Have you ever gotten to the airport only to find out there is an issue with the aircraft you are supposed to board?
Well, Delta Airlines coming up with a way to predict maintenance issues before they actually happen. In a multi-year agreement with Airbus, Delta will make use of a program called Skywise. It will be used on A320 and A330 planes to “track and analyze operations and performance data so it can assess the failure probabilities of aircraft parts to anticipate maintenance tasks before they’re needed,” representatives for the airline said in a statement. “The time is right to invest in this technology because we’ve built the most reliable airline operation in the world with the best people and processes already in place,” said Gil West, Senior Executive Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer.
Delta has been diligent in advancements of customer experience. With several multi-billion dollar investments over the past years, Delta has made improvements in technology, processes, and staffing to improve reliability and enhance the customer experience.
This will help Delta’s TechOps, who make sure more than 850 Delta aircraft fly safely worldwide. To date, the team can celebrate by going 248 days without a single maintenance-related cancellation. Their mission is to eliminate unscheduled cancellations due to maintenance issues completely.
This isn’t the first collaboration between Delta and Airbus. Back in 2015, Delta TechOp teamed up with Airbus to develop the manufacturer’s initial predictive program, Prognostic Risk Management, by co-designing, testing and making improvement recommendations about some of its key features. “With a success rate of over 95 percent, our predictive maintenance program is just another way we’re building the world’s most reliable airline and providing a new standard of reliability to customers,” said Don Mitacek, Senior Vice President of TechOps.
Out of 850 aircraft, 400 will participate in the Skywise program.