“As you know, we’ve had our wings clipped, because of COVID and supply chain delays. We are a frustrated entity because we need aeroplanes and we need them like now,” Clark said on the sidelines of the delivery of the airline’s first A350-900 aircraft in Dubai, as reported by Zawya.

“Had the 777 9X been delivered to us, we would have 85 [new aircraft] by now. But with the A350 delivery, we are not trying to activate our network and grow it considerably more than what it is today,” he said.

In light of Emirates’ current acceleration of its growth strategy, Clark rejected plans for a sukuk or bond to finance the airline’s expansion, stating that it currently has “plenty of money.”

The aviation industry veteran also declined to comment on any plans for an initial public offering (IPO), a business strategy that rival Etihad Airways is reportedly considering.

The president of Emirates, who has criticised Boeing’s delays and a strike earlier 2024, stated that the airline’s growth strategy depends on the 64 A350s that are still in order.

Despite the setbacks, the flagship Gulf carrier has no immediate plans to reconsider its 777-9X order, opting instead to monitor Boeing’s manufacturing progress.

Additionally, Clark rejected plans to review the 777x orders with Boeing, stating, “We have to wait and hope they can resolve their current predicament. After the strike ends and the USD 21 billion that was recently invested in the company, I’m hoping that they will use the upcoming months to decide what to do. We are closely monitoring that.”

Newly-appointed Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg announced in October 2024 that the first 777-9 deliveries are now expected in 2026 due to development challenges, the flight-test pause, and the workers’ strike-related work stoppage.

However, things have been running smooth, when it comes to inducting new Airbus jets. Emirates has already received its first Airbus A350, registered as A6-EXA, which also marked the airline’s first new aircraft type addition since 2008, with 64 more A350s slated for future delivery.

The A350 will enter commercial service in January 2025, starting with flights to Edinburgh. The aircraft’s network will expand to include eight more destinations across Europe, the Middle East, and West Asia.

Configured in a three-class cabin, Emirates’ Airbus A350-900 will accommodate 312 passengers, apart from offering 32 flatbed business-class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, 21 premium economy seats, and 259 economy seats.

Emirates has ordered 65 A350-900 aircraft and plans to receive 10 of them by March 2025, underscoring its commitment to fleet enhancement and operational growth.

The post Emirates boss hints at increasing aircraft order book amid Boeing delays appeared first on International Finance.

The order for additional freighters of the current generation preceded Boeing’s announcement that the company would be delaying its 777X jetliner series by one year, to 2026, but it did so amid tensions between Emirates and Boeing over aircraft delivery delays.

Without providing specifics, Boeing announced in September 2024 that it had received orders for 11 777F freighters from unidentified buyers.

According to the sources, a portion of the total included Emirates’ recent order for the 777F. Emirates is the biggest user of the 777 family and the biggest buyer of the 777X, its belated replacement.

According to the Emirates’ vice president and chief operating officer Adel Al Redha, the carrier is increasing the number of B777s and A380-800s it will refurbish to over 200. Since starting the programme in 2022, the airline has completed 22 jobs.

Emirates Airline President Tim Clark chastised Boeing for the 777X’s cumulative six-year delay, as the aircraft manufacturer struggles with an industrial and financial crisis. Emirates has thirty-five B777-8s and 170 B777-9s on order. Al Redha said Emirates had sought compensation from Boeing due to the delays.

Clark said given the past and present problems with the B777X programme, he “failed to see how Boeing can make any meaningful forecasts of delivery dates.”

The airline boss also told The Air Current that unless Boeing can secure additional capital through a rights issue, “I see an imminent investment downgrade with Chapter 11 looming on the horizon.”

Boeing has since secured credit of USD10 billion from lenders and has also announced plans to issue up to USD25 billion in shares or debt over the next three years to address ongoing operational woes.”

According to data from Boeing and Cirium Ascend, Emirates currently has about a dozen 777F cargo planes in its fleet, with four more on order. Cirium claims that to meet demand, it is also leasing four 747s and their crews.

New orders are often not publicly announced until the airlines are ready to do so. Emirates intends to announce a further investment in freighters, according to a senior airline executive quoted in the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National.

Additionally, the executive stated that Emirates was in negotiations for freighter versions of the more recent Airbus AIR. As it triples its cargo fleet by 2030, it will use the PA A350 and the 777X model.

The continuous need for dedicated freighter aircraft and passenger plane delays are not unrelated, according to analysts.

Rob Morris, head of global consultancy Cirium Ascend, stated that a lack of passenger planes from Boeing and Airbus was supporting the demand for freighters because a significant amount of air freight travels in passenger jet bellies.

Regarding Emirates’ sole Airbus order, Al Redha said the first of the 65 A350-900s is now due to arrive in November 2024 and will initially be deployed onto the Dubai – Edinburgh city pair. Service entry was originally slated for August of this year but was delayed until September and then until November.

“The aircraft is in the final stages of testing, and things are going in the right direction,” Al Redha said, while adding, “When the aircraft comes, it’s going to take over the Edinburgh flights, and later on, when we receive more of the aircraft, we will do more destinations in India and some more in the Gulf.”

“Currently, Emirates still intends to fly the A350 to the same nine initial destinations as initially disclosed in May 2024. However, while five routes were to see the brand-new sub fleet through January 2025, the latest information shows that three places now will: Edinburgh, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai,” reported Simple Flying.

Each new aircraft will have 312 seats and will, for now at least, be the carrier’s second-lowest capacity equipment after the 777-200LR (302 seats).

Unlike most aircraft in the Emirates’ fleet, there will be no first class. It will join the 777-200LR and one configuration of the 777-300ER and A380 in not having it.

The post Emirates orders more Boeing 777F freighters amid tensions with American planemaker appeared first on International Finance.

The strongest rainfall in 75 years on April 16th created the floods, which have resulted in a decline in the stock prices of most insurers, according to Century Financial.

According to Century, while insurers with weaker capital positions can experience stress and endure delays in processing claims, a build-up of claims from the same incident might result in reinsurance plans that limit insurers’ liability.

To address the increased frequency and severity of weather occurrences in the area, insurers may raise rates in reaction to these issues, especially for comprehensive vehicle coverage.

In addition, it is projected that post-flood infrastructure improvements will stimulate demand for insurance, hence promoting higher insurance penetration in the United Arab Emirates.

According to Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer of Century, two of the biggest insurance companies have experienced notable stock price declines: Dubai National Insurance, listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), and Abu Dhabi National Takaful, listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), with declines of 27% and 20%, respectively.

The two businesses primarily deal in underwriting, or reinsuring, against reinsurers.

Nevertheless, Union Insurance, an Abu Dhabi-listed firm, saw a 32% increase in share price during that time. Century attributed this to the fact that the company makes 55% of its revenue from non-life insurance products and the remaining 32% from life insurance.

According to Valecha, the flooding will put reinsurance plans and solvency capital buffers to the test.

The majority of insurers in the United Arab Emirates possess strong capital and liquidity reserves; nevertheless, approximately 20% of listed insurers have solvency levels that are either marginally over or below the legally mandated minimum.

According to Valecha, this might put pressure on the capital and liquidity buffers of certain insurers with weak capital positions, which could postpone the payment of claims. To strengthen their resilience, insurers with weaker capital positions might look to merge.

According to Century, local insurers handle the majority of automotive claims, while commercial risks are usually reinsured globally. As a result, local insurers’ income is expected to suffer this quarter.

The insurance market can manage the insured losses even with the expected increase in automotive claims since they are spread across multiple insurers, third-party insurance is common for damaged cars, and reinsurance policies are likely to absorb accumulated claims, according to Valecha.

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“Is it fixable and salvageable? Yes, it is. Will it get things back to where it needs to be? It must. And you’ll only do that with very strong leadership, who are fixated on doing the right thing,” Emirates Airline President Tim Clark told reporters on the sidelines of a major airlines summit, as reported by the Zawya.

It might take five years to turn around the manufacturer following a string of safety and industrial issues so that it can smoothly meet both new and existing demand, Clark noted further.

Boeing announced that CEO Dave Calhoun would step down by the 2024 end, following the crises in the aviation giant that were unfolded by the blowout of a loose door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 aircraft in January of this year.

As a result, the company is currently searching for a new CEO. One of Boeing’s harshest critics throughout the crisis, Clark told Reuters he had never met Calhoun, the CEO who took over in January 2020 after two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 claimed almost 350 lives.

“I think that people who have got a really broad aerospace engineering capability, who are good business managers as well, are the people that you need to bring back and sort this one out. Whether Stephanie Pope is going to be able to step up and do that (as well as) anybody, time will tell,” Clark said.

“But we need aeroplanes, we cannot face constant delays. We’ve got a business to run and if we’re having to foot the bill for refurbishing all these (existing) aeroplanes it should be put at Boeing’s door,” he added, while suggesting that the plane maker should foot the bill for Emirates’ multibillion-dollar programme to retrofit the latter’s 777 wide-body jets amid delays in the development of the newer 777X version.

The delays in the new wide-body aircraft’s development programme have forced the Gulf carrier to put additional Boeing 777s through retrofit and the airline boss wants Boeing to pay for the extensive refurbishment it is undertaking.

“We need our aeroplanes, we cannot face constant delays, we’ve got a business to run and the bill for refurbishing all these aeroplanes should be put at Boeing’s door,” Clark noted.

In May 2024, Emirates announced completely refurbishing another 28 Boeing 777 aircraft, after the original plan called for 53 777s to undergo a full makeover.

“The Boeing 777-9 model is about five years late and was scheduled for delivery in 2025, but Emirates currently has no visibility on the latest time frame of when it can be handed over,” Clark said.

At the Dubai Airshow in November 2023, Emirates signed a deal to put orders for 55 additional Boeing 777-9s and 35 Boeing 777-8s. The airline’s 777X order book currently has a total of 205 jets, making it the biggest buyer of Boeing wide-bodies.

However, Boeing will need five years to address the problems arising from its current safety and quality crisis before meeting plane production demand from new and existing customers, according to Clark.

The post Boeing needs strong CEO to end crisis, says Emirates boss amid 777 delays appeared first on International Finance.

The city has a history of implementing bold, futuristic ideas and is not afraid to take on ambitious projects.

The following are some of the ways the city demonstrates its resolve to lead the way in metropolitan development:

World’s Largest Airport

The largest airport in the world, Al Maktoum International (AMI), is located in Dubai, a city known for its brightly lit skyscrapers and busy streets.

On April 28, the airport announced the second phase of its expansion. It will be five times larger than Dubai International Airport (DXB) when it is finished.

AMI can handle up to 260 million passengers annually once it is fully operational, which will only serve to increase the city’s tourism even further.

Passengers are in for a treat, because the airport will be using technologies never seen in the aviation industry before.

The new airport will cover 70 square kilometres. More than 400 aircraft gates will be housed in five passenger terminals, which will have five parallel runways. It is anticipated that all DXB operations will progressively move to AMI within ten years.

Faster Travel On The Tracks

Residents of Dubai enjoy taking trips outside of the city, particularly on public holidays.

Travel between the Emirates will now be quicker and easier thanks to the nearly completed construction of the much awaited Etihad Rail passenger train.

The passenger train will make travel easier and more comfortable for locals by connecting 11 cities and regions throughout the United Arab Emirates.

It will pass through Al Sila and Fujairah, including Al Ruwais, Al Mirfa, Sharjah, and Al Dhaid, as well as Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The UAE’s National Rail Network is now complete and in use for commercial purposes, according to the Etihad Rail website.

Flying Taxis To Shorten Abu Dhabi-Dubai Travel Time

It never occurred to anyone that flying cars would exist outside of science fiction. But Dubai has a remarkable ability to make the fantastical become real.

Soon, flying taxis will be accessible, reducing the duration of the trip from Abu Dhabi to Dubai to just thirty minutes.

Air taxi operations are anticipated to begin by 2025 or early 2026, according to Joby Aviation, a US-based company that develops electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for commercial passenger service.

The 20-Minute City

With the help of this initiative, residents can travel throughout the city in sustainable ways by bicycle, foot, and transportation, and can arrive at their destinations in under 20 minutes.

According to the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, 55% of the population lives 800 meters or less from a mass transit station, making it possible for them to get to 80% of their daily needs and destinations.

In the meantime, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) revised its 2024–2030 strategic plan to account for non-driving commuters.

The goal of the RTA plan is to encourage the construction of transportation infrastructure and roads that will improve living in the 20-minute city.

The post Four strategies shaping Dubai into the city of tomorrow appeared first on International Finance.

With 10 new A350s anticipated by March 31, 2025, Emirates expects to fly them to nine locations.

The first 10 Emirates A350s will have 32 next-generation Business Class seats, 21 Premium Economy seats, and 259 generously pitched Economy Class seats.

As the first Emirates A350s enter the fleet, customers will have more chances to try its Premium Economy product and next-generation Business Class cabins, especially on short and medium-haul routes in the Middle East and GCC, West Asia, and Europe.

Emirates Airline Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim said, “The A350 will be a game-changer for Emirates, enabling us to serve regional points with improved operating efficiency and flexibility across the Middle East and GCC, West Asia, and Europe.”

“The Emirates A350 builds on our long-standing commitment to investing in the best customer experience in the sky with the latest generation cabin products, including more Premium Economy to more cities, top-notch in-flight entertainment technologies, and many other customer-friendly features,” the official stated further.

New aircraft with the airline’s latest cabins will serve these cities:

The Middle East/GCC

Emirates will launch its first A350 to Bahrain on the daily EK839/840 route on September 15. The second Bahrain service will begin on November 1 as A350 frequency increases.

One Emirates A350 will arrive in Kuwait on September 16 on the daily EK853/854 route. The A350 will begin serving Muscat’s daily EK866/867 on December 1.

In West Asia

The Emirates A350 will fly EK502/503 to Mumbai starting October 27.

The A350 will begin serving Ahmedabad’s daily EK538/539 on October 27. A350s will operate Colombo’s fourth daily route, EK654/655 starting January 1, 2025.

In Europe

Lyon will receive daily Emirates A350 service starting December 1.

The A350 begins serving Bologna on December 1. Edinburgh will return to Emirates on 4 November by A350. Details coming shortly. In the following months, Emirates will add destinations as new planes arrive.

Emirates Tops Region’s Fleet Orders

The airline has an order book of 200 aircraft to be delivered by the end of 2029, the largest in the region, according to figures published in a report by OAG, a data platform for the global travel industry.

The aircraft deliveries are slated between 2024 and 2029, with 15 jets expected this year. Emirates is followed by another UAE-based carrier, Air Arabia, with a total order book of 114, followed by Flydubai (113), Qatar Airways (112) and Etihad (100).

“Collectively, the ten largest airlines in the Middle East have a total order book of 795 aircraft, which is one of the largest in existence on a regional market basis,” OAG stated, as reported by Zawya.

“The majority of the new aircraft deliveries (58%) will be for network expansion, according to Airbus. The additional fleet could mean that around 107 million new seats will be added to the Middle East market by 2029,” the data platform continued further.

Emirates’ latest six-month results recorded a USD 2.7 billion profit, followed by Qatar Airways at USD 1 billion.

OAG’s industry report also highlighted that the entry of new airlines, as well as increased mobility and massive infrastructure developments, will lead to a “period of rapid growth and transformation” in the Gulf region.

“Airfares could also be lowered, as increased capacity and new entrants create a consumers’ market,” it concluded.

The post Emirates announces destinations for its new A350 fleet: Here are the details appeared first on International Finance.

In their most recent report on single-use plastic products, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) included Dubai’s flagship carrier’s closed-loop recycling programme among “good practices from the airline sector.”

“In addition to several initiatives to reduce plastic waste, the closed-loop recycling initiative allows for millions of onboard items such as plastic trays, bowls, snacks, and casserole dishes to be recycled in a local facility and remade into fresh, ready-to-use Emirates meal service products,” the global aviation body Iata said, Zawya reported.

To adopt the ideas of a circular economy—in which products are reduced, reused, and recycled—Dubai’s premier airline unveiled a closed-loop recycling programme on June 1, 2023.

This initiative aims to collect millions of outdated and damaged meal service items from Economy and Premium Economy Class dining flights.

The items will be cleaned and inspected for damage, then transported to a facility in Dubai where they will be reprocessed, ground down, and manufactured into new dishes, bowls, and trays. Finally, they will be sent to Emirates Flight Catering so that they can be used for thousands of meals in the air again.

Dubai has made it mandatory for all retail establishments to stop using single-use plastic bags as of June 1st; no store is required to provide free alternatives. Dubai has already imposed a 25-fil fee per single-use bag at all of its retail locations.

IATA acknowledged the following airline-adopted best practices: Qantas’ premium economy blankets made with 20 recycled plastic or water bottles that are 100% recycled PET; Delta Air Lines’ testing of a reusable cup system and new paper cups; Malaysia Airlines’ biodegradable materials for in-flight catering and merchandise; and Air Baltic’s initiative to allow passengers to submit in-flight meal selections up to one hour before departure to avoid unnecessary single-use plastic products.

The post Emirates gets global recognition for reducing plastic use appeared first on International Finance.

After the most recent incident, Tim Clark told Bloomberg, “They’ve had quality control difficulties for a long time now, and this is just another manifestation of that. I think they’re getting their act together now, but this doesn’t help.”

Emirates is a significant Boeing customer, having ordered 95 aircraft at the Dubai Airshow in November for USD 52 billion, including 35 777-8 and 55 777-9 models.

Tim Clark said that despite the setback, he was still hopeful that the situation could be “salvaged” and “solved”.

Days have passed since an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max had an in-flight separation of its fuselage, necessitating an emergency landing.

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advised owners of specific 737 MAX 9 aircraft to temporarily take the aircraft out of service to resolve a manufacturing defect that might have an impact on the backup power control unit’s ability to function after the event.

The state-run news agency said that the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had confirmed in a statement that none of the nation’s airlines were using any of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft that had been the subject of the technical issue.

Flydubai, a carrier that flies three Boeing 737 MAX 9s, added confirmation that its aircraft were unaffected. Additionally, the airline based in Dubai has an order book worth USD 11 billion that it placed during 2023’s airshow for 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

According to a Reuters report, the United States National Transportation Safety Board expressed doubts about the correct attachment of a recovered cabin panel that failed to blow off the Alaska Airlines aircraft, as well as the presence of bolts.

Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have reported finding loose parts on several grounded MAX-9 aeroplanes.

The post Emirates boss criticises Boeing’s quality control following latest incident with 737 Max appeared first on International Finance.

According to a report that was released in the first week of September 2023 by a rating agency, its increasing maturity is a result of “issuers funding diversification goals, and government initiatives to develop the DCM, implement the Dirham Monetary Framework, and build the domestic yield curve.” Its outstanding size had crossed USD 250 billion by the end of the first half of 2023.

Treasury bonds denominated in dirham were issued by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government in 2022 as a means of diversifying the country’s funding source and contributing to the growth of the fledgling domestic debt market.

In 2023 April, the government announced that it would be launching a program to issue sharia-compliant financial certificates known as Islamic T-Sukuk denominated in dirham.

After the issuance of Dirham T-bonds in the first quarter of 2023, according to Fitch Ratings, the federal government planned to exclusively issue Dirham T-sukuk between May and December of that same year. At the end of the first half of the year in 2023, 92.9% of all outstanding UAE sukuk were denominated in US dollars, while the rest were largely denominated in dirham.

The currency composition of outstanding bonds is more varied, with 69.5% denominated in dollars, 19.4% in dirham, and the remainder primarily denominated in euros.

“The DCM in UAE is increasingly maturing – not only in terms of size, but also through the diversity of issuances and currencies,” said Bashar Al-Natoor, Global Head of Islamic Finance at Fitch Ratings, while adding, “Not only in terms of size, but also through the diversity of issuances and currencies.”

However, the local debt capital markets industry still confronts fundamental hurdles, such as the United Arab Emirates business funding culture being skewed toward bank borrowing. Because COP28 will be held in the United Arab Emirates, sustainability and ESG debt are currently receiving a lot of attention.

Sukuk issuance in all currencies increased by 52.9% year-on-year (YoY), totalling USD 6.7 billion in the second half of 2023. According to Fitch Ratings, the value of bonds also increased by 5.7% (USD 60 billion).

Sukuk issuance increased to 35.1% of US dollar DCM issuance at the end of the first half of 2023, up from 24% at the 2022 end. The remaining funds were issued in the form of bonds.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has the greatest proportion of DCM in the GCC at 36.2%. Because Fitch Ratings anticipates that Abu Dhabi and Dubai will refinance maturing debt, Sharjah will borrow to meet the budget deficit, and the federal government will establish a yield curve, the rating agency expects that the combined debt of the UAE will remain steady but will be lower than the median of the ‘AA’ category.

Fitch Ratings observed that its forecast for the country’s DCM market is backed by the fact that UAE banks are important debt investors and are demonstrating decent liquidity as well as solid deposit growth.

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The DragonFly suite reportedly has subsystems which can perform automatic emergency diversions during the cruise phase, automatic landing, and assisting during taxiing during poor weather conditions.

The development has now given rise to a potentially uncomfortable question: Is AI coming after the jobs of human pilots?

Knowing DragonFly In Detail

During the flight test campaign in January 2023, the implemented technologies successfully managed a simulated case of pilot incapacitation. The demonstrational flight took into account external factors like flight zones, terrain, and weather conditions, the aircraft was able to automatically generate a new flight path and communicate with both air traffic control and the airline’s operations control centre.

“Airbus has also explored taxi assist functions, which were tested in real-time conditions at Toulouse-Blagnac airport. The technology provides the crew with audible obstacle alerts, speed control, and guidance to the runway using a specific airport map. These features could prove vital in low-visibility ground operations, aiding in situational awareness and avoiding the need to use a follow-me vehicle,” explained an Aviacionline article.

As of 2023, there have been 11 recorded flight mishaps due to pilot incapacitation. So the ‘Project Dragonfly’ comes as a relieving development, as it will eliminate a passenger’s worst nightmare, being stuck inside an aircraft, which is not in a controlled flight path anymore, due to the pilot’s incapacitation.

The DragonFly solution will be a cost-effective one for the airport authorities as they won’t be requiring specific ground equipment. The same characteristic will also help the aircraft to land even in “unequipped” or remote airports.

Threat For Human Pilots?

Although Airbus is dubbing its latest project as an aiding mechanism for pilots, it comes at a time when there is debate among aviation industry stakeholders on whether AI will replace human pilots completely in the near future.

Emirates chief Tim Clark recently told CNBC, “You might see a one-pilot aircraft. Could the aircraft be flown on a fully automated basis? Yes it could, technology is right up there now. [But passengers] like to think there are two pilots up there. There will always be somebody on the flight deck in my view.”

Emirates boss, however, also termed the concept of ‘Pilotless planes’ a possible yet ‘long way off’ prospect, while emphasising the skills of the trained pilots to help them to perform a number of responsibilities beyond just flying the aircraft.

According to the United States Federal Aviation Administration, human error is the leading cause of both commercial airline crashes and 60-80% of such mishaps involve some type of human error.

Commercial pilots monitor the aircraft’s onboard instruments, communicate with the Traffic Controllers and Operation Control Centers and last but not least, be the trouble-shooter, if the aircraft develops glitches during the journey.

Even though modern-day jetliners arrive with fly-by-wire control mechanisms and autopilots, these are not glitch-free either, requiring human interventions during extraordinary situations. So the room for error is almost zero for commercial pilots.

Terms like pilot fatigue, workload pressure, cognitive overload, poor interpersonal communications, imperfect information processing, and flawed decision-making still find their places on the investigation report, whenever a flight mishap happens. Despite all these, passengers put their belief in human pilots. And this is where AI can come into play, by becoming the pilots’ decision-making buddy.

Man-Machine Teaming Is Way Ahead

Banking and healthcare Industries have empowered their human professionals further by harnessing the AI’s data mining capability, which in turn has quickened up decision-making processes in those fields.

A similar approach is needed in the aviation industry as well.

Jainita Hogervorst, the Director of Dubai-based Aerviva Aviation Consultancy, told the Aerotime Hub that the aviation community is cautious about entrusting full control to AI due to safety risks and the intricate nature of flying. And yes, she is true. Any electrical device is prone to malfunctioning, be it fly-by-wire or autopilot. In 2021, a Boeing 737-500 in Indonesia faced a fault in its autothrottle system (device which automatically adjusts the power to the jet’s two engines) and crashed, killing all 62 people onboard.

Boeing’s Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System came under fire in 2019 when 346 people died in two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia involving 737MAX jetliners.

“Automation can prove beneficial by relieving pilots from repetitive or less rewarding tasks, allowing them to focus on critical decision-making processes. However, this shift also transforms the pilot’s role from active operation to one of monitoring, which humans might struggle with over extended periods effectively,” said Hogervorst.

“Human pilots possess an intuitive understanding of their surroundings, enabling them to respond swiftly to unforeseen circumstances. AI systems, while advanced, may not possess the same level of instinctual comprehension,” she added further.

Also, there is no guarantee that AI won’t misbehave or face unforeseen challenges. So instead of over-relying on technology, airlines need to have human hands inside the cockpit too.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) presented its ‘AI Roadmap’ in 2020, which begins with AI/Machine Language applications assisting and augmenting crew in tasks like flight preparation and execution. The second step involves enhanced human-machine collaboration, followed by the last stage where the machine operates autonomously but remains supervised by a human. The final stage envisions full autonomy, but human involvement is maintained and can come in handy in worst-case scenarios.

Final Words

“AI can automate mundane tasks such as answering common passenger queries, flight information assistance, booking changes, and baggage tracking. This allows the cabin crew to focus on their core responsibilities, such as passenger safety, emergency handling, and personalized customer service,” Hogervorst stated and yes, that should be the approach from the industry, reducing the pilots’ stress level to the bare minimum with the technology’s help, rather than completely eliminating the human hands from the cockpit.

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