RFID Applications in Airline Maintenance Operations

Abstract

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been widely used in different industries in recent years but its use in the aviation industry has been very limited. In this article, the use of RFID technology is explored in relationship to airlines’ maintenance operations. The main objectives of this article are to assess the current use of RFID in aviation maintenance and to evaluate future opportunities as well as the barriers to this technology in regards to airline maintenance operations. To this end, a survey of airlines was conducted in 2013. The results show that the airline industry has recently taken notice of RFID and that its use is growing. The results also show that airlines are facing several barriers for RFID implementations . They are: lack of knowledge, cost of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integration, cost of tags, lack of support from managers, and immaturity of technology. This research has also identified the categories of parts that can benefit the most from RFID.