LAN and TAM are the first South American airline companies to develop and provide their pilots and cabin crew members tablets equipped with applications geared to facilitate, optimise and improve the information management process for flight operations and service on-board.

Both airlines are members of LATAM Airlines Group.

“With these new projects, we aim to improve not only our passengers’ travel experience, but also provide better quality tools for our crew members. 

“This initiative will lead to a reduction of data processing times and costs, an increase in our operations’ effectiveness indexes and the optimization of the delivery of our service on-board,” said Jorge Ihnen, vice president of operations LATAM Airlines Group.

The new system will accelerate the information management process for each flight, reducing the data processing time from 15 days to only one day in some cases, and leading to a reduction of paper consumption of up to 100,000 sheets per month.

In addition, the company expects to generate a significant amount of savings in fuel consumption and decrease its CO2 emissions by approximately 3,000 annual tons since this project will eliminate the weight of computers and documents that used carried on-board.

LAN and TAM have delivered over 1,000 tablets to their pilots with targeted applications and software programs to replace the printed materials the pilot carries for reference in his Flight Bag.

These materials include navigation charts in digital format (to determine the route and height to follow), manuals, flight certificates and applications that help measure operational performance.

This initiative will improve the pilot’s flight experience by reducing paper consumption on-board as it will lead to increased awareness and navigation efficiency during flights.

It also reduces data processing times from two weeks to two days, and allows for additional space in the cabins.

The company is slated to complete the implementation of this project in more than 300 planes and five flight simulators by the first quarter of 2016, providing all pilots with the new, advanced technology.