Inmarsat/LSE: The connected aircraft offers airline industry USD15bn p/a in savings by 2035

Inmarsat and the London School of Economics released (19-Jun-2018) a report entitled Sky High Economics: Evaluating the Economic Benefits of Connected Airline Operations forecasting connectivity enable commercial aircraft could reduce fuel burn by up to 2.5% per flight, cut CO2 emissions by 21.3 million tonnes p/a and offer savings of USD15 billion by 2035. Key report highlights include:

• Fuel savings and environmental impact: IP-enabled communications offer connected aircraft the capability to optimise flight routes in real time, potentially reducing fuel use per flight by 1%. This would save 3.4 billion litres of fuel, 8.3 million tonnes of CO2 and USD1.3 billion in costs p/a. Adding savings in other areas, enabled by enhanced ground/air communication, could raise fuel efficiencies by 2.5%;
• Predictive maintenance: Reducing turnaround times and preventing aircraft on ground (AOG) through predictive maintenance could produce cost savings of USD5.6 billion p/a, by lowering rates of unplanned maintenance;
• Flight delays: Connectivity offers enhanced disruption management to reduce the impact of delays, cancellations and diversions, along with predictive MRO, with projected cost savings of up to USD11 billion p/a;
• ATM: Migrating away from radar-based systems to satellite-based navigation, automating aircraft position reporting and providing digital datalink communication between pilots and air traffic controllers could offer USD3 billion in savings. [more - original PR]