Valour Consultancy’s Publishes New Study on the Connected Aircraft Opportunity

London, UK | January 5, 2017– The connected aircraft represents a paradigm shift for airlines and many are now in the early stages of deploying various applications. Several have begun to embrace staged increases in electronic flight bag (EFB) capabilities often starting with one or two apps that they can later build upon, according to a new study from UK-based market intelligence firm, Valour Consultancy.

The report – “How the Connected Aircraft fits into the Internet of Things” – thoroughly details the raft of connected aircraft applications airlines are exploring in the hope of realising considerable cost savings and/or ancillary revenue gains. It finds that the benefits of eTechlog, eCabin Logbook and enhanced flight operational quality assurance (FOQA) programs using quick access recorder (QAR) data are becoming better understood, while aircraft health monitoring solutions are being enriched by the infusion of increased data flows from previously disparate sub-systems and other information sources on and off the aircraft.

Though certain airlines are further along in their connected aircraft strategy than others, there are many challenges to be overcome, says report author, Craig Foster. “Suppliers have invested millions in developing differentiated offerings and this lack of standards has resulted in concern and confusion about investing in the wrong technology. Second, there exists little in the way of tangible metrics that show how quickly a return on investment (ROI) may be achieved from connected aircraft applications. Third, there is a perception that the act of harnessing vast amounts of data results in magical value with some undoubtedly having overstated the reality of what is possible”. Foster added that there also needed to be a recognition that offloading data from aircraft in real-time may only be necessary if you can also act on that data in real-time.

Though airlines understand the potential benefits of turning their fleets into connected nodes within their operation, there is work to be done on building consensus on how to approach the connected aircraft. “Collaboration internally, as well as externally, is crucial to success of the connected aircraft across the industry and airlines need to find ways to reduce interdepartmental friction and look to share best practices with other carriers”, said Foster.

Valour Consultancy is a provider of high quality market intelligence. Its latest report “How the Connected Aircraft fits into the Internet of Things” builds upon the company’s highly-acclaimed research into the passenger in-flight connectivity and in-flight entertainment markets. For an information brochure containing a full table of contents visit: http://www.valourconsultancy.com/aviation-market-research/connected-aircraft-in-the-internet-of-things/