Last week, Gulf Air officially announced the company would offer iPad electronic flight bags. There will be a total of 355 iPads purchased and distributed throughout the fleet. Although this rollout is not as significant as the American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL) rollout which brought over 8,000 iPads EFBs across the fleet.
Gulf Air’s exciting change
Gulf Air’s acting chief executive officer Maher Salman Al Mussallam explained, “We are proud of our existing strategic relationship with VIVA Bahrain and pleased to extend this partnership to include the provision of iPad devices as part of Gulf Air’s Electronic Flight Bag project. This is an essential component of our ongoing commitment to all new technology that provides integrated solutions for managing information in the air and on the ground.”
The airline’s purchase solidifies the impact Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has in various business sectors. Apple’s mobile products such as the iPhone and iPad demonstrate the quality many businesses seek in products. Dr. Jassim Haji (Gulf Air’s Director of Information Technology) added, “At Gulf Air we always endeavor to leverage the latest technologies in order to improve the efficiency of the airline’s operations and provide better services to our passengers. This collaboration ensures we deliver the latest technology to our team and, as a result, to our passengers.”
The benefit of iPad EFBs
iPad EFBs are desirable as the devices make it possible to reduce fuel usage. And it isn’t just commercial airline companies making the switch to tablets, the United States Airforce hopes to save about $50 million over the next ten years with the deployment of 18,000 iPads.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s popular tablet computers have become a convenient replacement for traditional desktops and laptops. Although Android still owns a large portion of the tablet market, Apple reigns supreme in the tablet market for businesses and organizations. Even schools and educational institutions today are increasingly incorporating iOS-based tablets into class and lab activities.
