British Airways Expands Airplane Health Management Coverage on Boeing Twin-Aisle Fleet

LONDON, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) and British Airways today announced that the airline will enhance the existing Boeing Airplane Health Management (AHM) system that is operating on its more than 100 Boeing 777s and 747-400s. The AHM system on the British Airways twin-aisle Boeing fleet will include the Custom Alerting and Analysis module in addition to the Real-Time Monitoring module that the airline initiated earlier this year.

British Airways' future 787 Dreamliner deliveries also will be monitored via the two AHM modules.

The Custom Alerting and Analysis module allows the airline to use even more advanced methods to control the monitoring and alerting that it receives concerning the health and status of various on-board systems. Data collected include tire pressure, oxygen pressure, hydraulic fluid and oil levels in the engines and auxiliary power unit. This detailed information helps the airline to identify consumption trends to facilitate maintenance planning and determine the most appropriate service intervals.

This information supplements British Airways' ability to track in-flight faults and make real-time operational decisions regarding maintenance, in order to deploy the necessary people, parts and equipment to address the issue before the airplane arrives at the gate -- a capability provided by the AHM Real-Time module. All data is accessed via the Internet over the MyBoeingFleet.com portal.

"We've found that AHM Real-Time monitoring has been highly beneficial to our maintenance programs by allowing enhanced planning and positioning of our people and materials, so much so that I track the status of our fleet and even individual airplanes on my iPad® through MyBoeingFleet," said Garry Copeland, engineering director, British Airways. "The addition of Custom Alerting will provide even greater visibility into the maintenance requirements of our fleet."

Using Airplane Health Management's enhanced decision support, troubleshooting and historical fix success capabilities, British Airways is able to benefit its passengers through improved schedule performance resulting from increased maintenance efficiency.

"British Airways' desire to expand AHM provides a great endorsement of the benefits this product brings to the table," said Dennis Floyd, vice president, Fleet Services, Commercial Aviation Services, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "It helps our customers keep their airplanes flying, through effective and on-time maintenance."

Airplane Health Management is a key component in Boeing's larger vision of Lifecycle Solutions -- improving airline efficiency with digital productivity tools, product and industry expertise and the power of aviation's leading integrated supply chain -- supporting Boeing airplanes from order placement through retirement.

British Airways operates a wide range of Boeing jetliner models, including 747-400s, 777s, 767s, 757s and 737s, and has 24 787s on order.

Source: BOEING