American Airlines scraps paper manuals for tablets to cut fuel costs

Reuters

Published Sep 10, 2014 08:06PM ET

American Airlines scraps paper manuals for tablets to cut fuel costs

By Jeffrey Dastin

(Reuters) - American Airlines has won regulatory approval to swap flight attendants' paper manuals for lighter Samsung tablets in a change that will save nearly $1 million a year, the company said on Wednesday.

The move, which does not yet affect attendants at American Airlines Group Inc's (O:AAL) subsidiary US Airways, comes little more than a year after American's cockpit went paperless, and is one of many strategies that airlines have pursued to reduce weight and fuel costs.

Delta Air Lines (N:DAL) and United Airlines (N:UAL) have also distributed smart devices to their pilots, and Delta plans to roll out an e-manual for flight attendants starting in October.

American said its attendants already have the tablets, and those at US Airways will receive them after the combined company receives a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration. The timing of that is uncertain.

"Conserving fuel is important to an airline because it is a huge cost," said American Airlines spokesperson Andrea Huguely.

American stock rose 1.63 percent Wednesday to close at $38.58.

American and Delta see smart devices as a boon to cabin service, allowing attendants to see where premium customers are seated and direct more attention to them, the spokespeople said. Tablets also will simplify in-flight food and beverage sales.

Delta is "arming our flight attendants to help deliver more personalized customer assistance," said Kate Modolo, a Delta spokesperson.

When American replaced roughly 35-lb pilot bags with 1.2-lb iPads, it said it would save $1.2 million in fuel costs annually. Switching to tablets from nearly 5-lb flight attendant manuals only will net the airline $650,000 a year.

The remaining $300,000 in savings will come from reduced printing and shipping costs.

Airlines are "looking for lots of little things that together - $300,000 at a time - could add up to real money," said industry consultant Robert Mann.

Since 2005, American Airlines has saved 1 billion gallons of fuel under a program called Fuel Smart, Huguely said.

Initiatives have ranged from pilots using only a single engine during taxiing when this is deemed safe, to removing antiquated phones attached to the seat backs of old planes, saving weight.