Shandong Airlines turns to FTS for digitalisation goals

China’s Shandong Airlines is partnering with FTS to launch the first domestic Digital Aircraft pilot project.

Under the agreement, FTS will deploy full hardware and software solutions to digitalise Shandong Airlines’ fleet of 134 Boeing 737 aircraft. The pilot project includes multiple stages of aircraft modification, airworthiness certification, applications verification and final flight testing. The first aircraft is expected to be modified and enter into service in the middle of 2022.

As part of this collaboration, the two parties will jointly build a “Digital Aircraft Innovation Lab”, with the goals of incubating digital aircraft innovations, training of talent, and exploring new scenarios and operational models.

The project leverages China’s own High Throughput satellites for air-to-ground high-speed data transmission. The Lab is planned to function as a resource integrator for various ecosystem players – local tech startups, system integrators and even global partners to co-create solutions for digital aviation, from idea generation to testing to commercialisation.