INDUSTRY WATCH
ACSA to assess the feasibility of new and
improved routes, helping to attract more
airlines to ACSA’s airports and build the
South African economy.
ACSA will leverage BECONTRA’s Suite B
Route Development module that is designed
to support aviation business development
teams to assess market sizes, monitor
passenger flows and traffic potential. The
technology delivers rapid, comprehensive
and reliable scenarios supporting operational
and strategic decision-making.
ACSA was formed in 1993 as a public
company and was partially privatised
in 1998. The group owns and operates
nine airports, including the three main
international gateways of OR Tambo
International, Cape Town International and
King Shaka International Airports.
Matome Ramokgobedi, Group Manager,
Traffic Development at Airports Company
South Africa said: “The tool will aid the
traffic development function to provide
first industry-wide investigation into the
use of Blockchain to track, trace and record
aircraft parts.
The new alliance comprises leading
organisations covering every aspect of the
Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO)
chain, from part manufacture and repairs
to logistics and smart contracts. Members
currently include Bolloré Logistics, Cathay
Pacific, FLYdocs, HAECO Group, Ramco
Systems, SITA, and Willis Lease Finance
Corporation, supported by Clyde & Co.
The alliance was first mooted last year
at a HAECO Group event with the aim of
bringing the various stakeholders together
to set a global standard around the use of
Blockchain to trace parts.
In the coming months, the alliance will
launch a proof of concept to demonstrate
the use of Blockchain to digitally track and
record the movements and maintenance
history of parts across a wide number of
players. These include airlines, lessors,
original equipment manufacturers (OEMs),
THE TOOL WILL AID THE
TRAFFIC DEVELOPMENT
FUNCTION TO PROVIDE
ROBUST PROPOSALS FOR
NEW ROUTE OPPORTUNITIES.
robust proposals for new route opportunities
and thereby support the unit to achieve
its organisational targets of improving
connectivity to the regions we serve and
contribute to increasing traffic through the
airports we operate and serve.”
Thorsten Kolbinger, Managing Director
of BEONTRA, added: “We continue to
expand our global footprint of more than
40 customers with ACSA. Establishing an
African presence for BEONTRA will enable
us to bring our unique capabilities in route
development and scenario planning to the
rest of the continent.”
SITA and key industry partners
launch MRO Blockchain Alliance
Key industry partners have launched the
MRO Blockchain Alliance, the air transport’s
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INTELLIGENTCIO
such as engine producers, logistics suppliers,
and maintenance providers.
This tracking information will be vital to
managing a complex logistics value chain
that can span several stakeholders over the
lifetime of each individual part. Currently,
there is no global database, incomplete data
sharing and only partial digitalisation. The
alliance believes that the use of Blockchain
will simplify and speed up parts tracking
while enabling the secure sharing of
information between industry stakeholders.
PwC estimates that the use of Blockchain
could increase aerospace industry revenue
by as much as 4%, or US$40 billion, while
cutting MRO costs globally by around 5% or
US$3.5 billion. Savings will be derived from
secure document storage, ensuring
confidentiality and data privacy, improved
insights on repair time and inventory,
automated workflows and more
efficient record reconciliation. The
alliance will use Blockchain to record and
track two separate strands of information
for each aircraft part: a digital thread and
a digital passport. The digital thread
provides the real-time status, chain of
custody and back-to-birth track and
trace of the part over time. The digital
passport – like a human passport –
provides the indisputable identity of a
part and contains other vital data such
as certification of airworthiness to
prove ownership.
SITA’s role, as the air transport
community’s IT provider, is to manage
governance for the global alliance,
support the working groups, deliver
all required Blockchain technology
components compliant with SPEC2000
and SPEC42 standards and ensure proper
alignment and validation with regulators
and international standardisation bodies.
Matthys Serfontein, President of Air Travel
Solutions for SITA said: “This initiative
is part of SITA’s ongoing exploration of
Blockchain, a technology that we believe
promises tremendous opportunity for
streamlining the sharing and recording
of information across the air transport
industry. In an industry as interconnected
as ours, the ability to share and record
common data in a secure way without
giving up control of that data is
fundamental to driving new efficiencies
in air travel. This is particularly true for the
MRO sector.”
Each year, the MRO industry processes
25 billion parts, while adding three billion
new parts. There are 20,000 suppliers,
covering 144,000 flights every day for
an overall industry market representing
around US$100 billion every year. The
alliance will spend the next few months
in the planning phase, with the aim of
going live with the first proof of concept
in the second quarter of 2020. The MRO
Blockchain Alliance is a key element of
SITA’s Global Blockchain Alliance, a wider
SITA-led forum that is focused on the
development of key Blockchain-based
applications for potential use in the
air transport industry, including MRO,
passenger identity and flight data. n
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