AIR CARG O WEEK


CARGO TECHNOLOGY


A DIGITAL LIFELINE FOR AVIATION


AI AND METAVERSE CAN BE SOLUTIONS FOR SKILLED LABOUR CHALLENGES IN AIRFREIGHT. AVIATION HAS ALWAYS THRIVED ON INNOVATION - FROM FLIGHT PIONEERS TO MODERN ENGINES. TODAY’S WORKFORCE CRISIS DEMANDS THAT SAME SPIRIT. ORGANISATIONS EMBRACING AI AND METAVERSE TECHNOLOGIES NOW WILL SECURE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES WHILE BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A MORE RESILIENT INDUSTRY. THE SKY ISN’T FALLING - IT’S BEING RECONSTRUCTED THROUGH DIGITAL INNOVATION. THE TOOLS EXIST, TECHNOLOGY IS PROVEN, AND THE INDUSTRY IS READY FOR TRANSFORMATION.


BY DR. RAUL VILLAMARIN RODRIGUEZ, VICE PRESIDENT, WOXSEN UNIVERSITY, DR. HEMACHANDRAN KANNAN, VICE DEAN & DIRECTOR OF AI RESEARCH CENTRE, WOXSEN UNIVERSITY, HYDERABAD, INDIA


“We’re developing systems providing instant access to decades of maintenance knowledge.”


16


T


he aviation industry faces a paradox. While celebrating post- pandemic recovery, we’re confronting an unprecedented workforce crisis that threatens global aviation operations. Through our research at Woxsen University’s AI Research Centre and industry collaborations, we’ve witnessed how


this extends beyond recruitment - it’s fundamentally transforming how we develop skilled aviation professionals. The numbers are stark. Boeing projects a need for 690,000 new


maintenance technicians over the next two decades, yet 78% of MRO facilities struggle to find qualified personnel. Most concerning is the demographic cliff: average technicians are over 50, while under-30 workers represent less than 10% of the workforce. This isn’t just aging - it’s a knowledge transfer crisis. During a recent European facility visit, we observed a veteran


mechanic diagnose a hydraulic failure simply by listening to the system. His decades of experience taught him to recognise acoustic signatures that immediately revealed the problem. Meanwhile, a junior technician spent over an hour consulting manuals for a similar issue. This experience gap represents institutional knowledge at risk of disappearing with retiring workers.


AI: The great equaliser Artificial intelligence is emerging as a powerful equaliser that democratizes expertise across skill levels. The global AI aviation market, projected to reach $32.5 billion by 2033, reflects industry recognition of this transformative potential. Our research on Japan Airlines’ JAL-AI Report application shows


how AI transforms operations. By reducing post-flight reporting from one hour to 20 minutes, it liberates skilled personnel from administrative tasks, allowing focus on critical maintenance where expertise matters most. The most revolutionary application is predictive maintenance.


Lufthansa Technik’s AVIATAR platform processes over 10 terabytes of flight data daily, identifying potential failures weeks in advance and reducing unscheduled maintenance by 20%. This isn’t just cost reduction -


it’s fundamentally changing how the industry


approaches aircraft reliability. AI’s capacity to accelerate learning curves particularly excites


us. We’re developing systems providing instant access to decades of maintenance knowledge. Textron Aviation’s TAMI assistant demonstrates this beautifully, reducing troubleshooting time from 20

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