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ORLANDO—JetBlue signed several deals at MRO Americas this week to upgrade its TechOps technologies, aircraft and component maintenance.
The airline signed an agreement with French drone inspection provider Donecle to use its technology for aircraft inspections.
JetBlue plans to initially roll out drones at key stations in Boston, New York and Orlando. It will also be conducting a fleetwide automated scan across its Airbus A220 and A320 aircraft families, with the aim of enhancing technical records and data traceability.
According to Christian Daoud, MD of technical services at JetBlue, the drone technology is expected to “enhance safety, improve inspection accuracy and drive greater efficiency” across the airline’s maintenance operations.
AFI KLM E&M subsidiary Barfield, Donecle’s distributor in the Americas, will provide technical and logistical support as JetBlue rolls out the technology. The companies say the partnership will also give JetBlue the opportunity to have early access to new drone-based nondestructive testing inspection technologies.
Barfield also signed a five-year component repair agreement with JetBlue for its A320 and A321 fleet, which renews the companies’ existing relationship.
Earlier this week, JetBlue also announced plans to roll out the Skywise Fleet Performance+ predictive analytics platform across its A320-family and A220 fleet. Skywise parent company Airbus also announced that it will upgrade cockpit display systems on 46 of JetBlue’s A320s with Thales’ Enhanced Electronic Instrument System displays.
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