FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- American Airlines
was the first airline with a paperless cockpit, and now American's
cabins are also paperless. The airline is the first mainline
carrier to provide flight attendants with electronic manuals,
accessible through a handheld tablet.
"The accessibility and functionality that the tablet provides
our flight attendants will greatly improve their work environment,"
said Hector Adler, vice president of
Flight Service for American Airlines. "The tablet allows us to
reduce our dependency on paper products and to share important
safety information with our flight attendants more quickly. This is
a very exciting and important milestone for all of us at American
as we modernize our processes and provide our employees with the
best tools to do their job, and provide better service to our
customers."
American no longer relies on printing and shipping updates for
flight attendant manuals, saving the company $300,000 annually. As a result, flight
attendants can now update their manuals in a matter of minutes and
search for items in seconds, improving work efficiencies. Switching
to the lightweight 5.3-inch Samsung tablet from the nearly 5-lb.
paper manual will save the company nearly $650,000 in fuel annually based on current fuel
prices. The tablets also will help reduce the amount of carbon
dioxide emissions by 2100 metric tons – or 4.6 million pounds
annually.
American's flight attendants began using eManuals exclusively on
Sept. 1, after a six-month
test-evaluation period, with oversight from the FAA. In addition to
the manual, the tablet provides real-time updates to flight
attendants about premium customers, special meals, connection
gates, special services and other information.
American's first flight attendant training class that trained
solely on the tablet will graduate in October. The eManuals will
roll out to US Airways flight attendants after the two carriers
achieve a Single Operating Certificate, planned for
mid-2015.
American's pilots were the first to use an Electronic Flight Bag
through all phases of flight. The 1.2 pound iPad replaced a
35-pound kitbag, cutting the risk of injury and saving an estimated
$1.2 million of fuel annually.
About American Airlines Group
American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL) is the holding company for
American Airlines and US Airways. Together with wholly owned and
third-party regional carriers operating as American Eagle and US
Airways Express, the airlines operate an average of nearly 6,700
flights per day to 339 destinations in 54 countries from its hubs
in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort
Worth, Los Angeles,
Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. The American Airlines
AAdvantage and US Airways Dividend Miles programs allow members to
earn miles for travel, vacation packages, car rentals, hotel stays
and everyday purchases. Members of both programs can redeem miles
for tickets as well as upgrades to First Class and Business Class.
In addition, AAdvantage members can redeem miles for vacation
packages, car rentals, hotel stays and retail products. American is
a founding member of the oneworld alliance, whose members and
members-elect serve nearly 1,000 destinations with 14,250 daily
flights to 150 countries. Connect with American on Twitter
@AmericanAir and Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines and follow US
Airways on Twitter @USAirways.
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SOURCE American Airlines