SriLankan Airlines wins Silver Award at FITIS Digital Excellence Awards for “Corporate IT Awards”

Wednesday, 22 December 2021 00:31 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The new digitalized solution completely removes the need of paper for voyage reporting mechanism and improves the efficiency of the overall process and ensures the safety of next flight by timely completing any incidents reported onboard.”

SriLankan Airlines, the National Carrier of Sri Lanka and a member of the oneworld alliance, affirming the strength of dynamic talents and innovation of its technology arm SriLankan IT Systems, received a coveted Silver Award in the ‘Corporate’ category at the at the Digital Excellence Awards 2021, organized by FITIS (Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka).

The Airlines’ submission for the award featured ‘digitalized flight operations through AeroOps (Tech Crew VR) and CabinOps (CCVR – Cabin Crew VR)’ which mainly highlighted the operational transformation achieved with the automation of Voyage Report processes related to the flight crew onboard (Tech and Cabin Crew). This enhanced productivity and efficiency in the operations while streamlining the back-office support services to improve the flight crew convenience for a better passenger experience.

The major benefits of this automation are; digitalizing the flight crew Voyage Report (VR) capturing process; capturing safety details and analysis process, workflow configurations and providing comprehensive management information for decision-making in terms of onboard flight safety and voyage operational aspects. Regulatory information capturing, sharing, and storing electronically in a secure and reliable form has aligned this system with international data protection and civil aviation compliance requirements. AeroOps was completely an in-house developed technology solution by the engineers of SriLankan IT Systems who possess expert knowledge in the commercial aviation domain, systems integration and mobile app development. The similar IT solutions currently available in the industry come at a premium price and by developing this product in-house, the Airline was able to achieve a cost-saving of approximately USD 2mn.

From left Vijayan Nadarajah (Vice President Software Chapter, FITIS), Ishan Kularathna (Lead Systems Engineer, SriLankan Airlines), Abbas Kamrudeen (Past Chairman FITIS) Gayanika Gunasekera (Manager Digital Transformation IT Business Relations, SriLankan Airlines), Dr.Prasad Smanarasinghe – Chairman, FITIS, Kirthi Jayasinghe (Lead Software Engineer – Mobile Applications, SriLankan Airlines), Oshada Senanayake - Chairman, ICTA, Sunimal Gunawardena (Manager IT Business Systems, SriLankan Airlines), Jayantha De Silva (Secretary to the Ministry of Technology), Suresh D De Mel (EDB Chairman), Samath Fernando (Director/CEO H One), Fairooz Habeeb (President Software Chapter, FITIS), Indika De Soyza (Vice Chairman FITIS)

Capt. Patrick Fernando, Head of Flight Operations stated “Aircraft cockpit has traditionally been dominated by paper-based processes. For the voyage report process which leverages on information on flight landing details, flight delays, flight movement, operating crew details and manual forms require huge amounts of paperwork onboard. SriLankan Airlines has digitalized the voyage reporting process through an inhouse developed system, AerOps where flight crew would be able to capture the flight movement details and any onboard incidents digitally and to inform the respective technical teams in an efficient and secure manner. The new digitalized solution is fully operational on apple iPads and the system is preloaded with many critical data elements required for each flight journey.

Ms. Buddhika Manage, Group Head of Human Resources and Cabin Services said “We are proud to see a well-deserved accolade won by the competent UL IT Team. CabinOps was introduced as a result of great efforts made by Team IT, Cabin Crew, and Inflight Management with the intension of developing an in-house solution. Many discussions ensued, and CabinOps was produced by the IT team to suit the present-day complex issues which need to be recorded, thus enabling the crew to be informed of many requirements which need their attention.”

Mr. Chamara Perera, Group Head of IT stated “In the strategy towards achieving the company vision and mission, SriLankan Airlines has identified ‘Digital Transformation’ as an important aspect in all operational and functional areas. This marks another key milestone in digital transformation accomplished by the in-house IT resources using latest mobile technology with several integrations while focusing on user-experience and information security. Long-term plans are laid to further enhance and make this solution a marketable product for other airlines in this region which would be a significant achievement for Sri Lanka as well.”

The synergy of Flight Operations, Cabin Services and IT teams contributed immensely for the development of this product, with swift and effective integrations and enhancements to make this digital transformation a reality.

SriLankan IT Systems has enabled digital transformation across various divisions of the Airline including flight operations, engineering, airport and ground services and all other functional areas. Also plans are laid for further digital transformation projects for improving efficiency and productivity while saving cost to the company.

SriLankan Team

Standing from left : Naduni Nayanthara (IT Business Systems Analyst), Nalaka Wijesinghe(IT Software Development Manager), Chamila Kanchana(Software Engineer), Kirthi Jayasinghe(Lead Software Engineer), Kusal Lankathilaka(IT Business Systems Manager), Vipula Gunatilleka (CEO-SriLankan Airlines), Chamara Perera (Group Head of IT-SriLankan Airlines), Sunimal Gunawardena(Manager IT Business Systems), Gayanika Gunasekera (Manager Digital Transformation & IT Business Relations), Ishan Kularathna(Lead Systems Engineer)