The air traffic controller’s skills have particularly evolved over the years, since his workload has been greatly reduced by the use of new technologies, allowing him to be more efficient and to monitor more aircraft than before. The use of these new technologies was essential to meet the growing demand for air traffic.
The development of modularization in aeronautical construction
The aeronautics industry has innovated in recent years, in particular with the implementation of a modular construction of aircraft, which consists of breaking down the production of the aircraft into different main modules. This production method allows aircraft manufacturers in particular to offer a wider range of products. For example, Airbus reuses the same avionics modules on the production lines of its A320s and its A330s, two different aircraft families. The modularity put in place makes it possible to develop different versions of the same aircraft in order to meet market needs. In this respect, the Airbus A320 family, for example, has more than ten versions.
what responsibility of the aircraft
Modularity allows a gain in productivity, while making possible the evolution of the modules of a family of aircraft, which promotes innovation in the production of aircraft. Manufacturers are also tending to harmonise the cockpit of their aircraft to reduce the qualification time for pilots who have already flown on one of the aircraft of this same manufacturer.
In addition to having recourse to a highly skilled workforce, the aircraft production lines mobilise various skills that are no longer the sole responsibility of the aircraft manufacturer. Indeed, the technological complexity of an aircraft, and the implementation of this modularity, result in the delegation of skills by the aircraft manufacturer to its partners, in particular for all the skills related to systems external to the structure of the aircraft. ‘plane. The aircraft manufacturer then becomes solely responsible for the architecture and integration of the various modules.
Preventive maintenance based on web platforms
Aircraft maintenance has changed significantly, with the appearance of preventive maintenance made possible by the appearance of certain data collection technologies. Cloud service platforms , which retrieve aircraft data, are now operational to provide predictive maintenance services. This is the case of Skywise, the open data platform of Airbus, which makes it possible to optimise and lighten the workload, to share information, to avoid an operational interruption of an aircraft, and therefore to reduce downtime costs.More generally, automation in the maintenance of the aeronautical industry makes it possible above all to increase safety,productivity and reduce human effort.
The Covid-19 pandemic is accelerating the transformation of airports
The airport transit service, which includes activities related to passenger check-in and guidance, is currently being fully automated worldwide. Indeed, the appearance of electronic boarding passes and automatic check-in kiosks is changing the check-in and boarding processes . These tasks, previously performed by airline ground staff, are now the direct responsibility of the passenger, even if new professions to assist them are emerging.
It should be noted that this transformation in airports has also been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Digitization and automatons are favoured to limit human presence and social contacts, and thus the spread of the virus within the airport. At the same time, systems for facial recognition, baggage checks and remote searches are developing. This automation also allows a fluidification of passenger flows by reducing the passage time.
Conclusion :
The aeronautics sector has strongly encouraged the development and integration of new technologies. The automation at work in recent decades, and which continues, is changing many positions in a sustainable way within this sector. These changes lead to a change in the tasks necessary for the smooth running of air traffic since the beginnings of commercial aviation. However, constraints specific to air transport, such as safety and security, still prevent full automation and require human presence on board.
