In my sixteen years at Dell, I have racked up more hours of flying time than I’d care to admit. Finding the best possible flight experience is critical – it helps reduce the stress and strain that travel can impose on your body and your life.
Think about it. Flights run on time (or close to it) because of back-end processes that automate logistics, adjust for delays and track passengers. Consumer-facing technology provides more transparency and information that simplifies and improves the travel experience – from booking tickets, text alerts, mobile boarding passes and WiFi on planes – technology expectations dictate the airline business.
In fact, 66 percent of passengers say in-flight Wi-Fi availability influences their flight selection and 17 percent say they have switched from their preferred airline because another airline had better Wi-Fi options, according to the 2014 Honeywell Aerospace Wi-Fi Survey. Those stats alone highlight the importance of consumer technology to airlines. But while Wi-Fi might be a top priority for today’s tech-ensconced traveler, there are several other technology innovations that have revolutionized the way we fly in recent years.
At Dell, we’re proud to work closely with customers in the aviation industry, located in every region on the planet, to provide technology solutions that are empowering their growth as the flight experience continues to evolve and improve.
Dell solutions helping drive airlines industry boom
Dell’s end-to-end solutions are being implemented by our airlines customers across the globe to improve the flying experience for travelers as technology adoption is spurring an industry boom this year, which accelerates in the face of the holiday travel season. Dell technology is helping drive this success for our airline customers. On the front end, Dell end-to-end solutions are giving more than 250,000 travelers an office-caliber technology experience in the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Business Centers with touchscreen PCs as well as high-speed, multifunction printers. In addition, Swedish airline Malmo Aviation is working with Dell OEM Solutions to roll out a tablet solution that tracks electronic flight bags to eliminate paper-based systems as pilots determine crucial operational insights like fuel procurement and scheduling requirements.
On the back-end, Dell technology helped Japan Airlines upgrade its aging infrastructure with a virtualized data center solution based on Dell PowerEdge servers running Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, as well as implementing Dell EqualLogic and PowerVault storage solutions to secure back up and easily recover data. The AeroMéxico Delta Techops center for aircraft repair, overhaul and maintenance has Dell as its only source for hardware, software, virtualization and services. Launched in January of 2013, this unified technology approach helped it become the largest aircraft maintenance center of its kind in Latin America. Across the board, these solutions are improving the airline business: whether it’s providing a better flying experience for travelers through technology or streamlining flight logistics for airlines so they can focus more energy and resources on improving the flight experience for their customers.
While travel is hectic and dynamic, we all can count on airlines only increasing their use of technology to run their business and engage with consumers. It’s imperative to their growth, and important to making our lives spent up in the air just a little bit better.
