A seamless transaction
The taxi hailing start-up Uber has seen phenomenal growth with some reports saying that the company is reaching $2bn revenue. What is Uber doing to attract so many new customers?
Uber provides an automated digital platform to customers and drivers, enabling them to book rides whilst removing transaction friction by storing customer information. Uber has now partnered with some airlines so that customers can order a pick-up from within that Airline’s app and at the same time the Uber driver has access to the flight details. This results in the customer receiving a seamless airport connection.
Aviation take note
The aviation asset management world could benefit from taking inspiration from Uber. In an industry where margins are low for the underlying risk, digitisation and automation are vital to reduce costs. Today, data exchange between parties in the industry is limited. A mid-life aircraft will produce several boxes of physical data and, although there are IT solutions that can store or analyse this data, people are still needed to operate such systems. Ideally, systems should have ability to exchange data directly with other systems and perform basic analytical tasks using artificial intelligence. Humans can then add value by assessing key outputs.
However, there is also a need to adapt working practices to the digital world. Industry representative bodies can help advance digitisation and automation by agreeing specific standards. The leasing and trading community can then apply these in transactions when assets are sold and purchased.
The digital revolution
The quantity of data generated by the aviation assets themselves will increase significantly over the coming years, providing further opportunity for efficiencies through digital automation. The new generation of aircraft such as the A350 have a greater number of embedded sensors to monitor the aircraft components. This will provide even more real-time data resulting in efficient engine removal. If we add greater system-to-system connectivity – think Uber working with airlines on airport connections – then airlines will be able to “pick-up” spare engines seamlessly and manage their fleet with fewer spare engines.