Editor’s comment: A numbers game

By June 22, 2018 May 21st, 2020 General News

Inflight editor Alexander Preston summarises the latest happenings across IFEC and cabin technology.

This week, research studies have been like London buses. You wait ages for one to appear, and then three turn up in quick succession.

That’s been the case for reports on the state of in-flight connectivity.

According to EuroConsult, over 23,000 commercial aircraft will offer connectivity to their passengers by 2027, up from 7,400 aircraft in 2017. The report authors contend that the need to improve profit margins, and to benefit from economies of scale, vertical integration and consolidation in the IFC value chain is needed. Are we set for some robust M&A activity in the coming months?

They also say the next 10 years will see the full emergence of the SmartPlane concept or connected aircraft. Aircraft being more and more connected will start to support all the latest IT trends such as IoT, Big Data, analytics, cyber-security and so forth, allowing aviation to enter a new era with connectivity at its heart.

It’s a picture supported in the latest findings by Honeywell in its new ‘Connected Aircraft Report’, which says that investment in connected technologies is expected to rise significantly during the next 12 months, and to increase even more rapidly over the next five years. The focus of the spending is expected to be beyond the cabin, with maintenance a key area.

In news that will please airline CFOs, the London School of Economics claims that the potential for multiple savings, efficiencies and safety opportunities could equate to a 0.75% – 1.00% reduction in the IATA consolidated US$764 billion annual global airline costs of operation.

In a co-authored report with Inmarsat, LSE forecasts that if technology is introduced such as using real time data to create a live electronic tech log, in which flight performance data is digitally integrated with maintenance suppliers, allowing airlines and advanced algorithms to identify any maintenance required before the aircraft arrives at its destination, it could halve maintenance costs and deliver annual cost savings of $5.6 billion.

Elsewhere, the operational benefits from enhanced broadband are forecast to generate up to US$15 billion for the global airline industry by 2035, as greater connectivity is adopted.
Such projections might just make discussions with CFOs just that much easier.


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