Boeing

Boeing [NYSE: BA] Commercial Aviation Services Crew Information Services (CIS) group will install the Jeppesen Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) on board three new Boeing 777s for Pakistan International Airlines. This makes PIA the first Asian customer to use the revolutionary technology.

The EFB provides documentation and forms normally carried by the pilots -- aeronautical charts, manuals for fault reporting and operations, minimum equipment lists and logbooks -- all in digital format at the crew's fingertips.

The flight bag also includes a performance calculator that allows the pilot to calculate the ideal speeds and engine setting for an airplane instantly, in any weather, on any runway, with any payload. Such instant calculations could increase the payload on a 777 taking off from a wet runway by as much as 9,000 kilograms (20,000 pounds). In addition, it can enhance runway positional awareness. The EFB integrates geo-referencing technology with airport taxi charts to show flight crews exactly their location on the tarmac. The EFB also gives flight crews a monitor for cabin surveillance systems, helping them meet new and anticipated regulatory requirements.

PIA will use a hard-mounted "Class 3" version of the EFB comprising Jeppesen software and electronics and display hardware from Astronautics Corp. of America (ACA) on its airplanes. Boeing will work with Jeppesen and ACA to find the ideal configurations for the Electronic Flight Bag aboard Boeing jetliners. PIA will be able to use its Class 3, certified EFB system during all phases of flight, from gate to gate, in accordance with new guidelines from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

PIA will have an EFB system installed, certified and delivered on three of the eight 777s that it ordered as part of a definitive agreement signed in October 2002. Under that agreement, Pakistan will receive three 777-200ER (extended-range), two 777-200LR (longer-range) and three 777-300ER (extended-range) airplanes for use on its planned long-haul routes.

PIA will take delivery of its first 777, which will include an Electronic Flight Bag, in January 2004.

"We are excited to be the first Asian customer for the EFB," said Capt. Nasir Juneidi, director of Flight Operations for PIA. "It will help our fleet of 777s -- already the most advanced aircraft in the sky -- reach even greater levels of efficiency and reliability."

Installation of an EFB gives Pakistan International Airlines a first step into the future of the e-enabled air transport system. Boeing intends to make content, applications and services that connect all the data generated by an entire flight operation -- in the air, on the ground and in the hangar -- meaningful to all users: pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, operations departments and airport users, and customers.