IATA Broadens Its Operational Data Analytics Capabilities

Geneva – WEBWIRE – Friday, December 8, 2023

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that insights from enhancing the analytical capabilities of the IATA Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) program are powering informed decisions to improve safety, operational efficiency and sustainability. The new capabilities take advantage of advancements in big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

GADMs data comes from several sources, including the Incident Data Exchange (IDX) and the Flight Data eXchange (FDX) programs. The latter now comprises data from 15 million flights performed by 7,500 aircraft. The FDX data captured from each flight monitors hundreds of parameters per second, thus making GADM the most authoritative and comprehensive collection of global aviation operational data in the world. Currently 198 airlines contribute data to GADM, this database will grow daily as additional data is collected.

Enhancing GADMs capabilities is contributing to data-driven insights and improvements for aviation safety, operational efficiency and sustainability. GADM is the industry’s most comprehensive database. By applying better analytical tools, we are turbocharging its ability to inform critical business decisions. Individual users will be able to better compare their performance to industry benchmarks when making critical business decisions. And, at the industry level, we have been able to more precisely pinpoint operational trends, as well as emerging challenges and opportunities, said Nick Careen, IATA Senior Vice President, Operations, Safety and Security.

Industry-Leading Insights

Examples of insights gained through GADMs enhanced capabilities include:

• Identifying emerging safety risks

Through extensive aggregation of GADMs data, IATA is able to identify emerging safety trends, whether at specific airports, regions, or for certain types of operation. Such analysis will be especially beneficial for airlines exploring new destinations, and for regulators formulating aviation safety strategies. Using GADM data, IATA recently identified GPS signal loss in specific geographies as an emerging safety risk, for example.

• Fuel Efficiency Measurement

Fuel currently represents nearly a third of the operational expense of an airline. Since 2005, IATA has worked with airlines to find fuel saving opportunities and identified average potential fuels savings of 4.4% across flight dispatch, ground operations, and flight operations. Moving forward, IATA will use GADM operational data to enhance the analysis done by its fuel experts and provide industry benchmarks related to fuel efficiency.

• Aircraft Emissions Calculations

Analyzing GADM data is leading to more granular measurement of aircraft fuel burn and, consequently, tracking of CO2 emissions. With analysis of hundreds of data parameters at every second of flight, it is also possible to identify the precise impact of fuel saving operational measures. All of these will help the industry as it moves towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

• Predicting Aircraft Performance

Predictive analytics in aircraft performance, particularly in fuel consumption, are essential for strategic decisions. IATAs advanced deep learning models offer high-accuracy predictions, helping inform decisions on aircraft purchases and strategic network planning. >>Read More rnrn