Cathay Pacific is one of Asia’s major airlines, and like many airlines in the region, it is keen to move to a connected fleet as quickly as possible. Robert Saunders, head of engineering cost management and business improvement at Cathay Pacific Airways spoke exclusively to GCA Link about the airline’s internet connectivity plans and where Cathay Pacific intends to go next.

On the operations side, Cathay Pacific is implementing an operational network for flight deck and cabin crew. The airline is currently rolling out pilot devices for the flight crew for their operational manuals. To reduce the cost of connecting, as global roaming is expensive, Cathay places a Wi-Fi hotspot on aircraft during transit. It brings a device on the aircraft with a local 3G/4G SIM card and uses that as Wi-Fi on the aircraft during the transit. The device is then removed from the aircraft before the doors are closed. At the moment, this is how the airline is downloading passenger information for cabin crews, and charts and dispatch information for the crew in the flight deck.

This is a progressive step for the airline as it seeks to make internet access during flight routine.

“The actual e-enabled direction for Cathay is airborne global connectivity,” says Saunders. “We have a project to roll out fixed devices in the flight deck. Currently, we have 11 aircraft modified. It is our own design. We used 4-x class 3 [Electronic Flight Bags] EFBs networked together. This avoids the need for an on-board server. Two of the EFBs have communications and network software provided by ARINC. This was a cost-effective design before iPads arrived around six years ago — yes, it’s only six years since the iPad revolutionized tablet technology. With our networked solution, we load operations software on four devices: three in the flight deck, two for the pilots, and one for the first observer. The third is there so that we can use charts and operations manuals for training flights. The third also provides access to electronic tech logs without asking the crew to get out of their seats.”

According to Saunders, mechanics or the cabin crew can use the fourth EFB in the cabin for the cabin log. However, today Cathay has access to iPads and Windows tablets that can slot right into our original concept as combined display/servers. Therefore, it suspended the program and is about to launch a new design that will be simpler, lighter and cost significantly less. This will be installed on its remaining fleet.

EFB Strategy In-Depth

Cathay made a decision early to not buy Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) EFBs because they tend to be more expensive and become obsolete much sooner, Saunders says.

“If you buy avionics equipment, it means you have an obsolescence issue. It is very difficult to certify, very difficult to replace, and the rate at which computers are evolving, they are obsolete before they get into the aviation world. We decided not to go in that direction and use our own solution. At the time, it was probably half the cost of the OEM solution, but with the advent of tablets and suppliers entering the market in this area, we stopped our project, and stopped the rollout,” he says.

Now, Cathay is in the final selection for a new solution that will include two tablet devices in the flight deck. The EFBs will use the tablets as servers, which will allow the airline to avoid buying avionics equipment. So, Cathay will have no network file servers or ONS; it will just be on the tablets. All the software that it developed for the original EFBs will work on the tablet. But, the cabin access will all be wireless. This is very similar to the Airbus A350 solution that Airbus produced, according to Saunders.

“They are producing two docking stations with notebooks. We are going to use mounted tablets in the flight deck, and use the processing power as servers to avoid an installed avionic server. This is a significant cost reduction from the original solution,” says Saunders. Cathay is aiming to roll out the new solution in 2017, but the time scale will be driven by when the airline can obtain the Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs ) required to install the new equipment onboard their fleet. “That will be for the whole fleet: the Airbus A320s and A330s, [and the] Boeing 747 ERFs, 747-8s and 777s. We have approaching 200 aircraft at the moment, mostly wide bodies; only 21 are narrow bodies.”

In-Flight Connectivity Industry

The in-flight connectivity industry has seen tremendous change over the last few years. Saunders says when you look at the industry, up until 12 to 18 months ago, 85 percent of the EFBs in the world were iPads, but with the introduction of new tablets, airlines are coming up against a new set of puzzles to solve. With airlines already invested in providing pilots with iPads or Windows tablets, where will they begin to see return on investment?

“The flight deck paper is successfully replaced but what is the overall benefit?” Saunders asks. “Other airlines are justifying it by saying they are reducing medical bills for carrying heavy flight bags. That is a bit tenuous in my mind. For us, the real benefit is when you start to stream weather information [to help] pick the right tracks, enhancing safety. That is where you are getting the real benefits of airborne connectivity for flight operations. And there are many things we haven’t even thought about yet.”

Saunders predicts that airlines will start to install tablet connectivity and have tablets that stay with the aircraft instead of travelling with the pilots.

Satellite

Today Cathay is using narrowband satellite capacity for connectivity. Saunders says Cathay removed its Inmarsat antennas and replaced them with Iridium ones for several reasons.

“Weight- and drag-saving [are] a major part of the business case,” says Saunders. “We now have a number of flights over the pole and we wanted connectivity for operational reasons across the poles. If you fly above 87-degrees north, connection to geostationary satellites is unreliable. With Iridium, their orbiting satellites give us full-time global connectivity. Other communications channels include Very High Frequency (VHF), High Frequency (HF) and gate Wi-Fi.”

Saunders also reveals that Cathay intended to put 3G on its aircraft as well, but the preferred equipment was not certified in time.

“Lack of cellular connection on the ground has caused problems due to the delay in VHF message responses for aircraft dispatch. The new design rolling out will have 3G, and we have Wi-Fi gate fusion with ARINC. With all of this in place we are pretty much connected any time anywhere in the world. This was our original goal. Then you start to think of things like MedLink — they are now really available to us full time — and of course global aircraft tracking,” he says.

Right now, Cathay does not use huge amounts of bandwidth for the operations side. The ATC-type comms are all based around narrowband requirements, as this has always been the only availability. Cathay uses Wi-Fi connectivity when in Hong Kong. The main base is where it updates its manuals and aircraft system software updates — Loadable Software as a Part (LSAPs).

“With the latest technologies on the aircraft, there are hundreds of software packages that go into the avionics. So rather than box changes, we upload software. This is particularly prevalent on the A380s, A350s and Boeing 787s. Although far less volume, we plan to have this capability on our Boeing 777s through the EFBs,” adds Saunders.

Avionics Maintenance

Saunders was at a “One World” meeting earlier this year with a number of engineering representatives from airlines. He says the common issue is the speed in which everyone can identify defects and manage them to closure and all the airlines are putting a lot of effort into electronic reporting, diagnostics and early warning. He says, “First, you have connectivity on the ground, if you are connected as the aircraft is being worked, it can be seen and you know exactly when the aircraft is ready for flight, even if it has not been cleared for flight. Without that connectivity in transit, if you want to know whether an aircraft is serviceable you have to go out and look in a book or you call/radio someone to check the aircraft. With connectivity, you can continually assess the whole fleet on the ground. You know exactly which aircraft are ready to go and you can make instant decisions. This is hugely powerful.”

Saunders says right now you do not have to collect all the work cards. The system doesn’t know the work is done until after take-off, as the data is inputted manually afterwards. Therefore, paper is still the master dispatch record.

“As an example, if we arrived from London and we had a seat recline not working, right now the IT systems would not know until the plane had landed and the engineer is on the aircraft to check the logs. By that time, we have probably issued a boarding pass. Then we have a problem as we have to tell someone that [his or her] seat is not working. The system won’t know about it until the aircraft has gone, so we might not sell it if we don’t know it has been fixed. Having real-time connectivity eliminates this type of thing,” he says.

Cathay is now integrating all the data into its Maintenance and Engineering (M&E) systems, which Saunders admits, “is not that easy.” Although Cathay uses the Ultramain e-Tech Log, which is common to Boeing customers on the Boeing 787 and 777, airlines have different maintenance systems, which means that integration is different each time.

“For example BA is using the same e-Log application as us, but they have integrated with SAP, whereas we use the Ultramain M&E system too. Although quite a bit of effort to set up, what it means is that we no longer have to do manual data entry. There is no paper, no tech records. With close to two million log entries per year, this is a significant saving if you consider that we need to keep all records until two years after the aircraft has been disposed. We produce volumes of paper per aircraft every year. Our legacy tech records currently stand at 35 million pages from history, not just tech log, but everything. We are basically stopping the consumption of paper and its shipping and storage. That in itself is not a business case, unfortunately, but the business case is the efficiency it introduces because you can access early warning defects.”

Saunders expands on this.

“The other thing from an application point of view is that we can match previous defects electronically. So, the mechanic and flight crew can hit a button and immediately see whether certain components have been changed previously. It is extremely difficult to do that with a book and, with some avionic components costing hundreds or thousands of dollars, we really do not want to be replacing the same component twice. What we are expecting to happen is that we will see more first time fixes and less repetitive defects. This is the real benefit as it translates into cost and delay avoidance whilst improving customer service,” he says.

Where Next?

As Cathay equips its fleet with this connectivity, one of the key questions is: What can it do after the airline adds the capabilities? As Saunders points out, engineering’s function is to deliver safe, reliable aircraft. He says the key to that is identifying defects when they occur and then closing them quickly. The more prepared the airline can be and the more analysis it has built into tools, the quicker that process is. He believes the next stage will be looking at this data and moving into airborne telemetry.

“We currently get Aircraft Condition Monitoring Systems (ACMS) data; this is on-board telemetry. We also get Central Maintenance Computer (CMC) messages that are pending defects before they fail. When the bandwidth opens up and we can send data through the passenger networks, we can start to think of predicting failures, rather than doing inspections. So, when we start to pick up far richer data from aircraft, we can process that and start to look at trending,” he says.

So, for example, if Cathay started to see a temperature shift and airflow changing in its bleed system, the airline could conclude that it is time to change the filters. Today it changes them on a calendar basis, which means long before required. In the future, Saunders says Cathay will be able to change them based on condition. “In aircraft maintenance, always do things long before they need to be done. If we get proper telemetry and proper analysis, we can do things when they should be done rather than early. Early is expensive. This is where the industry is going,” he adds.

He points to the fact that companies such as Airbus, Boeing, GE and Rolls Royce are all looking at Big Data.

“This new generation of high bandwidth opportunity is in its infancy. High bandwidth and cost-effective connected airborne systems with the sensor capabilities of next generation aircraft will open a whole world of new opportunities in aircraft maintenance management.,” he says, noting that Cathay hopes its e-enabled program will put the airline in a position to exploit these opportunities as and when they are developed. GCA