Air China to Feature Boeing Airplane Health Management on 737 Fleet

SEATTLE, WA -- Boeing and Air China say that the airline will use Boeing's Airplane Health Management (AHM) system to monitor the in-flight condition of its Next-Generation 737 fleet. The agreement covers a total of 117 Air China 737s that are in service and on order.

Air China is Boeing's first Chinese customer for AHM and the 33rd commercial customer overall.

Air China will use AHM to gather and evaluate critical real-time in-flight flying condition data, relaying airplane information to ground controllers. This visibility allows the airline to turn a potentially time-consuming and costly maintenance delay into a well-planned and easily addressable repair. AHM helps minimize or eliminate scheduling problems.

"We expect Boeing's Airplane Health Management to help us in many ways," says Zhong Dechao, deputy chief engineer of Air China. "Air China will benefit with increased airplane availability, maintenance efficiency and economic performance. We are happy that Boeing is our partner."

AHM also supports long-term fleet reliability by helping airlines identify and respond to faults proactively. Fleet-wide history and knowledge from multiple operators is available to help guide repair decisions on same-model airplanes.

"Boeing is committed to providing solutions that will help airlines operate efficiently, and AHM is a key tool in that effort," says Dan da Silva, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes Commercial Aviation Services. "This efficiency is a strong driver in Air China's AHM selection. This significant AHM order covering a large Next-Generation 737 fleet is part of our initiative to ensure that the 737 continues to be the most efficient single-aisle airplane available."