Airbus Helicopters has signed agreements with MRX Systems, Rusada, Ramco and Traxxall, maintenance software companies based in Luxembourg, Switzerland, the US and Canada respectively, enabling their maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) databases to be connected with Airbus systems. Executive vice president of customer support and services Matthieu Louvot says: “Through these agreements we're paving a two-way digital street between Airbus Helicopters and the companies that manage maintenance data for helicopter operators, facilitating the automatic sharing of data and avoiding human error-prone and time-consuming manual transfers. This capability takes us one step closer to creating a complete digital ecosystem, while simultaneously helping our customers along their own digitalisation journeys.”

By partnering with Airbus Helicopters to create these digital pathways, MRO software specialists are guaranteed easier and faster access to Airbus' rotorcraft data and technical documentation, especially when a new aircraft is put into operation, that feeds their maintenance information systems and informs a customer's maintenance planning.

Operators benefit from knowing that their maintenance software contains the most up-to-date information about their aircraft. They can also automatically transfer in-service data to Airbus applications like Fleet Keeper and FlyScan predictive maintenance (part of HCare Connected Services), avoiding manual transfers. These data transfers in turn enrich the analytics capabilities of HCare applications by feeding more maintenance data into Airbus Helicopters' database.

“Information related to helicopter maintenance such as part numbers, hours in service and modifications or overhaul activities performed, is an important data set that helps paint a complete picture of an aircraft's history and experiences,” adds head of connected services Stephanie Bonnefoy-Fourie. “By benchmarking my maintenance activities against other operators, I might see that similar operators replaced a certain part every 2,000 hours whereas I replaced the same part every 1,000 hours. This indicates that maybe I am doing something wrong, or maybe I could be doing something differently to save time and money.”