Air India exploring collaboration with Apple in flight tech push

Carrier becoming one of largest iPad customers in India, says CEO

Air India is exploring collaboration with Apple on various issues, including improvement in flight-planning software used by pilots, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Managing Director (MD) Campbell Wilson said on Friday.

The airline is becoming one of Apple’s largest iPad customers in India, Wilson said in a message to employees that has been reviewed by Business Standard.

Flight planning software is a tool that allows pilots to input information such as departure and destination airports, preferred routes, weather conditions, and aircraft performance data to generate a flight plan that meets their needs. Apple has not built any flight planning software to date and it is unclear what the aforementioned proposed collaboration with Air India will entail.

Apple did not respond to Business Standard's queries till the time of going to press. “Our Chief Digital and Technology Officer Satya Ramaswamy and I hosted Apple’s India Managing Director (Virat Bhatia) to discuss our strong and increasingly important relationship. Air India is becoming one of Apple’s largest iPad customers in India, and we are exploring a number of collaboration opportunities, including improvements to the flight-planning software used by pilots,” Wilson noted.

Wilson said Air India was being held in “increasing esteem” by major external parties, and such engagement (with companies like Apple) reflects how the carrier’s relationships are getting “steadily closer” with them.

In his message to employees, Wilson said Air India’s IT team was putting the finishing touches on its new website ahead of its launch in the coming days. The airline’s HR department is similarly finalising a new employee portal with improved usability and self-service capabilities, he added.

He also said the flying staff, which includes pilots and cabin crew will receive Global Medical Insurance Plan coverage across 39 countries where Air India flies, from May 15.

“This enables treatment at a wide network of hospitals across the globe in case of medical emergencies, and comes with dedicated 24x7 tele-support,” he added.

For its ground staff in India, Air India will from May 15 offer company-sponsored preventive health check-ups in partnership with Tata 1MG, Wilson said.

“Employees will be able to book health check-ups through the Tata 1MG app and can avail a tele-consultation for their test results starting May 15,” he added.

A year after coming into the Tata group, Air India in February placed an order for 470 planes: 250 with European plane maker Airbus and 220 with American giant Boeing. This was the world’s largest ever single-tranche aircraft purchase. 

Air India is operating about 2,800 flights a week, which is 28.3 per cent more year-on-year, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.