Airbus intends to grow its aftermarket activity by fitting A320-family and A330 jets with equipment to capture more operational and technical data for analysis via its new digital services platform, Skywise.
The big-data initiative was formally launched at this year's Paris air show, after services had begun in February. Initial customers were AirAsia, Delta Air Lines, EasyJet, Emirates, JetBlue and Peach, Airbus head of services Laurent Martinez told delegates at the MRO Europe conference in London earlier this month.
Air France is a subscriber too, for flight operational data services.
From the second quarter of 2018, Airbus intends to line-fit A320-family jets with a Rockwell Collins-supplied data recording and transmission unit – dubbed the flight operations and maintenance exchanger, FOMAX – which will increase the number of available parameters from 400 to 24,000 per flight.
On the A330, that number is set to rise from 1,500 to 40,000, and FOMAX will be available for retrofit on in-service aircraft. A350s and A380s will not require the equipment as these newer jets can transmit 400,000 and 250,000 parameters per flight, respectively.
Serge Panabiere, vice-president of marketing & business for Airbus's services division, told FlightGlobal at MRO Europe that the data was already circulating on A320s and A330s operating today. But so far, it has not been possible to record and transmit the full information for analysis, he says. The planned increase in data will partly be achieved by capturing parameters at higher recording frequency.
Data will be transmitted after landing via 4G mobile phone networks, says Panabiere. Rockwell Collins has previously indicated that FOMAX will be capable of sending and receiving data during flight, too.
Martinez confirms that data collected in flight belongs to the operators. However, the information will be accessible only via Skywise. Panabiere says operators that want to have access to data from their aircraft will have the option of a free, basic subscription to Skywise – provided they agree to their anonymised information being combined with that of other airlines on the digital platform for visibility across the entire fleet. He acknowledges, however, that airlines might have reservations about sharing their data with external organisations.
Pilot opposition could be an obstacle to sharing data that can be traced back to the crew operating a flight. A source indicates that airlines will require agreement from pilot unions on what data can be shared.
Airbus intends to use the data to help airlines improve the efficiency of their flight and maintenance operations. Martinez says expansion of predictive maintenance capabilities – automatic monitoring of components to replace them before failure, rather than equipment checks dictated by a schedule – will be a central difference to the airframer's previous aftermarket support services. "We are moving from a typical PBH [by-the-hour] contract to the next generation of [Airbus's] Flight Hour Services," he says.
Martinez predicts that operational disruptions could be reduced 30% through predictive maintenance. He says the manufacturer is aiming "toward zero AOG [aircraft-on-ground]" incidents.
Skywise will not be limited to managing Airbus types exclusively. Panabiere says the system already contains data from Boeing aircraft, and other manufacturers' data will be included to serve as a platform for mixed-fleet operators. Rockwell Collins previously indicated that FOMAX will also be offered to other airframers.
MRO ALLIANCE
In order to provide maintenance services to airlines, Airbus has teamed up with a range of MRO providers. Initial partners were AAR, Aeroman, China Airlines' technical division, Etihad Airways Engineering, Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (GAMECO) – which is part-owned by China Southern Airlines – and Sabena Technics. The list additionally includes wholly or part-owned Airbus ventures Eltra Aeronautics, Grand China Aviation Maintenance, Heavy Maintenance Singapore Services and Sepang Aircraft Engineering.
Airbus has dubbed the partnership its MRO Alliance, also unveiled at the Paris air show as a replacement for the airframer's previous MRO Network. Martinez describes the disbanded MRO Network as a "club" of maintenance providers that co-operated with the manufacturer. The new alliance, he says, will be a much closer partnership with Airbus "where we are sharing know-how".
Panabiere says Airbus wants to "engage with MROs" to provide "full service" for airlines. "We want to customise the support we would deliver... with strong involvement of digitisation," he says. Panabiere indicates that further maintenance providers could join the alliance, but he declines to set a target. "The market will dictate it in the end," he says.
Martinez insists that operators will be able to choose between MROs within the alliance "depending on the capabilities they [the providers] have and depending on the region where the airlines are operating". But he says: "Our alliance will be limited to a very small number of MROs."
Airbus's services division – responsible for material and maintenance supply, interior upgrades, training, and flight operations support – increased revenue 18% last year, to $2.8 billion. Martinez forecasts that the segments will grow at a similar rate this year, and suggests that growth could accelerate in future with consolidation in the aftermarket around fewer, larger service providers.
FlightGlobal’s Big Data conference takes place on 6-7 December in London: flightglobal.com/bigdata
Source: Cirium Dashboard
