by Jessica Brownlow | Apr 2, 2025 | AI & ML, Avionics, Connectivity, Flight Ops IT, Innovation, MRO IT, Sustainability
Earlier today, the five winners of this year’s Aerospace Tech Review (ATR) Awards were announced onsite at Aerospace Tech Week Europe in Munich. The awards recognise individuals and companies for their outstanding contributions to the aerospace industry in 2024.
Each category featured three deserving finalists, carefully selected from publication nominations, with the winners chosen by an expert judging panel prior to the event.
Sven Krause announced the results at the close of day one at Aerospace Tech Week Europe, putting a spotlight on the innovators, visionaries, and first-movers who are shaping the future of aerospace.
Top innovator – Individual person who has pushed the boundaries to make a lasting impact on the industry
Winner: Maxime Meijers (Co-Founder & CEO, Estuaire) for his leadership combining atmospheric modeling with real-time operational insights to address the full climate footprint.
Finalists: Victor Oribamise (CEO, Kquika), Eng. Catherine Cordonia (COO, DaS LAB)
Most disruptive start up – Start up that has shaken the industry, bringing a fresh approach to challenges/forward thinking solutions
Winner: AIXI – Founded to help airlines leverage decades of historical maintenance and reliability data to solve real-world challenges.
Finalists: Cosmofoil, JELLYSPACE
Speaking on the achievement, Cameron Byrd, AIXI CEO & Founder said:
“AIXI is empowering airlines to unlock the full value of their maintenance data with industry specific AI models. Our tools have been in production since 2022 and have most notably helped the maintenance and reliability teams at Southwest Airlines. We are thrilled at being recognized as the Most Disruptive Start-Up at Aerospace Tech Week Europe, which emphasizes our industry-leading tools and innovation.”
Best sustainability initiative – Company that has taken exceptional steps to reduce the industry’s environmental impact or significantly raised the standard for sustainability
Winner: Iberia Maintenance for its use of SAF in their test bench, producing renewable energy via solar panels, and broadening its in house repair capabilities to reduce emissions.
Finalists: EL AL, Airbus
Most creative product applying AI – Driving progress and opening up new possibilities
Winner: Kquika’s Trakt System which leverages AI and machine learning to revolutionise aircraft maintenance, addressing the aviation industry’s labor shortage and operational inefficiencies.
Finalists: Skypuzzler’s iDATC, DaS LAB’s Project StopOver
Collaboration of the year – Two or more companies whose collaboration has resulted in significant advancement for the sector
Winner: Airbus & Telefónica who have come together to transform the aerospace sector through the power of 5G technology.
Finalists: Spectrum Control & 3D Glass Solutions, International Aerospace Environmental Group’s Work Group 13
Natalie England, Project Director, Aerospace Tech Week said:
“This is the first year of the ATR Awards and we are thrilled to celebrate some of the remarkable people and products that are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in this dynamic industry. Aerospace Tech Week Europe brings together key players in the industry ecosystem to drive innovation, making it the perfect place to announce the results.”
For more information on Aerospace Tech Week, visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn.
by Jessica Brownlow | Mar 19, 2025 | AI & ML, MRO IT
At Aerospace Tech Week (ATW) Europe, Veronica Dall’Aglio, Manager at Oliver Wyman will be joined by experts from easyJet, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, TUI Airline, and Air Canada to explore where AI is being used most effectively across the MRO product lifecycle.
Ahead of this panel, Dall’Aglio shared her perspective on the industry’s post-COVID innovation landscape, highlighting the specific emerging technologies that are changing the game. She also provided insight into the upcoming session at ATW Europe, touching on the challenges inherent with AI implementation in MRO.
Having described a strong appetite to invest in tech and innovation, Dall’Aglio also emphasised that although some companies are embracing AI, others are still building digital foundations, transitioning from paper-based processes to data solutions.
Reflecting on her conversations with companies that have embraced AI, Dall’Aglio said:
“I’m very, very curious to listen to the real stories of implementing AI or looking at AI technologies and the challenges related to this – not only technology challenges but also organisational challenges and resource challenges. It’s not that easy to find the right type of resources to implement this technology, to design the right applications for your organisation, and definitely, it’s not so easy to change the mindset to utilise the technologies in the right way. So then, once they become operative, it’s not just another fancy toy that you have built, but it becomes truly an assistant to your work, and it becomes something that cuts your inefficiencies, that removes some of the manual tasks or unnecessary work that at the moment we’re still doing.”
Watch the full conversation below. To join us at ATW Europe book your ticket now!
Questions asked include:
- How would you describe aerospace’s innovation landscape at the moment?
- What emerging technologies are changing the game at the moment or do you think will shape the industry in the coming years?
- When it comes to MRO IT, data, and AI – what are some of the key discussions you’re expecting to hear on stage
- Any specific sessions you’re particularly looking forward to onsite?
For more on Aerospace Tech Week 2025 see:
by Jessica Brownlow | Feb 19, 2025 | AI & ML, Avionics, Connectivity, Flight Ops IT, Innovation, MRO IT, Sustainability
by Jessica Brownlow | Feb 12, 2025 | MRO IT
This week, Emirates signed an agreement with Airbus to advance the digital predictive maintenance of its A380 and A350 fleet with advanced analytics.
As part of the agreement, Emirates will implement Airbus’ Skywise Fleet Performance+ (S.FP+) advanced predictive maintenance and fleet health monitoring solution and as well as the Core X3 analytics platform.
Together, these will enable Emirates’ engineering teams to “monitor real-time aircraft performance and health data, identify potential issues inflight, and determine maintenance actions during turnarounds.” Access to this real-time data will support strategic, data-driven decision-making at the airline to ensure efficiency, reliability, and safety.
Speaking on the efficiency this will drive at the airline, Ahmed Safa, Head of Emirates Engineering said:
“As a highly efficient, customer-centric operation, Emirates is always looking at ways to leverage leading-edge technologies that improve operational reliability and punctuality, minimise unscheduled downtime and ensure our fleet operates at the highest standards, ultimately elevating the customer experience. Adopting Airbus’s Skywise Fleet Performance+ is a step forward to support our Airbus fleet, harnessing the latest advancements, and transforming traditional maintenance activities into streamlined, precision led processes that optimise our time in the skies.”
Laurent Negre, Vice President Customer Services Africa and Middle East at Airbus added:
“We are proud to strengthen our collaboration with Emirates through the implementation of Skywise Fleet Performance+ and Core X3. These solutions will enhance fleet performance and reliability, reduce downtime, and support operational efficiency passengers will benefit from, too.”
For more like this see:
by Jessica Brownlow | Feb 10, 2025 | MRO IT, Video
Supply chain challenges can lead to significant disruption for airlines as a result of long lead times, high procurement costs, and the unpredictability of unplanned maintenance. In the International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s 2025 financial outlook for the global airline industry, the association predicted supply chain challenges would continue to restrict airline profitability and growth into 2026 despite strong passenger demand.
However, technology can ease these challenges, supporting a streamlined and proactive approach to purchasing. Magnetic MRO use an AI-driven purchasing system which has delivered tangible benefits. Speaking on this, the Head of Supply Chain of Magnetic Group, Kaire Kalve joined for a five-minute conversation, illustrating both the benefits of AI-driven procurements and the challenges of AI implementation.
Thinking about next steps in maintenance technology, Kalve added:
“In maintenance, we’re actually soon expecting the next step, where AI algorithms can monitor aircraft systems so that it will help airlines to perform more predictable maintenance, reduce downtime, and improve overall fleet efficiency. And if we are looking even further, then aircraft may be built with materials that actually repair themselves—so this really makes flying much safer. Because can you imagine that while flying, if there are small defects or cracks, they will be automatically repaired.”
Watch the full interview below to learn more.
Questions asked include:
- Can you briefly tell us a bit about Magnetic MRO and your role within the company?
- Magnetic MRO uses an innovative AI-based purchase management system. But before we get into detail on this, could you outline the severity of the supply chain challenges the industry has been tackling and explain the knock-on effect these can have?
- How has the introduction of AI made tangible changes to this?
- What were some of the major challenges you encountered when implementing AI in the procurement process, and how did you overcome them?
- What other new technologies do you anticipate having a significant impact in this space?
- What are you most looking forward to at ATW Europe? – (Any particular sessions/speakers/companies etc.)
At Aerospace Tech Week Europe, Kaire Kalve, Head of Supply Chain of Magnetic Group, Magnetic MRO will be speaking on Magnetic MRO’s AI-driven purchasing system. To Join us at ATW Europe (2-3rd April) – book your ticket here!
There will also be additional sessions dedicated to Supply Chain & Procurement as well as MRO IT where top speakers will discuss their approaches, lessons learned, and ideas for the future. For more on what to expect see:
by Jessica Brownlow | Jan 27, 2025 | MRO IT, Video
At Aerospace Tech Week Europe, Craig Lynch, Predictive Maintenance Specialist, easyJet will be joining Tahsin Istanbullu, Executive Vice President – Technical, Pegasus Airlines, Matias Bjerregaard, Predictive Maintenance Specialist, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and moderator Veronica Dall’Aglio, Manager, Oliver Wyman to speak on a panel exploring where AI is being used most effectively across the MRO product lifecycle.
Ahead of the event, Craig shared how AI has transformed maintenance operations at easyJet and discussed the opportunities that predictive maintenance offers for fleet optimisation and cost reduction. To Join us at ATW Europe (2-3rd April) – book your ticket here!
In order to highlight the transformative impact of advanced technology, Craig began by describing the challenges of the pre-AI era. He explained why maintenance input and resources were not being harnessed effectively, and showed that despite strong historic data, there was an over-reliance on human interpretation.
With the incorporation of AI, Craig discussed how easyJet created a more holistic view of the entire maintenance and repair procedure which can in turn maximise fleet availability and optimise operations. Additionally, he describes how AI has supported the integration of tools, tying programmes together and transferring information and knowledge from one platform to another.
Later, Craig went on to discuss the more broad advancements in predictive maintenance including pattern recognition, early detection, and efficient resource allocation.
Speaking about the upcoming ATW Europe event, Craig said:
“I’m looking forward to learning, expanding my knowledge, my interpretation of not just AI within an aerospace environment but of all data manipulation techniques and tools that are available. We have tools and they work, we have methodologies and they work, but we’re a low-cost carrier, so small margins mean big gains. We really need to try and harness every opportunity we can to reduce our cost.”
To find out more about the predictive maintenance and MRO digital transformation panels mentioned by Craig check out the event agenda now.
Questions asked:
- How did the MRO landscape look before AI – what were the major challenges and constraints here?
- Now fast-forward to present day, how has AI transformed this landscape (if you would describe it as transformed)
- What are some of the most exciting things we are seeing in terms of predictive maintenance and the advancements in this space?
- What are you looking forward to at ATW Europe – any particular sessions or speakers?
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