Wed, Aug 15, 2007
Part Of Environmental Partnership Agreement
Boeing and Virgin Atlantic Airways
announced this week the airline will use Boeing's Airplane Health
Management system to monitor the inflight condition of its 747-400
fleet -- another step in the companies' growing partnership focused
on reducing the environmental impact of air travel.
As ANN reported, earlier this
year Boeing and Virgin Atlantic said they will work together to
reduce fuel burn and cut aircraft emissions on the ground as well
as developing sustainable biofuels suitable for commercial jet
engines and the aviation industry.
Virgin Atlantic's 13 747-400s will use Airplane Health
Management to gather and evaluate critical in-flight data on the
real-time flying condition of the airplanes, information that can
be used across the enterprise to identify and address efficiency
issues. Airplane Health Management gives airlines significant
insight as to the condition of airplanes in the sky, providing
in-flight access to fuel-burn information so airlines can identify
and correct problems that might be wasting fuel.
In some cases, Airplane Health Management allows airlines to
begin working faults while an airplane is in the air. For example,
a fault identified by AHM and relayed to ground controllers
provides airlines the visibility to turn a potentially costly
on-ground maintenance delay into an easily addressable repair that
minimizes or eliminates scheduling problems for passengers.
AHM also supports long-term fleet-reliability programs by
helping airlines identify and respond to faults proactively. The
system provides fleet-wide information aggregated from other
operators, which can be used to determine, for example, the
effectiveness of particular maintenance actions in fixing problems.
The goal is to help airlines operate at the highest levels of
reliability and efficiency.
"Boeing is committed to helping carriers operate successfully,
and Airplane Health Management is one of the key tools we offer in
that effort," said Dan da Silva, vice president of Sales and
Marketing for Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. "We couldn't ask
for a higher validation of Airplane Health Management as a great
tool for environmentally conscious airlines than this decision by
Virgin Atlantic."
Airplane Health Management is a key component in Boeing's larger
vision of the e-Enabled airline, where information technology,
connectivity and strategic integration promise greater efficiency
and improved airline operations.
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