China's aviation industry embraces the digital era

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China's civil aviation industry is accelerating its advance into the digital era, with major players sending clear signals of new opportunities worldwide.

Already this year, China Southern Airlines, operating the largest fleet in Asia and the third biggest worldwide, has started online seat selection for all domestic flights and paperless e-boarding passes.

"It is widely recognized that digitalization is a new value-growth point. Alongside dramatic growth in China's civil aviation sector, civil aviation authorities, domestic aviation manufacturers and technological giants are eyeing digitalization," said Xu Jun, vice president of Asia-Pacific OEMs of Honeywell Aerospace.

In January 2018, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) issued its Assessment Guidelines on Personal Electronic Devices (PED). It was seen as an impetus to reshape the cabin experience with in-flight Internet.

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Since then, domestic airlines have been relaxing bans on in-flight mobile device usage and major domestic aviation manufacturers have been embracing the digital era.

At the 2018 China Airshow, Hainan Airlines announced a partnership with Honeywell that would see Honeywell supply auxiliary power units (APU) and aftermarket support to the airline's fleet, including its GoDirect connected maintenance services, a predictive technology based primarily on data.

In November 2018, the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group jointly launched the Wang Jian Large Aircraft Workshop, an initiative to explore the use of intelligent manufacturing technology in passenger aircraft. COMAC is the developer of China's C919 large passenger airplane.

It is one of several collaborations between China's Internet giants and commercial aircraft manufacturers to inject technologies like the Internet, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence into aviation manufacturing.

In addition, Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon have had paperless services on their 15 daily flights between Shanghai Pudong and Hong Kong since October 29, 2018. Passengers can now enjoy easier and more flexible electronic services including booking, paying, check-in and boarding.

China Southern e-Travel, part of China Southern's digital strategy, combines mobile Internet with all the service processes.

It consolidates upstream and downstream resources for air travel and tourism, and is a mobile application platform, offering one-stop shopping and door-to-door service for customers.

"Digitalization opens a new horizon with regard to safety, efficiency and cost for both aircraft manufacturing and civil aviation," Xu said.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency