–    Airline completes trial of aircraft inspection by automated drone and plans roll out in 2016
–    easyJet trialling 3D printing to produce replacement aircraft parts
–    New collaboration with Airbus will provide inflight telemetry predicting technical issues before they occur to minimise delays
–    Range of digital innovations to make travel easier for passengers

easyJet, Europe’s leading airline, today announced – during a pan-European event at Milan Malpensa, its second largest base after London Gatwick – that it has successfully completed automated drone inspection of one of its aircraft. The tests prove that pre-programmed drones could help reduce the number of hours an aircraft is out of service after events such as lightning strikes compared to manual inspection. easyJet aims to bring the drones into service in its engineering bases across Europe within 12 months.

The airline also announced today that it is trialling the use of 3D printing to replace parts within the cabin like arm rests to speed up the replacement process and reduce the storage of spares. 3D printing will be a part of the next generation engines that easyJet has on order. The LEAP engine features 3D printed parts including fuel nozzles, carbon filter fan blades and ceramic matrix composites.

In collaboration with Airbus the airline will study a solution for prognostics maintenance including services and eSolutions which can receive real-time information from aircraft systems via the ACARS messaging system. This information is then analysed, with fault predictions sent to airlines’ operations teams so they can use it to troubleshoot technical faults as soon as the plane lands or schedule the work into its regular maintenance. This collaboration supports our aim of eliminating technical related delays. We have already reduced these from 10 delays per 1000 flight movements to 6 delays per 1000 flight movements over the past 5 years.

Just as important as the behind-the-scenes innovations, new digital innovations designed to make travel easier for passengers have also been a focus for the airline. These include a new iPhone app and Apple Watch app.

Commenting on these advances, chief executive of easyJet, Carolyn McCall, said:

“Milan Malpensa is our largest base outside the UK and Italy is a key strategic country for easyJet.  Milan is in the spotlight as the city has just opened the doors of the Universal Exhibition, EXPO Milan 2015 – with technology being one of its key themes.  That’s why we think it is the perfect location to talk about how easyJet is continuing to lead the way in aviation innovation and digital leadership.

“easyJet has always been pioneering.  We revolutionised travel in Europe enabling people to fly to more places more cheaply than before.  From our birth almost twenty years ago we have innovated from selling through the web and more recent moves like introducing allocated seating.

“Last year we presented a range of new and emerging technologies that we intended to apply to the aviation sector for the first time to help us run our fleet of aircraft more effectively, efficiently and safely. A number of these technologies have now been implemented into our everyday operation including flying our fleet of planes with entirely paperless cockpits, using apps to help to simplify processes like managing our fan changes after a bird strike and an app for our ops control centre to help engineers and crew resolve technical issues with easyJet’s aircraft across the airline’s network.

“Since then we have continued to look for new and original innovations to help run our operation smoothly and ensure passengers get to where they need to go safely and on time.

“We have made great strides on our work with drone technology having successfully tested automated drone inspections of our aircraft and we have agreed a new collaboration with Airbus for an inflight prognosis tool. Both of these support our aim of eliminating technical related delays.

“All of this work is aimed at further increasing reliability of our aircraft and therefore improving our passengers’ experience. We have also been investing in digital innovations including a new iphone App, our bespoke Apple Watch app and a new digital self-managing tool that will hand back power to passengers so they can book their own accommodation and flights in event of flight disruption.”

Ian Davies, easyJet’s Head of Engineering, commented:

“The use of these emerging technologies frees up our engineering and digital teams to enable them to undertake more skilled tasks, keeping our costs down which in turn keeps our fares low, helps minimise delays and ensures that we maintain our industry leading punctuality for our passengers.

“Safety is our number one priority and so all of these new technologies will be applied by our experienced engineering and flight crew to ensure our leading safety record is maintained.” – See more at: http://mediacentre.easyjet.com/stories/9219#sthash.Lxi0VQCc.dpuf