Air NZ Dreamliners go paperless

Air New Zealand is going paperless in its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.

Boeing today announced the full integration of its Electronic Logbook (ELB) within the airline's six 787s, replacing paper logbooks with electronic records that improve operational efficiency and reliability.

"Advances in digital technology, such as the ELB, provide a more data-driven predictive maintenance process. With this capability we can proactively troubleshoot and quickly solve maintenance items, further driving improvements in reliability and on-time performance," said Captain David Morgan, Air New Zealand chief flight operations and safety officer.

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Air New Zealand is among the first airlines in the world that has gained operational approval for use of the the ELB.

It runs on the airplane's electronic flight bag and onboard server system to collect airplane flight data and any faults crew observe, sharing that information with technicians and maintenance systems on the ground while the airplane is still in the air.

Ground crews, along with needed parts and documentation, can then be stationed at the gate to perform needed maintenance as soon as the airplane lands, speeding up maintenance and cutting delays.

Air New Zealand worked with the Civil Aviation Authority to verify and validate Electronic Logbook operations to gain the operational authorisation needed to use it across the airline's 787 fleet.

The airline has another six of the planes on order.