| | June 20198 IN MY OPINIONoday's new aircraft are amazing engineering marvels that combine a century of advances in aerodynamics and design with advances in navigation, communication, and safety sys-tems. The Wright brothers would hardly rec-ognize the fruit of their labor. The industry, however, is trying to balance the advanced technology on new aircraft and the ongoing dependency of legacy systems, many designed and built in the 1950s. Airlines must find a way to in-troduce operational benefits gained through technology with-in the confines of a marketplace that needs to support both old and new.There is no doubt technology and an explosion of data is reshaping aviation, and the airlines that are thinking ahead will make data work for them, not the other way around. Perhaps one of the largest changes in the industry has been the role of information technology in the organization. For most of avi-ation's history, technology has lived in specialized operation-al teams within the airline. IT has been a corporate function, supporting the enterprise but not involved with operation-al technology. Today, the role of IT is crucial to the airline, and the CIO has become a major stakeholder in the organi-zation. The data revolution that's upon us will only further drive dependency.Three main technology advances in aviation have signifi-cantly changed the industry over the last ten years:·The rise of powerful consumer computing technology through laptops, tablets, and smartphones has been the largest singular impact in commercial aviation operations.· The increase in data availability and communica-tions has also fundamentally changed how the indus-try makes operational decisions.· Finally, the operational capabilities of newer aircraft are driving regulators and administrators to review and revise regulations, operating procedures, and rules designed when there was a different techni-cal acumen in the industry.Truly, airlines are showing tremendous creativity in finding case studies and benefits through consum-er technology. The adoption of tablets and a shift to-wards web applications has led to a more rapid growth curve for the industry. Pilots use iPads or Surface tab-lets to track the flight, monitor weather, and calculate operational performance. Cabin crews can use phones to accept payments, fill out reports, and review man-uals. Mechanics are able to view inventory, history of the aircraft, and electronically sign off a repair on a laptop or tablet.Moreover, these devices can be a hardware plat-form that can support further development and func-tionality to deliver even more benefit. For example, a smartphone that is justified through a paperless project can also support better scheduling, commu-nications, and safety briefings. The mechanic using a tablet can also provide valuable future opportunities to understand traffic flows in a hangar, congestion points in a workflow process, or connect to training videos at the plane. The key to these extra benefits By Andrew Kemmetmueller, Chief Digital Officer, AAR THOW THE AVIATION INDUSTRY SOARS WITH ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
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