Technology and new flights lead this week’s air travel news.
This week Etihad Engineering and its partners unveiled a new smart cabin concept, called i+sCabin, on Boeing’s 777 flying testbed. The goal of the project is to facilitate the collection and exchange of information to generate a real-time overview of the status of the aircraft in all cabin areas. This information will be used to create correlations and algorithms to predict potential faults by individual functions and the corresponding maintenance works that would be required, instead of the fixed maintenance cycles currently used in the aircraft industry.
Etihad Engineering said that the new smart cabin will allow for faster dispatch times and higher reliability of cabin functions, enhanced operations for crew and maintenance teams and earlier predictions of potential faults in aircraft equipment. Finalization of the project is planned for 2021.
In new flight news, American Airlines officially resumed daily nonstop service from New York – JFK to Montego Bay, Jamaica, after a 10-year hiatus. A special celebratory event was followed by the inaugural flight, which departed at near capacity with 145 passengers onboard at 7:05 a.m.
During the event Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Hon. Edmund Bartlett noted that the reintroduced service is important ahead of the island’s busy high season as the Northeast continues to be a strong source of arrivals. Additionally, the service will make it easier for Jamaicans to connect with other parts of the world.
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