Solutions in Practice: Titan Airways uses CARDS Cloud Based Aircraft Transition Solution.

Author: Dave Bunker, Engineering Director, Titan Airways

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How Titan Airways used CARDS®, a cloud based aircraft transition solution to improve the management of aircraft sales, returns or purchases

This ‘Solutions in Practice’ article looks at Cloudcards CARDS^® software solution through the lens of a recent application with Titan Airways. So, before diving into the asset delivery project in which CARDS^® has been so useful, let’s take a brief look at the subject of this case study, Titan Airways. Titan is a UK based independent airline supplying ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance), cargo and specialized flights for corporate businesses or personal needs. The fleet includes Boeing B737/B757 and Airbus A320 family with an Airbus A330 to join shortly. The majority of this fleet is owned and as such dependent on business needs could be sold with relatively short notice. But the values of these owned aircraft is within the records and so how those records can be maintained is a critical issue. 

USING CARDS^® AT TITAN AIRWAYS

Titan has used the CARDS^® system for the introduction of the A320 and A321 aircraft over the last few years. As Titan has a small Technical department, use of CARDS^® and the support team provided has allowed a level of remote oversight of aircraft records.  The records are progressed from initial receipt, review and issues raised, and with all of that being within one site. Unlike basic Dropbox principles, once any member of the team logs onto CARDS^® we are able to review any aircraft in work; it means that, through the Webex processes, a range of projects can be reviewed and decisions on priorities made based upon that knowledge.

This month, at the time of writing, we achieved our first return to Lessor using the CARDS^® system and through close project management we have been able to ensure that return conditions are being met and any queries raised by the Lessor were answered to ensure an on-time re-delivery.

Where CARDS^® succeeds for us is that, at the point of delivery, the records have been fully reviewed and issues either closed or resolved leaving only the unresolved items to be discussed and a solution agreed. Post-delivery, we have a full suite of records that can be reviewed and transferred onto our internal Part M Management system with confidence. These would include reviews of LLP (Life Limited Part) status, AMP (Aircraft Maintenance Program), OCCM (On Condition/Condition Monitored – components) statements plus certificates where required. As a single-entry point Titan’s technical team with support from the CARDS^® team is able to work with the aircraft seller/lessor ensuring each party understands where an issue might lay.

TRANSITION INTO OASES AND TRAINING FOR CARDS®

The size of the Titan Part M management team has meant that oversight through the CARDS^® system is where we need it most in allowing the team to focus on the transition into the OASES Part M management system. The data has been reviewed, checked and reaffirmed as correct whilst held in the CARDS^® portal with incorrect data having been sanitized prior to loading into a live system.

As far as training the Titan team was concerned, the Cloudcards CARDS^® team provided sufficient training through Webex to allow data to be loaded by both the seller/lessor and our own team meaning the system can be populated efficiently and quickly. It’s a fairly intuitive tool and navigable pretty quickly by all staff.

USING CARDS^®

Having the records fully digitized on the CARDS^® platform has given us enhanced oversight for the teams involved.  It allows for easier review of records and also enables the drawdown of information the team may require. Technical Services engineers are able to fairly quickly find AD (Airworthiness Directive) and SB (Service Bulletin) statuses whilst planners delve into AMP’s and scheduled maintenance activities. The use of the standard bible helps this process along.

For most of the aircraft we have transitioned into Titan, Lessors or Sellers have respected our request to use the CARDS^® portal and whilst in the past there was an element of pushback we are finding they are more willing to use the system when requested. Moreover, we have successfully used CARDS^® on different aircraft types. Considering the nature of the Titan fleet profile most use has been for the A320 family although as previously mentioned we are returning our B767 to the Lessor and bringing an A330 into the fleet through the CARDS^® portal.

As far as different regulators are concerned, to date most of our transitions have been within the EASA environment but considering how we have used it we do not consider other jurisdictions will pose an issue in the future. Overall, having used the CARDS^® portal for the transition of eight aircraft to date, Titan Airways has found it to be an excellent tool for project management and oversight of progress allowing day to day business continuity and keeping the operation flying. 

SUMMARY

A key consideration for Titan was platform security and reliability and the CARDS^® platform met all our requirements here. The system is built on Salesforce and the records within the system sit on Box.com so the Cloudcards team have built a best in class platform when it comes to security and usability. The support from the cloudcards team is excellent from initial project set up to training and we find them very responsive with regard to any day to day queries.

Contributor’s Details

Dave Bunker

Having 40 years’ experience in the aviation industry mainly between British Midlands Airways and Titan Airways, Dave has been exposed to a wide variety of roles in line maintenance, Maintenance Control, aircraft transitions and management positions driving a keenness for safety improvements and introduction of new technologies where possible to ensure both certifying engineers and technical support staff have the best level of data available.