THE country’s civil aviation industry is accelerating its advance into the digital era, with major players sending clear signals of new opportunities worldwide.

Already this year, China Southern Airlines has started online seat selection for all domestic flights and paperless e-boarding passes.

As well as being more convenient for passengers, it is a major step in responding to initiatives in environment-friendly travel.

Rising cost pressures and safety concerns are affecting the industry worldwide. Digitalization is seen as key to improving operational efficiency, upgrading services, and reshaping development modes, said Yu Zhanfu, partner and vice president for at the Roland Berger consultancy.

In January 2018, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued its Assessment Guidelines on Personal Electronic Devices. It was seen as an impetus to reshape the cabin experience with in-flight Internet.

Since then, domestic airlines have been relaxing bans on in-flight mobile device usage and major domestic aviation manufacturers have been embracing the digital era.

At the 2018 China Airshow, Hainan Airlines announced a partnership with Honeywell that would see Honeywell supply auxiliary power units and aftermarket support to the airline’s fleet, including its GoDirect connected maintenance services, a predictive technology based primarily on data.

With Internet-based predictive maintenance technology, APU maintenance and malfunction data is downloaded from existing data on the aircraft.

(Xinhua)