“Airlines can now leapfrog to the cloud to expedite their communications and do so at costs much lower than maintaining existing mainframe systems,”  said Ken Stephens, senior vice president of cloud services, Xerox, as Xerox and AvFinity announced and agreement to provide seamless transmission of flight-critical communication.

“There is no room for error in ensuring safety in the skies,” Stephens added. 



While the rapid advance of technology continues to aid the North American airline industry, those same advancements are making timely and accurate communication challenging for some airlines. The pace of change is challenging the continual transmissions that occur during every flight such as relaying key modifications in flight plans or weather and airport updates.

Technology advancements often require the use of disparate or incompatible communication formats that don’t allow airlines to efficiently share information with key aviation agencies around the world. Xerox business cloud services are solving this problem by helping airlines share critical information, such as their flight plans and passenger details, with aviation agencies of destination countries. By blending its cloud capabilities with the data expertise of AvFinity, Xerox is allowing disparate communications systems to work seamlessly.

Built on Xerox’s on-demand cloud infrastructure (IaaS), AvFinity’s patent-pending software (SaaS), AIRS™ seamlessly shares important data and key transmissions from airlines to other carriers and countless flight authorities, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This means critical flight information arrives without interruption at its destination and meets each receiving party's format and protocol requirements.

Airlines have long relied on legacy communications systems to transmit information; however, with the skies expected to become busier and the growth of the industry among traditional mainstream carriers to discount and regional airlines, there is a desire to upgrade the way key information is shared, said Stephens.

The Xerox and AvFinity agreement facilitates multiple flight-critical services and connects an airline with flight authorities that are continuously updating flight information such as weather and airport conditions.

“Now airlines can draw on the expertise of Xerox and AvFinity to provide seamless transmission of flight-critical communication,” said Doug Perkins, chief executive officer, AvFinity. “Airlines can transition from legacy systems that cost thousands annually to continually patch and move to lower cost, secure cloud services backed by data communications experts,” he added.