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GE Aerospace Teams Up with Microsoft and Accenture to Unveil Generative AI-Powered Solution for Faster, More Informed Aircraft Service and Maintenance Record Insights

  • The generative AI-powered solution will enable airlines and lessors to access critical maintenance asset records in minutes versus days and weeks. 
  • Use of generative AI has potential to unleash new levels of productivity and efficiency, while enabling data-informed decisions in aircraft asset tracking and manufacturing.

GE Aerospace (NYSE: GE) is collaborating with Microsoft and Accenture to develop generative AI-powered solutions for the aviation industry, unveiling its first solution to help airlines and lessors rapidly access maintenance records in mere minutes. Carlyle Aviation Partners, a global lessor that manages aircraft and engine assets of all ages, was the first company to test the solution in a private preview. The companies released this news during the recent 2024 Predictive Aircraft Maintenance Conference, in Dublin, Ireland.

Why it matters: Airlines and lessors need to be able to quickly and accurately track and determine the compliance documentation status of their fleet to understand risk exposure and make fast, data-informed decisions. Traditionally, this has been a time-intensive and manual process as workers can spend days, and even weeks, combing through multiple physical documents and data sets.

The new asset insights solution allows maintenance and repair workers to receive status information on their aircraft at any point in time. It can inform customers about leasing details, gaps in critical documents, and, for lessors specifically, it will help quickly determine the technical status of their leased aircraft to help protect asset value and proactively identify contractual compliance concerns. 

Donal Mc Gowan, senior vice president, Technical Management, Carlyle Aviation Partners, said, “We are thrilled about the direction that AI integration with asset records is heading. This has the potential to open so many opportunities to actively manage our fleet, giving us instant access to data and information that would normally take hours, days, or even weeks to find. We’re very excited to partner with GE Aerospace, Microsoft, and Accenture on building the future of AI in aviation.”

Andrew Coleman, general manager, GE Aerospace Software as a Service (SaaS) Group, said, “With the entire aviation industry working to meet the increased ramp in air travel, GE Aerospace is turning to technologies like generative AI to help our customers revolutionize how they track and monitor their assets. Asset tracking is just one area within aerospace that can be transformed using generative AI. This technology is bringing a whole new era of productivity and efficiencies that can also revolutionize the manufacturing process and makes it such an exciting time to be in the industry.”

Joyce Kline, managing director, Accenture, said, “Smart digital transformation is a critical success factor for aerospace companies and it’s vital that investments into new, advanced technologies are made in a smart way too. This solution is a tangible way to show impressive benefits within a short timeframe, and it’s also something that can be scaled quickly as needed.”

Nick Parker, President, Industry & Partnerships, Microsoft, said, “Microsoft is committed to providing our customers with the tools and platforms needed to help people be more creative, more productive, and solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Asset records management has been a pain point for the aviation industry and we’re thrilled to see how generative AI can help airlines and lessors increase scale and efficiency across their maintenance and repair operations.”

GE Aerospace SaaS worked with Accenture to develop the strategic roadmap and generative AI-powered solution, which leverages Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service. The solution helps customers unlock critical asset information in minutes.