Microsoft have teamed-up with The Boeing Company in a move set to bring Boeing’s digital solutions to the Azure Cloud Platform, greatly improving the aviation applications that the aerospace behemoth has already built for more than 300 airlines with its subsidiaries AerData B.V. and Jeppesen Sanderson, Inc..

The collaboration aims to help airlines to become more intelligence driven, expediting such things as maintenance issues, or optimize fuel consumption, route-planning, crew scheduling, by using artificial intelligence and IoT. Microsoft’s Cortana Intelligence and Azure IoT Suite will also streamline business operations while assisting a new generation of personnel from pilot to mechanic.

“Boeing is working together with Microsoft, a leader in the technology space, to bring innovative operational efficiency solutions to global aviation customers,” explained Andrew Gendreau, the director of advanced information solutions in Boeing’s Digital Aviation division in a recent blog post, adding, “Boeing brings in their deep subject matter expertise, complimented by Microsoft’s deep technical expertise, and together we’ll be bringing new, innovative customer solutions to market.”

A Grander Vision

Gendreau went on to say that the collaboration is part of a grander vision of digital aviation, a vision that sees a better connection between “the connected traveler, the connected airplane and the connected operation.”

He also said that the decision came on the back of a six month long needs analysis whose conclusion was that is it better to use one cloud provider rather than several, and that Microsoft’s technology was as good as any competitor’s.

A large amount of data is generated every flight on a commercial airline. According to this report around 500 GB of data each time Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner completes a single journey. Such data, might for example, be related to turbulence, an uncomfortable and possibly dangerous phenomenon, but one that IBM Corp. and WiFi provider GoGo Inc. are currently working together on to make less of a concern to airlines and their passengers.

Photo credit: Artem Katranzhi via Flickr