“An American Airlines executive kicked off the Tablet Strategy conference by detailing the airline’s rapid adoption of tablets and aggressive strategy going forward,” David Needle reports for TabTimes. “American’s well-publicized replacement of bulky kit bags that include flight manuals for pilots using iPads will become available to all of the airline’s 8,600 pilots by the end of May.”
“The iPad replaces 40 pound kit bags with over 3,000 pages that include terminal charts and flight manuals that can now be updated digitally. It’s little surprise then that the change is being welcomed on all sides,” Needle reports. “‘We’ve reduced the single biggest source of pilot injuries, carrying those packs,’ said Patrick O’Keeffe, VP of Airline Operations Technology at American during his Tablet Strategy keynote. ‘And we are now able to save $1 million in fuel costs and stop printing all the page revisions.'”
Needle reports, “American got on the iPad bandwagon early and has since, in partnership with Apple, lobbied the FAA for broader use in flight. ‘American is the only carrier in the world with permission to use iPads at all phases of a flight, including letting our pilots use them below 10,000 feet,’ said O’Keeffe.”
Full article here.
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