Electronic Records – Harmonising Transition Requirements (pdf) - GECAS
- Scheduled Maintenance Data Standard Task Force at IATA (pdf) - IATA
- Big Data: The race is on! But what is the end goal? (pdf) - ICF
- Managing and Exploiting Big Data in the Aviation Sector: Some Legal Implications and Challenges (pdf) - Bird & Bird LLP