e-Enabling the Air Transport Industry: Managing in the Qos pst see yas teres beens venendos dwar in wel Sieh and Jorma geal impeced hear wenn ay Serer its ave led is wa, ining dom bs th some tect th tert tars of 20, the SARS cis ta Fr Es ad he onping ar on er Th or coo ‘tech many sonpunce wari, ‘citing aoe costo ise sch eed el A Seen manta be rene ere Siti. he ae capo iy through he eqn es nae Tin ihe dw age a orth nave ass el Seen thas collapsed, and several major intema- tional airiines, such as United Airlines and USAir, were driven to the verge of bankruptcy; it was only through drastic cost-cutting measures and improved effi- ciencies that they were able to survive. Information systems have played a major role in helping airlines reduce costs and improve efficiencies through streamlined crew, aircraft, and mainte- nance scheduling, While airlines all oyer the world continue to demand more from their sophisticated information systems, 0 190 have the airlines’ most valued cus tomers, namely, the business travelers, (Over the past few years, most hotels that cater to business travelers have installed high-speed Internet access, to the point Digital World that it has now become a commodity Likewise, most major airports provide Wired Kiosks and wireless access throughout the terminals so that busy travelers can access the Internet as they wait for a flight. However, one place where business travelers have been largely out of touch with their colleagues and customers while on the road has bbeen when they were on a flight. Sometimes, a few hours of not being available online can be quite relaxing. At ‘other times, however, it may be very ben- eficial to be online for processing e-mail messages, placing customer orders, or chatting with family and fiends. Unt recently, the only way for an airline trav- eler to communicate with the outsideCASE 2 + E-ENABLING THE AIR TRANSPORT INDUSTRY; MANAGING IN THE DIGITAL WORLD 39 world was trough a very expensive and very slow onboard telephone. TTo address this need, the Bocing Company. headguariered in Chicago, began offering solutions to help airlines meet their own and their customers’ need {or real-time information. To better sup- ‘ort the aries, Boeing is developing the “e-Enabled sirplane:” which integrates ‘various airline operational processes using a variety of information systems and com- rutnication. technologies. (collectively, these systems and technologies are mar- Xeted by Boeing as) the “e-Enabled ‘Advaatage"),"The e-Enabled airplane allows airlines to streamline operations and to beter Serve their various customer segments by groviding sophisticated sys- tems and seal-ime information to support ‘rious abpects ofthe airline's operations, including erew scheduling and airerat imaintenance. Further, part of the project was 19" provide ia‘flight- broadband Internet access to support airline cus- tomers. The coratmnication infrastructure to enable these capabilities was intially provided by a new Boeing company called Connevion by Boeing, a mobile information services provider bringing high-speed Internet and data services to insight aireraft and maritime operators for the benefit of passengers, crew, and operations. To ‘provide connectivity, Conexion leased capacity on geosttion- lay satelite, «eh enabled trasmission speeds of S mbps dowitceam and up (1 mbps psec, vitally anywhere in the world. fn other words, passengers could connec the Fate at spesds compara. ble to broadband connections at their homes or offices ‘Afler the development ofthe system and) periods of extensive testing, Connexion received an operating license from the Federal Aviation Administration {or in-flight broadband services in late 2001. Since then, the service has been available for corporate and government aircraft and was installed in early 2003 on Questions select Lufthansa and British’ Airways flights between Europe and the United States. Although many airlines had ini- Lally indicated interest inthis system, the crisis in the air transport industry (dis- cussed previously) led many airlines to back off from their plans to deploy the system. Lufthansa became te first airline to install the service, putting it on several of its Airbus jets for use on transatlantic routes. Given the success of Lufthanse, | ‘many othet airlines quickly followed to become Connexion customers, including Scandinavian. Airlines, ANA, China Airlines, and Singapore Airlines, In addition to offering in-flight Internet services t their customers, airlines could use Connexion’s systems for internal processes, such as crew ‘members’ access to the airline's reserva- tion system or real-time: transfer of ‘maintenance requests t0 the destination alport. Furthermore, Contexion’s sys- tems could be used to receive satellite TV for the latest weather data so that the pilots could choose alternative routes, if necessary. Mitigating potential delays caused by adverse weather conditions can be a major factor: leading’ to increased customer satisfaction, ‘Thus, this broadband connectivity ‘was an important component of Boeing's vision of the e-Enabled airplane. Unfortunately, things did. not turn-out the way they’ were supposed to, and fewer aitlines than expected adopied Connexion’s service. This, paired with ‘ongoing terrorist threats, led Boeing to poll the plug on the Connexion project in ‘mid-2006. Additionally, since alterna: tives for providing the necessary connec: tivity for the e-Enabled project existed (albeit offering lower bandwidth), Boeing. ‘was nevertheless abe to continue with its *Enabled vision, Using the integrated services provided by the e-Enabled airplane, the airplane's ‘central maintenance computer or the air- plane crew can now automatically trans- Passengers using Connexion in-flight Internet Services mit alerts abot potential service events to the airline’s service center. When they receive the transmission, maintenance staff can remotely research and diagnose a problem in order to reduce the time needed to solve the problem once the a craft has landed. As soon as the problem has been diagnosed and a service plan has ‘been established, the necessary parts can tbe automatically ordered and delivered to the gate so thatthe maintenance crew can ‘begin working on the problem as soon as the airplane atives, Similarly, automatié alerts about thunderstorms looming behind the hori- zon.can be generated and instantaneously transmitted to the airline's operations center as well as to the flight crew. Sophisticated software systems can then calculate the possiblity of the weather conditions’ impacting the flight schedule and: suggest alternatives to mitigate potential delays, In. most industries, organizations constantly have to evolve to stay in bus ness, For example, just a few years ago, 10 coffee shop needed to provide wire. less Internet access; today, however, it has become'a necessity for keeping and attracting new customers. Airline indus- tty experts also predict that the same will happen for airlines. And, since history is often the best predictor of the futur, itis likely that all aitlines will one day be e- Enabled. 1. Briefly outlié how airlines can use ¢-Enabled services to stay ahead of their competition, 2, Do you think connectivity will be indispensable for wavelers in the near future? Why or why not? Under which conditions coulda promising’ system like broadband access for customers become a successor failure? 3. Which factors help or impede Boeing's e-Enabled vision in times when their major customers face massive financial difficulties?