Boeing aims to reduce air-travel hassles

JetBlue Airways’ travel fiasco following an ice storm earlier this month unearthed problems with the airline's reservation and IT systems -- and highlighted the need for airlines to evaluate their own fleet management strategies.

Boeing hopes so, at least. The aerospace giant is offering a new line of products and managed services to help its customers -- commercial airlines, shipping and logistics providers and other carriers -- better control their fleets and actively diagnose problems in-flight to prevent slowdowns at airports.

Products that can reduce costs while increasing service levels could help shift how airlines are managed and spur the struggling industry’s recovery, aerospace experts say.

"The cost of aircraft downtime is exceptionally high, for a wide body it can be up to $100,000 per day. And to support a fleet around the world, an airline could have up to $2 million in spare parts in inventory. The cost to operate is very substantial for airlines," says Kevin Michaels, principal and cofounder of industry research firm Aero Strategy Management Consulting, in Ann Arbor, Mich.

"These products have the potential to reduce the amount of inventory needed, speed problem resolution and enhance the airlines' perception of reliability and safety with the ultimate end user, the air passenger."

For instance, Boeing's revamped Airplane Health Management (AHM) service collects in-flight information and relays it in real-time to the ground to check on the availability of needed resources at the next airport. The system can determine which people, data, airplanes, systems and software applications should be used to address a problem, such as replacing a hydraulic pump during a layover.

"Boeing is saying its services and technology can locate that pump from the airline or another airline at the airport to speed the replacement. That is one example of a move toward proactive responses to aircraft maintenance issues instead of reacting and causing slowdowns with aircraft and their travelers," Michaels says. "Boeing is, with some of the services, guaranteeing a certain amount of uptime and availability."

Such products and services -- variations of which also are available from Boeing competitors such as General Electric, Lufthansa Technik, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce -- mark a shift in the airline industry from leaders having the biggest fleet and the most parts in inventory to the successful companies better managing the assets they have and more readily making services available, Michaels says.

"This is a managed service that lets the airline focus on its core business while Boeing takes on the maintenance and upkeep of the fleet. Aircraft maintenance is no longer a competitive differentiator among airlines," Michael says. "The airline industry is catching up with other industries, such as manufacturing, in better managing its equipment to be able to deliver better services to customers."

The Boeing Aviation Information Services lineup includes digital maintenance solutions, such as the established Component Services Program (CSP) and newer offerings such as AHM, Electronic Flight Bag and Maintenance Performance Toolbox.